Marketing -> Can you start too early?
Sebastian K. Hickey:
All of this is very useful to me.
Promotion should be brand centric until there's something else to publicise... I've been consumed with the uncertainty of pre-product promotion, which seems the fool's path now that you've shared your experience.
As far as branding goes, I'm a bit shy to the whole phenomenon. I've subscribed to the podcast that Dan pointed towards and I've joined the Story Games forum. I'm going to hunt these for nuggets of wisdom. In the mean time, thanks for your generosity guys.
Sebastian.
pells:
If I may ... as my product is a vaporware !!!
I'd like to point out that "branding" (in the sense described above) is a good for you (or for any publisher).
Speaking for myself, while "branding", I definitely learned how to describe my product, know the way it is different from others, how to present it, to whom I shall market it. Those are, in my opinion, very important soft skills to develop.
Also, please try to remember that the internet as a "long memory" (or a long tail, if you prefer). So, while "branding" I came up with a teaser, wrote a blog for three years (it has not been active for two years) and I even did a rmap !!!
As strange as it may seem, and I can't explain why, I still get around 30 to 40 downloads of the teaser each month and around 80 downloads of the rmap. So, in a sense, the work is not lost.
Even if at some point, you might look "bad" ; for instance, on my teaser it is written "coming out in 2006 !!!" ; which doesn't look to good ... I think it is worth it.
And you may come to a point where speaking of your product might seem "ridiculous". So, yes, there are limits to "how far" you can go but it is necessary, and never too early.
I do feel I have a "stronger hold" on my product now than three or four years ago (that is, even if I can't see it coming out).
Elizabeth:
Also, let's not forget that half the battle in marketing is research, which can never be done too early.
Who are the people you want to sell to? What are they playing right now? How can you grab their attention?
What other games that are in development compete in the same niche as your game? When are their release dates? Can you alter your timeline to compete? Is it worth it? How many other games in the same niche are already out? How does your game differ? How well do the previously-released games sell?
Luke:
I am thread necromancer, but I feel that I have something to contribute.
My answer to the OP: JESUS YES. I feel like three months from announcement to book-in-hand is just right. Any more time and you lose your buzz. Any less time and you're not giving enough time for word to filter out.
-L
Seamus:
Luke, how do you normally market your books beginning with that 3 month date. We've been struggling to find the right combination of announcements, banners and traditional ads. We are very small, so putting too much money on a losing strategy is a big deal to us.
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