作者：Nicholas Lovell

在一些较不起眼的地方有一些像Hogrocket这样的公司，这是一家基于iOS平台而开发出益智游戏《Tiny Invaders》的独立工作室，他们拥有Bizarre Creations（创造了《几何战争》）这家AAA级游戏公司的工作背景。

他们都有AAA级的市场营销理论，即在游戏发行之前对其进行保密，比起用户而更加亲近新闻记者，并且始终强调大规模的发行才是推动游戏自我发行的成功之道。

还有一些如Spilt Milk工作室和GAMESbrief等网站也谈论了许多关于游戏营销的内容（例如Spilt Milk发布的系列游戏营销日记）。

介于这两种类型之间的便是像Positech这样的独立开发商，其游戏开发者Cliff Harris投入了大量的金钱与谷歌合作推动其游戏（如《无厘头太空战役》和《Democracy 2》）的营销，并时刻关注着营销效益。Cliff认为如果独立开发者不进行游戏营销，那么就等于一种资源浪费。所以对于独立游戏来说，什么才是最适合的营销策略，什么样的营销策略适合你的商业模式？

1.毕其功于一役的营销策略

这是绝大多数人在考虑游戏市场营销时会优先想到的策略。传统游戏的零售性质推动了这种策略的出现。在AAA级游戏的物理世界中，你只有一次市场营销机会。发行日期便是这种市场营销的关键。并且所有数据都很重要。

一位来自世界前5大发行商之一的首席财务官告诉我，他能够根据一款游戏首周的销售数据预见它的全部销售量是否能够突破1万份。良好的销售便意味着零售商将会通过再订购的方式而继续在货架上摆放这个产品。数字发行平台更是强调这一点。可见发行首周的营销将决定一款游戏的成败。

毫无疑问，许多游戏的市场营销都要通过精心策划以迎接着游戏发行这一天的到来，这期间游戏公司都要有计划地发布PR消息，在电视进行广告营销，向专业媒介和户外平台投放广告。如果一款游戏失败了，那么所有人员将快速转战到下一款大作的市场营销策划工作中。这着实是一个昂贵，集中且风险较大的策略。

虽然这个策略有效，但是你却只有一次机会。在AAA级产业里，所有拥有财政资源和风险胃纳能力的大发行商都敢于下这个赌注。但是对于独立开发者而言，他们没有能力冒这个险，也不应该这么做。

2.以数据参数为导向的营销方式

这是关于受数据参数标准影响的市场营销，而无需考虑宣传、PR、合作者以及零售商等因素。这是一种注重分析但却较为无情的方法。通过使用谷歌关键字广告，Facebook广告和代理联盟等吸引用户，并推动用户逐步转变成买家。

这种方法在分析方面极其果断无情。代理联盟失效了？抛弃它。谷歌广告没效力？换了它。比起注重乐趣，这种方法更加关注于找到用户并将他们转变成买家，促使他们多消费。 要注意，这种方法和大多数社交游戏开发商所采用的以反馈参数为导向的设计并不相关。

以数据参数为导向的市场营销所推广的游戏，可以是免费的MMO，传统的硬核下载游戏，也可以是任何一种需要引进用户的游戏。《Gratuitous Space Battles》开发者Cliff Harris并非免费游戏的拥护者，他也极力倡导这一类型的市场营销。他认为每个以制作游戏谋生的人都应该擅长这种市场营销，毕竟：这就像是一种实时的战略游戏，只可惜我们必须投入真实的钱去获得积分。

zero-budget-indie-marketing-guide(from creativefluff.com)

3.特许营销

这是一种需要与用户建立长期关系的市场营销策略。通过免费发布一些内容与用户进行互动，向他们出售产品，并鼓励他们与好友分享产品相关内容。

Seth Godin（游戏邦注：雅虎前副总裁，高产国际畅销书作者，当代最有影响力的商业思想家之一）便是特许营销的鼻祖。他拥有无数与该主题相关的出版书，我不能在此一一列举，你可以在Purple Cow或者他的博客里了解到相关内容。

Spilt Milk工作室的Andrew Smith采用了一种略微不同的方法去执行特许营销策略。他利用Twitter，发贴和网络等途径，把自己塑造成一个可亲可近且不同于主流游戏人的角色，显得更加谦卑和诚实，因此获得粉丝们和新闻媒体的信任，当Andrew要求别人转发他的tweet或分享他的推广内容时，大家都会很乐意为其效劳。

特许营销的意义就在于你能够与用户建立起长期的密切关系。你的目标不只是向他们出售东西，你还需要让他们能够在五年的时间里记住你这个推广游戏的人。而这也是AAA级市场营销者所不能理解的，即使他们这么做了也未必有成效，因为用户们想要与内容创造者而非市场营销者进行交流。所以，特许营销方法最适合独立开发者。

毕其功于一役，参考数据或者联系用户？我们应该使用哪种方法？这三种方法并不会相互排斥。你可以同时使用（尽管这会耗费你大把的金钱和时间）。从个人角度看来，我并不是很赞同上面提到的第一种营销策略。因为这种做法较适合AAA级游戏发行商。他们更加专业，更有能力，且拥有更多的资源能够应对各种不可避免的风险。

我更青睐于与终端用户建立友好的关系（而这就意味着你需要知道他们是谁。如果你不能与他们取得联系，那么就通过电子邮件，Twitter，Facebook，YouTube等联系他们，否则你们的关系就只能停留于肤浅的形式）。

如果你能够观察这一方法并判断它是有效还是徒劳，那么我认为还可以采用有定向式、以数据参数为导向的市场营销方式进行补充。我曾经接触过很多独立游戏开发者，但是当谈到市场营销时他们第一个反应便是PR（投放式市场营销的一组成部分）和广告（一种特别昂贵的市场营销方法）。不要再局限于这些方法了，想想你可是独立开发者，尽可能地使用所有工具和技巧，与你的用户建立起持续用好的关系吧！你肯定不会为此后悔的！（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Three ways to market your indie game

by Nicholas Lovell

In one corner, we have companies like Hogrocket. The developers of indie puzzler Tiny Invaders on iOS, they come from a AAA development background at Bizarre Creations. (“Brought to you by the creator of Geometry Wars!”).

They’ve brought AAA marketing views too, keeping the game secret before launch, building relationships with journalists more than fans and focusing on the idea that a big launch is the key to self-publishing success.

In the other corner are indies like Spilt Milk, or even GAMESbrief. Talk a lot about the products that are coming (as Andrew has with his Spilt Milk Studio diaries, or I have with the prospective launch of 52 Games Design Secrets )

In between are people like Cliff Harris of Positech, who spends a lot of money marketing his games (titles like Gratuitous Space Battles and Democracy 2) with Google and tracking its effectiveness. In Cliff’s mind, an indie who doesn’t market is just leaving money on the table. So what are these strategies, and which one makes most sense for your business?

1. Launch marketing – it’s all about the buzz

Launch marketing is what many people think of when they think about marketing a game. This strategy emerged because of the retail nature of traditional games. In the world of physical AAA games, you get one shot at your marketing. There is a release date that is the centre of your marketing universe. That date really really matters.

The CFO of one of the top five publishers in the world once told me that he could predict the lifetime sales of a game to within 10,000 units from the first weekend’s sales data. Good sales means retailers keep stock on the shelves. They re-order. The digital distribution platforms highlight the game more. That first weekend can make or break a title.

So it is no wonder that lots of game marketing has evolved to support the big day. The carefully orchestrated PR reveals, the intensive marketing spend on TV, specialist press and outdoor in the run-up to the big day. The buzz machine that builds and builds and builds… And then collapses as the game is out, and everyone in marketing moves on to the next big game. This is an expensive, intensive, high risk strategy.

It can work, but you only get one shot at it. The AAA industry knows this: it has consolidated into the handful of global publishers that have the financial resources and the risk appetite to take these kind of bets. To my mind, indies can’t afford to take this risk, and would be foolish to do so.

2. Metrics-led marketing – it’s all about the data

Metrics led marketing doesn’t worry about buzz, PR, nice parties or cool trailers. It is cold-hearted and analytical. It uses Google Adwords, Facebook advertising and affiliate networks to run campaigns to attract users who will convert to buyers.

It is ruthless in the analysis. An affiliate network not delivering? Drop them. A Google ad not performing? Change it. It’s not about being cool, or having fun. It’s about finding customers and turning them into buyers as cost-effectively as possible. Note that this has nothing to do with metrics-led design, as practiced by most social game developers.

Metrics-led marketing draws users in, but the game might be a free-to-play MMO, a traditional hardcore downloadable title or any game that wants an audience. Cliff Harris, creator of Gratuitous Space Battles and no fan of free-to-play games, is a strong advocate of this style of marketing. He thinks anyone that makes games for a living ought to be good at this stuff, after all:

it’s just like a real time strategy game, except that the score is real money

3. Permission marketing – it’s all about the customer

Permission marketing focuses on building a long-term relationship with customers. It gives a lot away for free and in return gains permission to talk with fans more, to sell them stuff, and to encourage them to share the good news with their friends.

The godfather of permission based marketing is Seth Godin. He has more books on the subject than I can list, but check out Purple Cow, or just subscribe to his blog. GAMESbrief follows a permission marketing strategy. I give a lot of content away for free. I encourage readers to sign up for my emails by giving away the first two chapters of How to Publish a Game or the whole of GAMESbrief Unplugged Volume 1 away for free. I encourage users to spend money with me on my books, my masterclasses and my consultancy.

Andrew Smith of Spilt Milk Studios has approached it slightly differently. Using Twitter, guest posts and the wider web, he has created a persona that is approachable, a little outside the mainstream games industry, humble and bracingly honest. That breeds a trusted relationship with fans and journalists who respond well when Andrew calls for people to retweet his offers or share his promotions.

The secret to permission marketing is the sense that you are building a long-term relationship with your customers. Your objective is not only to sell something to them; it is to still be selling things to them – the same, named, known person – in five years time. It is something that traditional AAA marketers don’t understand, and even if they did, it might not work for them, because fans want to be talking to content creators, not content marketers. So permission-based marketing is almost custom made for indies.

Buzz, data or customers? Which approach should I use?

These three approaches are not mutually exclusive. You can use all of them (although it would be expensive and time-consuming). Personally, I wouldn’t focus on launch marketing. If you are, you are taking on the AAA publishers at their own game. They have more expertise, more resources and more ability to ride the inevitable failures that will occur in a hit-driven industry like games.

I would focus on building great relationships with end-users (and that means that you need to know who they are. If you can’t contact them when you need to – via email, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or whatever, then you have a pretty shallow relationship.)

I would supplement that with targeted, metrics-led campaigns, provided that you track the activity and can determine what is effective and what is just so much cash down the drain. Most indies I talk to about marketing immediately think about PR (a subset of launch marketing) and advertising (an extremely expensive form of marketing). Stop it. Think like an indie, and use every tool and skill at your disposal to build great, enduring relationships with your customers. You won’t regret it.（source:gamasutra）