Should You Hire a Game Marketing Agency?

Let’s address the elephant in the room: we’re a games marketing agency. So, what business do we have writing an article about whether indie devs should be hiring, well, us? The answer to that question is simple: not every game is a good fit for a game marketing agency. We spend a lot of time qualifying indie devs and advising on whether or not they should work with us. The very first thing that we do when working with a new game is undertaking deep, expensive research to advise them on whether their game has the commercial potential necessary to continue their work with us. If it doesn’t, we advise that studios' money is best spent elsewhere: on another project, on further development, or on a nice holiday. 

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Sometimes we get it wrong. Sometimes we turn away games that end up being hits - or at the least, commercially viable. No amount of research, testing and benchmarking allows us to predict the future. But to us, that’s a small price to pay for the security that we’re working only with games that we’re sure have the commercial potential to make a return on their investment in our services. 

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So, in this article, we’ll be outlining - from the perspective of a game marketing agency that advises a surprising number of potential clients that they’re best spending their money elsewhere - whether or not your studio should hire an indie game marketing agency like ours. 

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What Does A Game Marketing Agency Actually Do? 

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The biggest benefit of hiring a games marketing agency is that they know what you don’t. They know the benchmarks necessary to make your game a success, they know (as well as anybody does) how to work the Steam algorithm, how best to position your game, how to write an effective press release, and all of the myriad of other specialist knowledge gained over decades that indie game marketing involves. 

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The second largest benefit of hiring a games marketing company is that they have connections that indie studios often don’t. They know the journalists and influencers who are often the gatekeepers to indie success.

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The third largest benefit is simple, and it’s what indie devs - who are often highly capable, productive polymaths, more than capable of learning the ins-and-outs of indie game marketing if they have the time to spare - mention most often to us. It’s time. There are a limited amount of hours in the day, and outsourcing marketing - perhaps the most time-consuming activity of indie game development, next to the development itself - can save a significant amount of it. 

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Should You Hire A Game Marketing Company? 

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To decide whether or not you should hire a games marketing agency, we’d offer these 4 simple questions:

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• Is your game a commercial project, rather than a hobby project? Commercial projects can be part-time, they can start as hobby projects that grow, and you by no means have to be a professional game developer in order to create a commercial game. But commercial projects have a level of commitment, polish and a base level of market research which means that they have the potential to attract a playerbase.

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• Do you have a budget, even if it’s limited? Marketing requires a budget - but it doesn’t have to break the bank. Good game marketing agencies will work to your budget, and, if they’re committed to helping indie devs, will offer packages at rates designed for indies and solo devs to succeed. 

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• Do you want the additional work of growing a studio? This is sometimes more complicated than it seems. Making a game is one thing, whilst growing a successful studio: managing your playerbase, replying to Steam reviews, and dealing with the increased - and not always positive - attention a successful game brings is another. Are you making games purely for enjoyment, or are you prepared for the additional work of growing a studio?

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• Are you looking to self-publish, or work with a publisher? We mention this because publishers - often, but not always - offer marketing services as part of their commitment. There are huge rewards to self-publishing - additional freedom, no deadlines or external pressure, and the ability to keep all of the profit generated by your game. Particularly at the moment, the publishing landscape is bleak - but for many devs, publishing has been the traditional route to success.

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If all of the above are looking good to you, then it might be time to get in touch with a game marketing company. I choose the words get in touch carefully, because it is imperative that you shop around before committing to one game marketing agency or another. Reputable games marketing agencies will offer free consultations, and often free proposals, and won’t pressure you into an early commitment. It’s important to find an agency that you like the approach of, that you mesh well with, and that has experience working with other games in your genre. 

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Once you’ve shopped around, chatted, and analysed the proposals of a number of game marketing agencies - and if you see value in what they’re offering you - it may be time to commit. 

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What Happens After You Hire A Games Marketing Agency?

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So, what happens next? This depends on the agency that you’ve decided to work with: each will have their own approach. You’ll be onboarded, talked through the next steps, and they’ll get to work. 

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To give you a bit more context, though, we’ll talk about what happens at Campaign Cooperative for each of our clients after they’ve signed. Namely, I’ll talk you through something that we call the Pre-Campaign Phase. This is the phase before any real ‘marketing’ begins. It’s offered at a discounted rate, and this part of our process is all about market research and commercial viability testing. As I mentioned above, we don’t work with games unless we’re sure that they have the potential to be successful commercially - and this part of our process is about providing studios and devs with clear, direct data and insights - along with our more qualitative recommendations - about whether or not to continue putting budget into marketing, or at least, a marketing agency like us. 

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This phrase includes the following deliverables: 

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• Steam Page Creation & Optimisation
• Market Research Analysis
• Target Audience Analysis
• Advertising A/B Testing (used for gathering cost-per-wishlist metrics)
• Ad Creatives Creation (for facilitating the above)
• Gameplay & Visual Feedback

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Ultimately culminating in our recommendations on the commercial viability of the project. If things look good - and the developers and studios agree with our assessment based on the data we provide - then we recommend moving forward. If not, we give our recommendations otherwise: whether these are to focus on another title, to make changes to the game, or to hold fast and consider marketing at a later date.

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Hopefully this is helpful, and provides some insight into the all-too-shadowy workings of game marketing agencies. We’ll be writing more about the inner workings & behind the scenes of game marketing companies in the coming weeks, as we work towards a more transparent industry for indies. Stay tuned.