Please share your marketing that has worked, even if only a little...  It's interesting to note that each individual marketing effort collectively markets and breaks down the community games barrier to the average gamer, and it would be a good thing if we all did some marketing.

Good topic, and I look forward to hearing what devs with completed games have done.   I am happy to be an open book on this topic - hope others are too.

There is very little awareness of specific XBCG titles from what I can tell, and it's certainly our individual responsbility to help change that.   I have trouble finding even the most basic of marketing on the games that I review (i.e. there is almost never a website or contact info for the devs/companies creating these games). 

Please note: I do not have a completed XBCG, we're still in development.  Here's what I've done so far that seems logical and has 'worked' (even if only a little, haha).

• Created a website for Ophidian Wars, updated with new content, offering background on the game, and contact info.
• Created a company blog/site where I focus on reviewing other XBCG titles. 
• Regularly participate in indie communities/forums, looking for feedback/advice and softly directing others to my sites via my signature.   Also put my 2 cents in when I feel qualified to do so. 
• Reach out and network with some other people with a similar mindset as to help share traffic.  (this is fun - met some great people)
• Twitter page to let others know when I have a new review/update up.

Since the Ophidian Wars website launch, i've successfully attracted about 3000 unique visitors (and climbing) and with the launch of my Blog/reviews a couple weeks ago, I am seeing additional awareness and interest. (both in the review content, the games, and my game) The blog gets about 30 or so visitors per day there (based on a week's worth of Google Analytics).  Yesterday it rocketed it 60 for some reason, so maybe that's good.

That's the basics in my book.  From here, I plan to:

• Continue posting key updates about my game.  This should soon include better attention grabbers like in-game screenshots and video. 

• Release a teaser trailer.  Hopefully offer gameplay videos as well and provide to sites like gametrailers.com.

• Considering banner advertising and email campaigns although I haven't delved in to the details there yet.

• Potentially work with MS on other marketing opportunities within the "Live" setting.

• Press Release.

I believe at the very least, devs should offer a basic webpage with contact info, coupled with some community involvement.

It'll be nice to hear about other successes and ideas.

I have done facebook (group, not ads), youtube (7,000+ views total), twitter, blogging (about my own game, but may expand into other areas of XBLCG), and posting in shmup (genre specific) forums for both feedback and sharing.  I even push it on my personal youtube account (seems appropriate), but not my personal facebook account (seems like spam).

We will have a virtual soundtrack CD by those who provided our music (no direct link to the album it yet).

I try to avoid anything spammy.  I got banned on dvdtalk.com for having a link to my blog, because it had google ads.  I do not consider signatures to be spam.  I consider them to be identification.  I have always shared what I am working on, and have always participated in forums dealing with my work.  It's what I do.  And I do not care to fake participation (increase post numbers) in a forum before getting right to the point as to why I am there, to avoid sounding like spam.  But, I do not spam.

I plan to do more... just not sure what, yet...

APPENDED:

- XNA Roundup ads (http://xnaroundup.com/)
- requested (to various gaming sites) interviews (after being asked to do my first)
- requested (to various gaming sites) previews of our trailer
- take part in XBLCG threads on other forums

APPENDED (2):
- game featured on company website (http://xona.com/dualityzf/)
- game-only website (http://dualityzf.com/)

I have the Website
I promote the Site whenever i write anything (through my sig etc)
I have released a Press Release through a company (yes i paid :)
I have and am actively targetting Xbox specific sites for my press release.
I have written a couple of reviews for my game as some sites want these (not published them yet, but will soon i hope)
I have put up trailers for my games on Youtube (currently in the process of making them HD, as low res ones suck!)
I am about to go see the local GameStop manager and ask nicely if they will place one of my flyers into bags of software when anxbox title etc is bought (we shall see how this goes down).
I really want reviews and a metacritic rating, i believe these to be very important. so i am working on getting them in.
I will be writing some articles on developing for the XBLCG area and other topics like 'veteran game developer goes Indie' or some such.
If i see any reviews i will actively partake in the discussions in the game thread.
I will be doing a GameTrailer that is a spoof and should be an entertaining video to promote SorceryGames and XBLCG.

what else is there ? any and all suggestions will probably be attempted, as this month is advertising and marketing month at sorcery 8D

Edit: Anyone know how to get mentioned on the Major Nelson podcast? That would be good!!

I have just gone to the Xbox.com website forums for Pellmell and made a couple of posts in it. It wasn't getting any views at all as there was nothing in it. So this might help some browsing views. It certainly did with Aceball, even if i was the only one to post :(

This link shows the post i added listing the Features of Pellmell, i also added a copy of the press release.
http://forums.xbox.com/27223253/ShowPost.aspx#27223253

I maybe should have waited a few days to do the second post, as i know people that trawl that site tend to look at the Active list and not read list. so it would be possible to get two hits rather than one. However I can of course go back in a few days and post to my own threads 8]

This is a good marketting strategy i think and an easy one to accomplish for any game.

This is good stuff - thanks for sharing.  Many of us seem to be walking the same path.  That fine line between being annoying and being persistant is a tough one eh? :)

Has anyone considered organizing something more official - a "guild" of some sort that we use to cross promote among XBCG devs?  I know some devs have a more competitive streak and don't want to share potential business.   I am more thinking that general promotion of XBCG is good for everyone, so best not to be selfish. 

On a small scale, this would mean something like:

A joint Youtube/blog/facebook/whatever venture.   Something where we can all post content and draw viewers together.   This would be particularly cool and effective on Youtube for trailers, gameplay vids, dev vids, etc.   Aka, a channel just for XBCG.  (this may exist already?)

On a larger scale, it might mean:

A more official union of XBCG developers with some sort of heirarchy and a stricter membership criteria.  Create budgets to advertise the platform, etc.  (seems like a lofty goal, I know)

Just food for thought.  It's Friday, cut me some slack.

CVO:

Just food for thought.  It's Friday, cut me some slack.

Don't ever feel bad for sharing ideas.  I feel like I will get flak posting on these forums (and have) every time I post.  We shouldn't let us stop it.  This is a place of ideas.  Best to not let potential criticism hold you back.  I always feel it takes 99 bad ideas for one great one to come up.  Even some of the "idiot" posters hit the mark every once in a while if you just don't judge them for a moment.  Anyway, just felt like putting a positive twist on something for a change.

And for what it's worth, it's my intent to share with the community everything we do, whether it works or not.  I feel it will be one of my biggest contributions to the community.

I just appended to my post of all the things I have done, I'm not sure how to really go about keeping it up to date.

I am not sure we have to keep it up to date at the moment. So long as this thread stays fairly short, then adding extra stuff is fine and can be found pretty easily.

Now if we get a whole slew of ideas that we want to record, maybe we shall have to do that somewhere else or in some other fashion...

For example. I have just used an outside Press release company, and I used them becasue they have already obtained contact info for approximately 200 online gameing sites along with magazine sites. Now if we can get all our collective contacts written up, then we will have our Own special mailing list when we release a new game. If this is not palattable by most people, then I guess i will have to go with some secret XNA organized thing where we few share what we have worked hard to obtain. (I know some people will feel giving away a free mailing list for those 'crappy apps' and lower standard games a complete waste of time.. I however do not agree. We all have a place and a time.)

so on with the show, and lets hope we can make a show of it.

Matthew has the head post here... I suggest that he copies all the ideas up into the top post and starts forming an FAQ out of it.

Just cut and Paste and I will help out with a format that matches the rest of the FAQs. Once its nicely done I'll delete all the other posts and move it to the FAQ folder. We even have an FAQ on how to write an FAQ http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/3472.aspx

Then either Matthew as the post owner or any of the mods can edit and keep it up to date.

thanks Zman, that could work out well. I just hope we end up with enough good stuff to get us noticed. Is my new game one worth getting us noticed with, obviously I believe so. But so far the public has declined to agree. I will however continue with my marketing idea's and If i get any real results I will post them also.

Today i printed up 400 flyers for Pellmell and Xbox live community games. Cost $15.

Then i went and visited a Nice manager at the local Gamestop and chatted with him. He offered to put a flyer in each persons bag that buys an xbox360 related product. cost $10 (ok it was freely offered but I decided to buy him a MS point card so he could have the games for free!)

We shall see what this does if anything. The good thing is that this is great market targetting.

So is a full list of ideas what we want?  I could keep a list in the original post, but some ideas may work for one game and not another.  Some ideas may be persued more agressively, and with more money, by one developer than another.  And so on.  Some ideas we may not know if they work or not; It might be too hard to tell.  So, let me know if you want me to make a list.  Maybe I'll let people post their experiences so far and see what comes up.  My success with my marketing ventures so far is unknown as we are not even selling our game yet.

CVO:

This is good stuff - thanks for sharing.  Many of us seem to be walking the same path.  That fine line between being annoying and being persistant is a tough one eh? :)

Has anyone considered organizing something more official - a "guild" of some sort that we use to cross promote among XBCG devs?  I know some devs have a more competitive streak and don't want to share potential business.   I am more thinking that general promotion of XBCG is good for everyone, so best not to be selfish. 

On a small scale, this would mean something like:

A joint Youtube/blog/facebook/whatever venture.   Something where we can all post content and draw viewers together.   This would be particularly cool and effective on Youtube for trailers, gameplay vids, dev vids, etc.   Aka, a channel just for XBCG.  (this may exist already?)

On a larger scale, it might mean:

A more official union of XBCG developers with some sort of heirarchy and a stricter membership criteria.  Create budgets to advertise the platform, etc.  (seems like a lofty goal, I know)

Just food for thought.  It's Friday, cut me some slack.

We'd do it. On the condition that it's set up equitably for everyone.

VoodooChief:

Today i printed up 400 flyers for Pellmell and Xbox live community games. Cost $15.

Then i went and visited a Nice manager at the local Gamestop and chatted with him. He offered to put a flyer in each persons bag that buys an xbox360 related product. cost $10 (ok it was freely offered but I decided to buy him a MS point card so he could have the games for free!)

We shall see what this does if anything. The good thing is that this is great market targetting.

This is a great idea!  I don't know why I had never considered it.  Definitely gonna do this for my next game.

With my game I did the unusual marketing approach of making a Flash version for it! I released them in parallel so I don't know how it helps, but it seems to! Making an entire other game to advertise the first game isn't too practical, I was able to do it because my game was originally made in Flash anyway, but it does seem to of made an impact. Overall the Flash version has had about 175,000 views.

Importantly too the ad providers on my Flash game have a 'Traffic Share' thing where I can make my own ad and as I get hits on my game it means my ad is displayed more. That ad is getting ~10,000 views and ~350 clicks a week. That's helping too I hope.

I'm currently developing another Flash game at the moment. It won't have any ads in it for my Xbox game, but hopefully the increased exposure should mean I can have my own ad above displayed more. So it should be interesting to see how the sales are affected by that release, we'll see in a few weeks :)

All great ideas here. Although our game is far from marketing potential I've been wandering around checking out what people are doing.

I think that youtube is the biggest thing for me. If I can go see the game in action its an immediate plus. I can't fathom why 50% of the games in XBLCG don't have a trailer. The truth is, we're making low budget games here. The graphics are not always up to par, so the least a developer should do is showcase the gameplay, which is generally the strongest aspect of community titles. Are you trying to sell this game or what?

Second would have to be the website. Its nice to go read up on the people making the game and it gives a professional touch to your product. You want people to pay money right? You have to make it seem like this product warrants spending cash.

For example:
I went to the Sorcery Games website. Different people have different taste, but if you ask me this site was made in less than an hour. I don't know your team VoodooChief, but surfing through the site I get the feeling that you're people who will settle for less. The thing is, I'm almost sure you're not like that... you're making games on a business venture following your dream.. you're printing flyers goddamit.. you're clearly into this. I think that your site should reflect who you want to become as company, where as right now it doesn't even show who you really are.
Then there's this bit: "Coming Soon  FREE   PC Versions   of these Games."
That's like shooting your own marketing in the foot. I don't know what this message was intended to convey, but here's how I see it: You can buy these games for xbox now, or get them free on pc soon? Ok. I can wait for the free version and if I don't have a pc I'll just feel ripped off having to pay when others don't.

I liked your site Murudai, and I like that you have a seperate site for your game. You have a really professional approach.

Looking at Murundai's example, his game was also done in flash. A lot of 2d games on XBLCG could have been done in flash, or have flash alternatives that can be played free on the web.
Its up to us to create the image of quality and superiority of XBLCG over addictinggames.com.

Agreed, a website and trailer are pretty much a must.   Both require quite a bit of work, so I can see why 1 or 2-person teams may not get to it, but that won't be good for their numbers. 

Regarding the YouTube XNA page, is it worthwhile?  If you think from a fans/gamer's perspective, a trailer/gamelay video is truly the biggest draw.   If they had once place to scan a multitude of these trailers in one place, that would seem to be an advantage to all right?   If all particpants made efforts to bring in traffic, that could be 10x or 20x the eyes on each game.   Sort of like a mini-gametrailers.com just for XNA. 

CVO:

Agreed, a website and trailer are pretty much a must.   Both require quite a bit of work, so I can see why 1 or 2-person teams may not get to it, but that won't be good for their numbers. 

i don't think there's any reason not to have a trailer and website.  you can get a domain and hosting for about the same or cheaper than a CC membership, and you can make trailers for free.  trailer takes minutes to make, and you can get a wordpress website up and running in about the same amount of time.  of course, a professional website and trailer can mean more time and money, but having SOME way to show off your game is better than nothing.  i don't know about other people, but words don't much to me when it comes to games.  i go straight for visuals, THEN i read the description.  videos and screenshots can only help, even bad games imho.

i think one of the easiest ways to promote your game is to put links in your sig.  it's subtle, but i always click them when i see them.

I agree, at least make a trailer that is pure, unedited gameplay (if nothing else).

Crying Monkey Studio:

i don't think there's any reason not to have a trailer and website.

Trailer for sure since people browsing YouTube, Vimeo, and GameTrailers will stumble upon them.

Website I'm not so sure. Unless you plan to market your website, nobody is going to come anyway. Plus you can always send them to the xblcg.info page for the game or the Xbox.com marketplace page or even just the catalog page on this site if all you want is to show them the game with some screenshots. Unless you have a well made site that you are marketing, I personally don't see the point in putting one up.

i think one of the easiest ways to promote your game is to put links in your sig.  it's subtle, but i always click them when i see them.

It works, but remember that on this forum you're preaching to a fairly small choir. Make sure you hit gamer forums like xbox.com or neogaf and spread your links that way.

Nick Gravelyn:

Crying Monkey Studio:

i don't think there's any reason not to have a trailer and website.

Trailer for sure since people browsing YouTube, Vimeo, and GameTrailers will stumble upon them.

Website I'm not so sure. Unless you plan to market your website, nobody is going to come anyway. Plus you can always send them to the xblcg.info page for the game or the Xbox.com marketplace page or even just the catalog page on this site if all you want is to show them the game with some screenshots. Unless you have a well made site that you are marketing, I personally don't see the point in putting one up.

i think one of the easiest ways to promote your game is to put links in your sig.  it's subtle, but i always click them when i see them.

It works, but remember that on this forum you're preaching to a fairly small choir. Make sure you hit gamer forums like xbox.com or neogaf and spread your links that way.

I think if you want to be a nobody then sure, forget the website and stick to making flash games on here.

Anyone who is serious about making this work and wants to have some sort of future doing this requires a website. I visit company sites. The website itself can be a treat and can really get a player excited about a game. Think starcraft2.com... its just awesome to visit, see the concept art, get a taste of the game. Sure we might not have the resources/skills to build a website like starcraft2.com, but look at all the talent around here. Skills are easily acquired if one is determined and if you're already building a game, I'm sure you can make an awesome website to showcase it. Best of all you show the product from your perspective, the way its meant to be seen.

You only get one first impression. With the abundance of games all over I'd go out of my way to make sure that impression was a good one.

Certain types of games might not need a site (assuming that other dedicated sites like a youtube page are in effect), but I can't understand why someone wouldn't take 2 seconds to set up a free dev blog at least.   It's a home base for directing people too, showing progress/screenshots/video, getting feedback, etc.  Why not?   They are also easily connected to 2.0 features that web together with all of your other efforts.

I consider my website a neccessity.  Any action/rpg should show off concept ard and provide some story/background.   I am an RPG junkie and I love cruising through lore and getting imersed.  I've spent hours on Diablo fansites, Guild Wars sites, Zelda sites, and lots of lots indie RPG websites, etc. 

I've seen some previews of other cool fantasy-style XNA games and can't believe they don't have websites.  (yet?)

So I hope I am reaching like-minded fantasy/sci-fi individuals.   I get good feedback, and my traffic is steady, so I feel like it's worth it.

Huey:

I think if you want to be a nobody then sure, forget the website and stick to making flash games on here.

Tell that to 2DBoy, whose only web site is a blog.  That doesn't seem to be stopping anyone from buying World of Goo, which I'd be willing to bet has been more profitable than the vast majority of AAA games.

Here's a simple idea for a game-only website, that shouldn't take anyone that long to make:
http://dualityzf.com/
 
The dot-com is the game's name (if you can do that, great) and it shows the best trailer we have at the moment.  Too bad I couldn't make the video show the logo when it's not being played.  The links all go to xona.com, our company website and other places, but the site on dualityzf.com is one one page in size, the main index page and that's it.  The idea is simple and inspired slightly off of Raiden IV and World of Goo official sites, but mostly the idea was my own which was to have a direct link to the game's trailer, to get right to the point.  So... What's Duality ZF?  Check out dualityzf.com.

EDIT:  URL typo fixed! :S