Zero Budget VIDEO GAME MARKETING // YouTube Game Marketing // Approaching Creators

Getting YouTubers and streamers to play your game is the best way to market an indie game. At least that's what I think. And best of all, it's a form of video game marketing that can easily be done with a zero dollar budget. In this video I will go through an actual email I used and give my recommendations on what to include in your message (+ what I could also have done better).

0:00 Intro
1:23 Drafting the email
2:55 My recommendations

-Interesting and concise title. If your game has a unique hook, an interesting setting or an exciting genre combination, I would try to put that in the title. As long as you can fit it nicely in a small space. If your game has won some awards or a big youtuber has played it, that might also be something you could mention in the title. Anything you think might catch the attention of the creator.

-Greetings. I think it’s a nice touch to include the name of the creator here. I also prefer using their real name if possible. instead of a channel name.

-Short details about why you are contacting them. If you can make it interesting or somehow personalized to the creator, that’s probably the best move. But if not, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being brief and to the point.

-The name of your game.

-Short pitch about your game or specifying the genre. If you have a cool short pitch about your game, it's good to include it near the top where it's easily visible.

-Mention of a hook or an interesting feature the game has. It’s good to somehow try to make your game sound special and different from all the other games.

-Embargo if you want to have one. Many times you don’t want the creators to post videos until a specific date. This is called setting an embargo.

-Link to more info. You want to have a place where the video creators and publications can go to easily collect more information about your game. This is called a press kit. Aside from basic information, It’s also important to include high quality art assets of your game into the press kit. You want to make it as easy as possible for the creator to add your game’s flair to their content, whether it’s a thumbnail on YouTube or an article in a game magazine.

-Access to the game. Personally, I recommend including a key to your game in the first email you send. You want to make it as easy as possible for the creator to try your game and feature it in their content if they want to.

-Additionally I also included a link to the steam page. This provides a quick access for extra details in a familiar setting.

-I also added a small gif so they could get a quick look at the game and see if it’s something they might be interested in. This could also be a screenshot of the game. I feel like adding something visual to your email will make it more interesting if they do decide to open the email.

-End it with a signature. In here, I think it’s good to use your real name and not hide behind the studio name. It will make you more relatable.

7:50 About embargo

To maximize the marketing effect of videos featuring your game, I recommend you send keys to creators a few weeks before release and ask them not to release any videos before the release day. Sending the keys a few weeks in advance will give the creators enough time to try out your game and then make a video before the release, if they think it fits their channel.

By setting the embargo to your release date, you ensure that anyone who sees the videos has an opportunity to go buy the game right away. If they were to see the video before release, they might go wishlist it, but it’s always better to get a sale than a wishlist. Also for some, watching videos of the game before release, might spoil the game to the point that they don’t actually want to buy it anymore.

On the flip side, videos published before the release can build up hype for the game. Which can then lead to a snowball effect and spread awareness of your game to the far reaches of the internet.

There are definitely pros and cons when it comes to setting an embargo. But my opinion is that for your average indie game, it’s better to set an embargo to the release day so you can give your release the biggest boost you can. It’s also good to keep in mind that most creators will only make a single video about your game, if any. If they already made a video about your game few months before the release, in most cases they are not likely to feature the game again on release, unless they really enjoyed the game.

[TylerHaddad]

Really helpful advice! Agreed with the other commenter about art and marketing being more important than development. If it looks cool and people know about it, it's way better than if it's ugly and no one knows but it works really well.

[thorminator]

Awesome valuable content and excellent presentation! 😎

[wglxy-games]

Thank you so much. This video and your others are so helpful. Marketing is so difficult for me but you have a way of encouraging me to try.

[benlega]

Such a cool video ! Thanks for showing such insights <3 Keep it up bro. I would love to hear more about how you designed the game and what your planning looked like: what went well, what took more time than expected, etc, .. :)

[mohamedmustafa]

Awesome super awesome, Thanks for sharing that much details n u put a lot of effort, really appreciated
waiting for your next videos

[DissolvedMotions]

Great video! Looking forward to the next ones :D

[yfchan]

The point on "Creators won't feature your game again" is interesting. Does that mean we shouldn't reach out to creators if we recently release a new demo? As this make them unlikely to feature when full game is ready

[paypercutts]

Another great vid mate! Choc full of useful info that'll help me in my journey in the future. Keep em coming!

[AndrzejGieraltCreative]

This video is so helpful, thank you! I was wondering, do you have any tips for sending out emails to get trailer channels to cover the game's trailer? I'm going to follow a similar model and do an embargo for these, as there's no game to play yet, only the trailer, and hopefully build up wishlists. My plan would be to then find some youtubers for wishlists, and some youtubers for release... does that seem like it would make sense?

[Kyle-holj]

marketing and art might be more important then developing nowadays lol ...

[roadtomillion]

With steam keys can we download without purchasing it?

[wglxy-games]

A question for you about translations ... I found some of the places where your Mortal Glory game was reviewed by streamers. Many different languages are supported by your game. Did you have support for many languages before you reached out to streamers? Or is that something you added along the way as the game became more successful?

[ShazySoft]

I sent out a bunch of emails by hand that were all tailored and unique to each creator, but they get flagged as spam. Has this happened to you? If so, what did you do to resolve it?

[BlackJar]

I was thinking I might give free Steam game keys as thank you's to Youtubers who gave favorable reviews of my mod -- if they liked the Doomlike Dungeons there is a good chance they will like the Caverns of Evil.

[AMr-dwul]

Is English your native language if no can you make a video about nothing 😁😁you are good😁😁