Marketing For Indies: How to talk about your game so that people will listen

Whether you’re a first-timer or you’ve been around the block a few times, selling an idea for a new game is never easy.

When it comes to indie game development, creating a successful game goes beyond just the mechanics and art; it requires a solid understanding of your audience and a strategic approach to marketing. But with so many games being released every day, how can you make people actually listen to you and your game?

Matt Brown from Vicarious PR — an experienced video game PR and marketing agency well-known for successful campaigns such as Rogue Legacy 2, Farthest Frontier, and Cosmoteer — walked through some important concepts and offered helpful advice for game developers during our recent IMPACT! Indie Games event.

We’ve prepared this article to highlight the key insights and takeaways from Matt’s talk! 👇

 

🔎 First things first: Understanding your audience

One of the first steps in indie game development is understanding your target audience. It’s crucial to take a step back from the passion project perspective and engage with potential players. Developers can benefit from asking critical questions about their game, including:

• Who is the game for?
  Identify the primary players who will resonate with your game.

• What challenges and opportunities does the game present?
  Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your project, and strategize on how to promote its strengths while addressing weaknesses.

• What do players expect from this genre?
  Understand the common features and mechanics that players anticipate in your game’s genre, and ensure your game meets or exceeds these expectations to keep your audience engaged.

• How does your game distinguish itself from others?
  Identify the unique aspects of your game that set it apart from competitors.

• Are your commercial expectations realistic?
  Assess the market potential for your game based on genre trends, audience size, and your development resources. Align your sales goals and production costs to ensure a sustainable and profitable launch.

 

✅ Genre choice matters

Understanding how your game’s genre influences player expectations is key to effective marketing.

Additionally, identifying anchors & hooks — the elements that will capture and retain player interest—are necessary to make your game stand out. Anchors are the core features that define your game, while hooks are the unique aspects that draw players in.

Matt uses Cosmoteer as a great example—a game where the anchor is the sandbox space simulation, while the hook could be the multiplayer aspect, where players can explore the galaxy with friends. Be sure to incorporate this into your marketing communications, whether it’s on your Steam page description or in a trendy TikTok video.

 

📣 Communication is key

When marketing your game, it’s essential to communicate effectively with your audience. Matt offers some handy tips:

• Assume your audience is new:
  Always approach your marketing as if you’re introducing your game to someone who has never heard of it. Avoid jargon and ensure clarity in your messaging.

• Be direct and intriguing:
  Grab attention quickly, whether through trailers, social media posts, or newsletters. Since players’ time and attention are limited, your message should be concise and compelling.

• Start with questions:
  Engage your audience by asking questions that make them think about your game’s concept or features.

• Assume they don’t care:
  It’s important to realise that not everyone will be immediately interested. This helps you craft messages that quickly convey why they should care.

• Know your anchors, then ignore them:
  While your game’s core features are important, sometimes focusing too heavily on them can limit your creative marketing approaches. Once you know your key selling points, feel free to experiment with different ways to present them.

• Make a plan and then experiment:
  Determine when and how to reveal your game to the public, and have a plan for continuing to engage with your audience after the game is released, covering the full life cycle of the product. A structured marketing plan is crucial, but don’t be afraid to adjust and try new strategies based on what you learn from player feedback.

 

🚀 The power of benchmarking

Never underestimate the power of analysing competitors. Benchmarking against other games in your genre can provide insights into player expectations and market trends.

• Identifying competitors:
  Look at similar games, both successful and unsuccessful, to understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can make informed decisions for your project.

• Adjusting your production timeline:
  Use your findings to create a more realistic development schedule, keeping in mind the expectations of players in your genre.

• Utilising social media tools for benchmarking:
  Leverage TwitchTracker and Sullygnome to find the perfect content creators for your game, and use SteamDB for in-depth market analysis. For more tips, check out our article on 10 Free Tools for Video Game Market & Competitor Analysis.

• Estimating wishlist numbers accordingly:
  While there’s no 100% accurate way to gauge competitors’ data, you can estimate sales by analysing metrics like Steam Reviews and Followers. Use our Steam Revenue Calculator, or explore our article on Steam Benchmarks & Estimates: The Other Side of Market Analysis for deeper insights!

 

💪 Persistence is Key

Finally, Matt emphasises the importance of persistence in the indie game industry. Many developers create only one game, but those who continue to produce and iterate are more likely to find success over time.

Before achieving outstanding success, Klei Entertainment had projects cancelled and released various titles, including Eets, which were successful but didn’t reach the same level of recognition as Don’t Starve. Even No Man’s Sky had a rocky launch, but after years of updates and improvements, it became a massive success. It shows that every project offers valuable experience that can inform future endeavours.

 

Don’t give up, and keep shipping games — each release is a learning opportunity that builds your skills and your audience.

 

🎓 Resources

For further insights, Matt shared additional resources including podcasts, vlogs, and newsletters, to help developers deepen their understanding of game marketing and audience engagement. You can find them here, and if you want to deep dive into Matt’s talk at our IMPACT! event, press play in the video below!

 

 

Did you find these tips helpful? We hope so! Sign up for future educational posts like this, and access our additional marketing tools, including Press Kitty, Coverage Bot, Steam Revenue Calculator and more!

If you have questions, hop into the IMPRESS Discord Community!

- Tammy