How To Get Content Creators' Attention!

As a game developer, you know how important influencers can be for the future of any indie game. Not only do they help bring your game in front of a wider crowd, content creators are also a great source of feedback and can help you sow the seed of a flourishing community.

In recent years, creators have become a true pillar of games marketing and any of the popular indie games you know owe at least a part of their success to them.

But with what’s effectively a gold rush to get featured, how can small indie developers increase their chances of getting noticed by a content creator? And is there anything you should keep in mind as you go about pitching for coverage?

Let’s take a look at some basic tips!

🤩 #1 — Aim for the Perfect First Impression

Put yourself in this situation: you are getting tens — if not hundreds — of emails every day. In that ocean of text, the first few lines of each email very likely decide what happens to the whole message.

When you’re writing to content creators, you only have about 300 characters in total to get their attention. Your subject line and preview text will do most of the heavy lifting, so do your best to make sure they’re effective at carrying the message across.

As a rule of thumb, your subject lines should be concise but attractive enough that people on the other end are tempted to click on them. They should not be longer than 150 words and should strike the right balance: informative but not too wordy, clickable but not too baity. Whenever possible, also try to mention what your email contains from the start. Adding a qualifier such as [Review Key], [Code Offer] or [Announcement] to the start of your subject line will immediately give your readers an idea of what to expect once they open the message.

Preview text, on the other hand, is a bit more relaxed. While you should still keep everything under 150 characters, you can use this to briefly summarize the key points of your message and give readers more context. At times, your email client or service might not even allow you to edit the preview. In those cases, remember that recipients will just see the first few lines of your email instead.

💡 #2 — Craft An Attractive, Functional Message

Speaking of which, the structure, contents and appearances of your email are usually just as important as its subject line.

Keep in mind that, in most cases, you are not issuing a press release and your email shouldn’t be several pages worth of text. Instead, try to aim for no more than 350 to 400 words and split your emails into paragraphs. That will give you enough space to convey all necessary information about your game while keeping the message short and easy enough for your readers to skim through.

As for content, an effective outreach email starts with the main reason you’re reaching out and a few words on how you’d like to engage with the creator, immediately followed by a short description of the game. If you’re looking for a specific type of content, offering exclusive perks or are open to paid sponsorships, that too should be mentioned in the email. Similarly, you’ll want to add links to any relevant materials - including your Steam page, your press-kit, your website and any specific instructions you feel creators might need to fully enjoy your title. Don’t forget to include information about when the content should be released and any embargos or limitations you want creators to abide by (if any).

Finally, formatting your email right can also help you get a creator’s attention. Before you hit send, add an image or GIF to showcase what your game is about, use bold text and italics to highlight important parts of your message and leverage paragraphs to make everything as easy to read and accessible as possible. This doesn’t only make your message prettier, but also helps creators and their staff get a better understanding of what you’re pitching for.

Example creator outreach email for Sancticide (Credit: Jasmine James)

⏱️ #3 — Schedule Things The Smart Way

In most cases, getting featured by content creators comes down to good timing as much as the content of your pitches As you plan your outreach, consider that – especially around major events, holidays, sales and the busiest parts of the year – creators will schedule their content weeks in advance to ensure they always have something new and fresh to share with their communities.

While you might be tempted to wait until the very last second, you should instead sync your efforts with what’s happening across the wider industry. Unless your game is directly involved, for example, avoid pitching for coverage around major events, sales, or festivals. Similarly, stay away from the days immediately following a popular title’s release window. As a general rule, also try to schedule your pitch so that it reaches creators’ inboxes at least two weeks (and up to a month for long-form content) before your expected publication date. This will give the people on the other end enough time to check your game out and add it to their content calendars.

Finally, especially if you’re a smaller team that doesn’t normally send out a lot of emails, you should break down your outreach in batches and send these out over several days. This is because most email services, including Google, tend to frown upon mass emails and might flag your outreach as spam if they see a sudden influx of activity. By sending smaller batches of emails and ensuring you only contact people that you are sure want to receive your messages, you are less likely to trigger any spam filters and have your email sent straight to the trash.

💪 #4 — Don’t Give Up So Easily

Even when armed with the best intentions, sometimes your outreach might yield poor results. If you’re facing a similar situation and your email client or service tracks it (most outreach tools will), your first step should be to check how many times your message was delivered, what percentage of your recipients opened it and whether anybody clicked any of the links in your email.

The data you just collected will give you an idea of what went wrong with your outreach efforts. When paired with a high delivery rate, for example, a low number of opens might be due to either an ineffective subject line or the fact you’re targeting inactive people that don’t really check their emails. Similarly, a high number of opens but a low number of link clicks or replies might show that your subject line works, but that the person you’re trying to reach out to isn’t really interested in the game. Sometimes, however, content creators might open an email, check it out and not immediately get back to you. This doesn’t automatically mean they aren’t interested. Instead, it might be because they’re either busy, forgot to reply, or simply already have everything they need to get started.

Regardless of the situation, you can always follow up to your original message – just in case the recipients missed it the first time around. Ultimately, creators outreach is a numbers game. Testing out different combinations of subject line and content, changing your recipient list to only target people that resonate with your game, and sending the emails at a time that best fits your targeted creators are all great ways to see what works and what doesn’t.

🎁 Bonus: Codes or no codes?

One of the most common questions we get on our Discord is whether you should include a press code for your indie game as part of your initial outreach to content creators. While doing so might increase the chances that creators check out your title, some developers are worried that those keys could end up on the black market or that distributing too many copies of their project could negatively impact sales.

As a general rule, the best way to tackle the problem is to split your contact list in two and tailor your outreach accordingly. Group creators that you have worked with in the past or that you’re fairly certain will cover the game together, while leaving everyone else to the side for a wider, non-targeted sendout. Then, only send review codes to the first batch of creators while you invite the rest to answer your emails if they want access to the game. This will allow you to be more selective with codes while still giving everyone a chance.

🎉 In Conclusion

Getting noticed by creators isn’t always immediate, but most indie developers will be able to achieve their goal with a bit of perseverance. Work on polishing your subject lines and emails, try different combinations of targeting options, schedule things a bit ahead of time and don’t be afraid to experiment new things!

Want to make creator outreach even easier? Check out Launchpad - our all-in-one tool for creator outreach and management!