PR gaming. Even in 2021, there are still lots of people who don’t know how enormous the video game industry is. Who could know that there was so much money in the zombie’s fights, shooting, and the battle of the tanks? Behind the familiar names, franchises, characters, and corporations of the game industry, video game PR managers are tasked with the same challenges as their colleagues in other less entertaining business sectors.
When you are creating a game or gaming product, the difference between a success and a flop often comes down to hype. You might be presenting an amazing new game or a gaming product that’s years ahead of everything else, but if no one’s talking about it, you’ll never gain the result you want for long-term success.
This is why you have to plan your PR game strategy months ahead of time. A well-crafted PR campaign can grab positive media coverage and reviewers from the jump, a huge boost for any launch. With that in mind, here are the strategies I suggest that can help you maximize press awareness for the launch of your game or gaming product.
Build Expectation with the Right Audiences
Months before the launch of the game is when the real work happens. We recommend executing marketing strategies that support PR efforts 90 days before. How will your social accounts support PR efforts? What kind of posts are you creating for the product or game? Is there a virtual event you can create for fans and followers? That’s when you can prepare the all materials for a successful campaign by growing anticipation and creating hype.
As for media, go beyond topics various posts generally cover and find specific journalists who are the right fit for your niche. Pull out all the stops and give media outlets the most information and experience you can. Think through every step of their review, from details in browsing the game to their last moments with its scenario. If reporters are passionate about the game, they will make content more entertaining and interesting. Media outlets and influencers want to promote and recommend titles and products they love to their followers. Give them this opportunity.
Amplify Your Message, Multiply Your Success
Social media, including paid social posts, is a great way to boost your launch-day press coverage and can have an impressive impact on the reach and authenticity of your message. Your followers are likely turning to top streamers, influencers, and media outlets for recommendations and reviews before they buy it. Use your earned third-party validation from launch day reviews and make sure the right people are seeing it on their timelines. As an additional bonus, boosting press coverage on social media can help grow your following, building your community for updates or the next launch.
Video game PR tactics present the same PR opportunities as any other business, except more
Different areas of the industry have different needs when it comes to video game PR. There are development teams that make games but don’t publish them and there are other companies that do. Whether you are trying to attract the attention of industry insiders to get a publishing deal or put their PR activities towards getting coverage for their games in both specialist and general media platforms, the ultimate aim is the same. Success lays in connecting with others and promoting your titles in the video game business means following the same basic rules that apply in any other type of business.
Reliable services for pr gaming:
You can do all these efforts internally, but you’ll be more effective with the support of the outsourcing companies. I’ve made a list of reliable PR services:
PRNews.io
PRNews.io is one of the well-established and affordable PR gaming services. Using abstract language and insinuation, PRnews experts sell audiences on the existence of a world hand-crafted to respond to their interactive needs. PRnews.io will help you create all types of content and provide its distribution, while you can concentrate on the wider business and personal goals. They have an impressive range of clients. Providing a full range of services, PRnews.io can work with you not only on creating and distributing your content, but also in marketing, strategy, and advertising.
Heaven Media
Specializing in the PR gaming and eSports industry, Heaven Media offers a list of marketing services and solutions. They offer the full range of content creation, influencer marketing, eSports sponsorship, event planning and management, advertising, creative, and public relations.
Kool Things
Kool Things offers a full range of services, including marketing, video game PR, consulting and business development, and—specialized support for indie games.
Plan of Attack
Plan of Attack offers a suite of PR-focused services to help games successfully tell their story and generate leads, from launch campaign planning and writing press releases to influencer relations, media event management, media training, and crisis consulting.
Use Influencers to Build a Hype Factory
Do you know how does Riot Games work? Riot let a bunch of influential streamers, gamers, and reviewers with millions of followers take part in an embargoed test drive of their game, allowing them to save the records of the gameplay, but hold off on streaming video until the embargo was lifted.
That was less risky than just giving out a beta version and letting them play with it, hoping for the best. This strategy not only ensured they get a burst of media and public attention all at once, but it also allowed them to avoid spoiling before content goes live.
This strategy was risky but successful. When the game went live, it got over 1.7 million concurrent viewers on Twitch. The hype machine was in full action.
List of Specific Gaming News Sources
Wrapping Up
Any or all of these PR tactics can generate the attention your new game or gaming product deserves. A mix of media relations, influencer marketing, and social media can extend the reach of your launch and attract the attention of the target audience in the crucial first few days.
But the creative nature of games with fun and entertainment opens extra doors of opportunity for gaming PR managers. Use them and see how much easier it is to gain the best achievements of all—PR success!
Content Marketing Platform
- 100,000+ media publications;
- get backlinks to your product;
- scale work with content distribution.
FAQ: PR gaming
How much do people make in video game PR?
The tasks of the marketing team (also known as PR, or public relations) are to get information about a video game or eSports event out to the public and to get as many people as excited as possible about it. The marketing department must figure out how to present, sell and keep an interest in the game, what the game’s hook is, and how to generate public curiosity.
Starting salary of the video game PR manager fluctuates around $60,000; more experienced PR exerts can make $80,000 and up.
Having contacts in the video game industry is important for anyone interested in a successful PR game career. Hence, the best way to get your foot in the door is to gain as much experience and contacts as you can.
How to find PR guys for video game publishers?
The size of the gaming media is as proportionally huge as the gaming business itself. This extends well beyond top gaming reporters to an incredibly deep and extensive community of casual fans, superfans, fanboys, amateur enthusiasts, and professional journalists. A successful PR manager must have an enormous interest and dedication to gaming and eSports, so make strong research in gaming communities, Twitch, Discord, and other social networks.
