This month I was struck by a lot of upcoming marketing campaigns- that is to say, I had to do a lot of planning! I’m also in the middle of writing several different articles which are near completion… but this month I also made a few infographics. First I have a custom marketing funnel that shows the steps of the buyer’s journey. Second I have a quick social media marketing plan template for indie games. I hope these’ll be of some help!
Marketing Funnel
The marketing funnel is a basic marketing concept that revolves around the concept that a consumer goes through several stages before buying and recommending your product. There are newer versions of this model such as the Flywheel that are structured differently. However, this funnel is still a good ground for understanding different stages.
Awareness
“What is this?”
Someone who has just found out about your game. They’re probably unaware what the title is and what the game is about. They’ve most likely just seen a screenshot, character artwork, logline, etc. or possibly encountered it on Steam carousel.
Having a compelling key artwork, logline, or screenshots can lead to the next step.
Interest
“What’s this game about?”
Someone who has seen your game at least once. They want to know what the game is about and whether it’d be appealing to them. Clear communication what the game is about and will have feature-wise is good for this step.
Have a clear call to action to move someone to the next step. Something like “follow our Twitter for updates” or “sign up to our newsletter” or “wishlist the game on Steam”.
Consideration
“I’m interested in following this game.”
Someone who knows what your game is and is interested. They’re probably following one of the social media accounts for the game and/or have wishlisted the game.
Give them a reason to download the demo or buy the full game to move to the next stage. Update the demo, put the game on sale, or provide new in-game content to move someone to the next stage.
Player
“I have to play this game.”
Someone who has downloaded your demo or full game. They’ve possibly started playing it.
Ask for Steam reviews and keep the community active (such as an engaging Discord or merch giveaways) to move someone to the next step.
Fan
“I have to tell my friends about this game.”
Someone who has played your game and loves it. They’ve posted about it publically, possibly on Steam, social media, or told their friends. They’re probably on your newsletter or in your Discord.
Why a marketing funnel?
It’s good to keep the marketing funnel in mind because consumers will be in different stages. You can’t talk to a Player the same way you would someone in the Awareness stage- one has bought your game and the other has no idea what your game is! Determine where most people will be when you make a post and form the message around that.
Social Media Marketing Plan Template for Indie Games
When I have ideas for marketing plans, I’ll usually open up Clip Studio Paint and start scribbling down ramblings that sometimes make sense. It’s a very chaotic way to go about marketing notes, but it works (somewhat) for me. I did this for my team’s upcoming NaNoRenO project and realized I should probably make a template for it.
This template is a very quick, general look at a social media marketing plan for indie games. Treat it more as a starting point than the final destination.
And since I’m a visual learner, here’s an example of it filled out with my RPG VN Asterism.
You can also view the template and use it on Canva right here.
Logline
A brief, one sentence summary of your game. This is your pitch, make it spicy! …My example is just a quick logline for Asterism, make sure to actually workshop yours and refine it.
Main Points
Things that are important for the branding. These will be things your messaging and visuals should convey that are important to your game.
Target Audience
Who is most likely to play your game? It’s not “everyone”. If you’re having trouble figuring out your target audience, you can watch my talk on determining them here:
Key Content
The main pieces of content you’ll use to push the game. These should be pieces of content that best show off the main points of the game and resonate with the target audience.
Secondary Content
Other important pieces of content for pushing the game, but pieces that aren’t as important as the Key Content. These can be used as filler pieces of content.
Channels
At the top I have an (incomplete) list of social media channels. At the bottom you write down some of the ones you’re focusing on and then detail out how you’ll post on them. Even though Twitter and Instagram are my main channels, the promotional mix for both is somewhat different. Instagram is a visual-heavy medium that likes vertical videos as opposed to Twitter’s primarily horizontal videos. Make notes of these platform differences and differences in audience on each!
Hope either of these resources helped! Here’s two similar resources that may help.