PDF Marketing

[GregS]

So, I'm adapting to the whole PDF infiltration marketing model but I'm stuck on a quandery that, to my knowledge, has really never been addressed on the Forge.

What have people found to be effective marketing for PDFs?  I am most interested in hearing about static advertising/marketing efforts (those in which you do not have direct interaction with the customer, i.e. Cons).

[Nathan]

Greets,

There aren't too many options out there.

Banner advertising is one, but I hear it isn't always so effective. RPG.Net has pretty good rates for banner advertising, for instance, and you do get out there in front of gamers. The RPGNow/RPGMall family I believe offers banner advertising to a host of their sites. Getting on ENWorld's site might be a plus too.....

Don't discredit good old fashioned linkage. I'll link to your site if you link to mine... it's just standard... and it does work.

You can post news announcements to various sites - gamingreport.com, rpg.net news forum, enworld (for d20), pen and paper.net, and rpgnews.com....

Getting ad space in other PDFs might also be useful. You just need to build relationships with fellow designers or even e-zines and things. You might spend a little bit for this too.

Don't forget the value of a great, easy to read and navigate website with plenty of downloadable freebies and examples.

Really, big marketing is usually impossible for PDF folks. At the end of the day for roleplaying games, one-on-one marketing is really where it is at. Playing your game and letting others enjoy it is the best way to get a sale.... especially if your game is a stranger one -- no matter how many banner ads, slick flash presentations, or contests you have -- at some point, you are going to have to show that it is fun to play with friends.

I hope that helps.

Thanks,
Nathan

[LordSmerf]

I just want to support the idea of a solid website.  Website is what closed the sale of Luke Crane's The Burning Wheel for me.  I was curious one day, checked out the site, liked what i saw, and made a purchase.  So make your website solid, support your product.

One thing about most small scale publishing like that common to people on the Forge is that it is time intensive.  It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain community support and to get the word out.  Unfortunately this means that there are not many static marketting options...

Thomas

[Nathan]

To add one thing....

Has anyone tried any local marketing?

For example, paying for ad space on a local gamestore's website, newsletter, flyers, etc? Or relentlessly holding events at a local favorite game store? Circulating a low budget newsletter dedicated to your game out of a local game store or something? Leaving piles of freebies about your game at local game stores? Burning mini-discs of your game demos and allowing the game stores to give them out with each purchase for a day?

I don't know if it works... I'm just curious.

Thanks,
Nathan

[rpghost]

The thing that works best for most publishers is getting "air time" on the front page of news sites. If you're d20, get mentioned on ENWorld's front page. If you're not try RPG.NET and GamingReport.com and RPGNews.com...

We have a big chapter on marketing in the ePublisher guide that you get when you pay the signup fee at RPGNow. Also being a gold vendor there gets you access to mailing lists, coupons features, and much more.

Anyway, the short of the matter is to talk it up everywhere but don't cross the line of being spam. Add a message to your sig in a forum, but don't post a sales pitch as a new thread.

James

[daMoose_Neo]

re Nathan:

Yup, actually works quite nicely, even for an itty-bitty place like where I live ^_^
Ran a bunch of events this summer down at a sport & hobby shop, garnered about half of my sales from doing this. Left samples available at all times, would come in to find them ALL gone and people wondering when I could show up for another event (shop owner tried to learn but didn't have the time to show interested players, least not in detail).
People also like the thought "WOW! This is the guy who MADE the game!" and thought that was just too cool.
So yea, personal apperances frequently at a local gig can do a lot ^_^

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I was a little boggled when reading your first post, Greg. It seems to me as if we've discussed practically nothing but this topic in this forum since its first day. I started hunting threads for you but swiftly realized that several dozen links wouldn't be very helpful and that I didn't have the time.

I'll try to summarize the main points as I see them.

1. Infomercial logic does not work. The goal is not to generate traffic at your website, but to generate arrivals, from people who've clicked there specifically to get what you have to offer, already with some idea of who you are and what's there.

Hence banners, hit-based reward systems, and special deals with search engines are worthless.

2. A commercial website is by definition a webzine for the product. There is no merit to a presence; there is great merit to activities, stuff to find, things that change regularly, and ways to contribute to those changes.

It is paramount to establish a sense of community among visitors to the website -that what they do will affect what others see when they arrive. The site needs a personal, editorial presence that clearly acts as the nexus for these interactions.

3. If people arrive with an interest in the game, then they need to leave with value added: information, a document, interaction, accessories, or anything at all. If it's good value, then their chance of buying the product at the site skyrockets.

4. Mutualism works. If you link to others' sites, they will link to yours. If you provide positive information with your links, they will do the same. Expand this thinking to all internet interactions, on forums or mailing lists or IRC. Expand it as well to interactions with other publishers outside of the internet.

If you do this, then you won't have to beg for reviews or blindly send product to anyone. They will already be reviewing the material, and doing so with an eye toward promotion. You won't have to generate buzz, merely to make sure you're present most of the time when it happens, putting on a good face.

Your internet presence is your most powerful marketing tool. People like buying stuff from a forthright, unruffled, and non-smarmy person.

I hope some of that will help a bit. You'll notice that none of this has anything to do with PDF vs. non-PDF, and there's a reason for that: it's totally irrelevant. It's not the game's format which needs marketing, it's the enjoyable play of the game and your reliability and enthusiasm as a publisher.

Best,
Ron

[GregS]

Firstly, thank you everyone for your response.  Lots of good information, mostly confirming what I've already intended (which makes me happy).

To Ron, and for clearification, the distinction I was looking for, and what I meant by "hadn't been addressed on the Forge", was the distinctive marketing angle relevent to PDFs.   As with every industry, and then every specialized genre within that industry, there have to be PDF-specific angles for capitalizing on promotions...things that become practical with a PDF, or that draw attention to its relatively unique marketing options, that are not universally applicable...and I was wondering if anyone's had experience with those.

For example, one of the thoughts I had, which I since have found out has already been done, is to bundle multiple manufacturer's PDFs.  Something that is totally impractical with a full sized paper book but that the medium lends itself nicely to.

Another example, which I don't think has been done (but don't quote me on that), is the idea of a subscription service.  Rather than pay per title you pay per quarter or year to gain access to all the titles produced in that time.

[Blankshield]

Another example, which I don't think has been done (but don't quote me on that), is the idea of a subscription service.  Rather than pay per title you pay per quarter or year to gain access to all the titles produced in that time.

Interestingly, this has been done for print games.  CheapAss Games.  Give them 50 bucks (or $10 or $100) and a mailing address, and they'll send you games until your money runs out.

Just offering a data point.

James

[efindel]

Another example, which I don't think has been done (but don't quote me on that), is the idea of a subscription service.  Rather than pay per title you pay per quarter or year to gain access to all the titles produced in that time.

Interestingly, this has been done for print games.  CheapAss Games.  Give them 50 bucks (or $10 or $100) and a mailing address, and they'll send you games until your money runs out.

Just offering a data point.

It's been done with RPGs as well:  Columbia Games either does or used to offer the same sort of service with Harn and HarnMaster products.  How well it worked for them, I have no idea...

[Rorimack]

Wouldn't an "indie news" site/forum work as constant marketing?

(If there _is_ something like that, please forget this message)

Not just for pdfs, but for the whole indie scene.

If you are browsing the Forge, there is little chance to miss some new indie release, but what about the one-time visitors, and the people not knowing about this page?

I'm speaking about the "Now, let's see what does those indys do!" types.

Couldn't it end like "Ahh, I see that this week/month this and this come out, and next week/month I could get that an that, and here are the places where I could buy them. Cool. Now what was my paypal password?"?