Marketing - Get the word out!

Continuing on from my previous post about the importance of marketing in the modding arena, I would like to touch/expand upon the means by which one can market our mods.

How successful is my marketing?

Blogs, as I've mentioned before, are a very good means of showcasing the development of a blog. However, I've found that when the blogs go beyond the standard fare - i.e., go beyond just the mod updates and include articles on inspirations behind the mod, design decisions, analysis of game mechanics, to name a few - I find them more enjoyable and the impression it creates of the author is better. One excellent example is Challseus' posts in July about the inspirations behind RoE. That made for a fascinating read - I was on vacation so I read through those posts later in one go but I can see how readers will want to come back and read more of those inspirations. It also lends some credibility to the modder; that they are not just changing things to be different but in fact have a good reason to do so.

I actually penned a series of articles related to BaL's design and why certain things were being changed/added/removed but I felt that it would give too much of the game away and I had to stop after a few posts. There's that fine line between revealing too much thus destroying the element of surprise and revealing just enough to build up the anticipation for release and I've yet to find that sweet spot.

The other important aspect is presentation; especially now when there are so many modules to choose from. It makes your content stand out - be it good screenshots (I'm guilty of taking too many dark ones myself), an attractive project page layout or a well put together trailer. If the presentation is good, it will automatically draw people's interest and then, you have to make sure that the content within stands up to that presentation ;)

(c) designmind.frogdesign.com

What are the other means by which modules can be promoted?
Some time back, Mikemike37 suggested Twitter as a means for promoting my blog. The only time I've used Twitter so far is for the Bioware challenges during the infamous Bazaar event but I can see the potential there. It might be more so for a module like Baldur's Gate Redux since it comes attached to a familiar name but who knows! I'll have to get around to doing that soon...

The other option - interviews! In the context of Dragon Age, getting interviewed on the Dragon Age Podcast is sure to get you and your module those few seconds of mass recognition which will, in most cases, translate to increased visibility of your module - more views, more downloads, more ratings.

Well, that concludes my thoughts on marketing for now - this can easily change into a discussion about using social media for online brand marketing but that is an entirely different subject and too vast to be handled here! As always, I'm interested in hearing others' opinions on this subject.

Now, if you've been reading my blog before, you would have noticed these last two posts are not the norm. I was recently interviewed by a thesis student doing his Masters in Communication in Singapore and one of the aspects of modding we talked about was marketing. It was a lengthy interview and a lot of time was spent on this subject which served as inspiration to post here - an evolution of the discussion we had, if you will.