So, last time we talked about marketing in games in general and what is important to know in order to prepare yourself for getting into the market.
This time, let’s get a little bit more inside the topic of PR (Public Relations) and the specifics of what makes good video game advertising.
But first of all, it’s fundamental to know the difference between three different things that will serve as the base for the whole topic: advertising, marketing and PR.
Mario R. Kroll, president and founder of ÜberStrategist, gives us the following definition to those three concepts:
- Advertising: “A young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is.”
- Marketing: “A young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist.”
- Public Relations: “Someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is.”
These comparisons draw the most basic notion to help you understand each concept in a colloquial way. But it’s the PR part that interests us today. In Mario Kroll’s own words:
“Public Relations is all about helping you develop a cohesive communication strategy so you’re not just throwing things out there […], but having a plan that goes behind it to tell a story.”
In essence, he’s saying that PR is about creating a narrative that will engage people and either establish or enhance the perception of your organization, product or service.
It’s more about the relationship between you and the press or influencers (or anyone who can bring attention to your game, really) so they can tell other people good things about your product rather than working on the image of the product itself.
Of course, when I mention “product”, it can also mean brand, company or service, if we’re talking about business notions in general. But let’s stick to video games for the sake of cohesion here.
Another thing that helps to further understand the concept is to define what PR is NOT:
- It’s NOT User Acquisition or Sales: lot’s of clients approach Mario asking about the number of units or sales he’s going to drive for them, but that is not the purpose of PR.
- It’s NOT Advertising or Marketing: those are two things that you absolutely should be doing, but just doing PR by itself does not get the job done.
- It’s NOT Community Management: it does tie together to your community, because you’re building a fan following about your game, which should be done in about six or twelve months before the game comes out, but it is a separate thing.
- It’s NOT a Protection for Acting Poorly: some people think that PR is a type of “shield”, some kind of license for being untruthful or unethical or just acting badly in general, but good PR is not about that at all.
- It’s NOT Magic: some people also think it’s magical the way that PR gets things spinning and working, when in reality it’s just having creativity and a plan and also lot of persistence and consistency.
And now, of course, let’s contrast it with the things that PR actually is:
- It IS Speaking to your Audience Through the Press and Influencers: in other words, it is about the press liking your product and talking positively about it instead of you having that conversation directly.
- It IS Telling a Story in a Way that Stands Out: it’s very important to always be aware about what’s noteworthy, what’s new so you can highlight what’s unique about your product when presenting them to editors who have seen hundreds of pitches.
- It IS Communicating your Message: Again, it’s about communicating your specific message so others take note and so you stand out from the many games that are out there.
- It IS Building or Enhancing Brand Awareness Through Earned Media: earned media is basically anything that you don’t pay for, so it’s neither advertising nor marketing – it is things that you do that organically build a reputation for your brand.
- It IS Increasing Your Potential Audience: PR also does help with that. For example, if you’re in a small geographical area, your network may be limited in who you know, but by getting out there and talking to your global talking editors worldwide can dramatically multiply the total number of customers that could be aware of your product.
- It IS Attracting Suitable Partners, Talent, Publishers, Investors, etc.: it can be a great tool in attracting potential partners, or if you’re hiring a talent, maybe finding a publisher, investors and so forth.
- It IS Reputation and Crisis Management: the best thing to do is, of course, never get yourself in trouble, but there are situations where negative things happen and PR can help with that. Again, it’s not an excuse for acting dishonestly or being untruthful, but it can help to minimize the negative impact when something goes wrong.
So there you have it. Hopefully, this short introduction to Public Relations can help you better understand what it means to have a healthy relationship with your community and make it grow even bigger. It’s important to notice that PR is a concept that goes unnoticed as a minor or irrelevant thing by a lot of people, but it is in fact, like we just learned, one of the main pillars in making a successful name for your game.
