How do you draw attention to your game or company?

[RangerWickett]

In response to the various suggestions in the first post, I wish I had time to do all that. I love the internet, but it was weirdly nicer back in the day when Dragon was a flagship magazine everyone read, because we could occasionally get mentions in there that 100 thousand people would read. Now you have to hit dozens of sites to get anywhere near the same exposure, and the barrier to entry is lower so you're competing with a lot of noise.

Maybe we need a talented, dedicated blogger.

Edit: Or a Kickstarter to hire a talented, dedicated blogger.

 

[Leviatham]

It largely is; there aren't that many big full-time companies. Maybe a dozen at most. There are thousands of small-press publishers, though, all channeling 50% of their gross revenue through one or two online storefronts.

Uhmm... I am not particularly bothered if there are small companies out there. Hey, everyone starts small after all. I have a problem with "companies" that put out crap product, though.

You know... I think you might have just highlighted what the problem truly is: One or two online storefronts.

One thing that few (if any) of the pdf-selling websites do is have a tight quality control over the products they sell. If you go to a publisher or a retailer and you present them with a crappy product, they will reject it.

If you go to a PDF seller and present them with a crappy product, they might reject it. But if they get 2000 products, some crappy and some good, they'll just sell the lot because running QA on so many books is a nightmare.

So I wonder what it would be like if those stores decided to make sure they only sell good quality, just as they would if they were selling printed books.

 

[Leviatham]

In response to the various suggestions in the first post, I wish I had time to do all that. I love the internet, but it was weirdly nicer back in the day when Dragon was a flagship magazine everyone read, because we could occasionally get mentions in there that 100 thousand people would read. Now you have to hit dozens of sites to get anywhere near the same exposure, and the barrier to entry is lower so you're competing with a lot of noise.

Maybe we need a talented, dedicated blogger.

Edit: Or a Kickstarter to hire a talented, dedicated blogger.

Yep... I can imagine that being the case. In Spain we awaited eagerly for the latest Dragon as much for the adverts of products that weren't sold around us as for the articles. And we had no other way to find out. Bloody hell, I even applied myself in English so I could read it more easily!

Anyone going to GenCon UK was a hero in our eyes!

Yep... being online is a time consuming activity. More than people realise. When I started my website I didn't expect it'd become an (unpaid) second job, and yet, I spend some 20 to 30 hours on it.

Mind you, your idea of hiring a dedicated PR person might pay off in the long run!

 

[Yora]

I'd say a big thing is to be honest.

If you make advertising for your stuff, don't try to obscure that it's advertising for your own stuff. It's always very obvious when people want to show "that cool new thing there is" and it gets people to dismiss it before they even know what it is you are promiting.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Uhmm... I am not particularly bothered if there are small companies out there. Hey, everyone starts small after all. I have a problem with "companies" that put out crap product, though.

You know... I think you might have just highlighted what the problem truly is: One or two online storefronts.

One thing that few (if any) of the pdf-selling websites do is have a tight quality control over the products they sell. If you go to a publisher or a retailer and you present them with a crappy product, they will reject it.

If you go to a PDF seller and present them with a crappy product, they might reject it. But if they get 2000 products, some crappy and some good, they'll just sell the lot because running QA on so many books is a nightmare.

So I wonder what it would be like if those stores decided to make sure they only sell good quality, just as they would if they were selling printed books.

The problem is one man's junk is another man's gold. Personally I don't want rpgnow deciding for me, the customer, which products are worthy. Let customers make those decisions by supporting the companies they like. What we have now is a level playing field to a degree. Small companies can put out product almost as easily as large ones. If they do well, they get rewarded and can increase their production quality over time. If they set up "quality standards" it would probably result in mainly big company products being sold on their websites.

My opinion is this: gloss and expensive art is great. Being able to afford a solid layout and editor spectacular. But quite frankly I would take an inspired useful, but less expensively produced product, than some of the stuff many of the big guys are putting out these days. But please let me be the judge of what I like. Because a lot of the time, my idea of what is a good product is very different from other gamers.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Yep... I can imagine that being the case. In Spain we awaited eagerly for the latest Dragon as much for the adverts of products that weren't sold around us as for the articles. And we had no other way to find out. Bloody hell, I even applied myself in English so I could read it more easily!

Anyone going to GenCon UK was a hero in our eyes!

Yep... being online is a time consuming activity. More than people realise. When I started my website I didn't expect it'd become an (unpaid) second job, and yet, I spend some 20 to 30 hours on it.

Mind you, your idea of hiring a dedicated PR person might pay off in the long run!

PR is definitely exhausting if you don't pace yourself.

One avenue we have had some luck is ordering flyers or brochures and sending them to game stores through our sellers. Sometimes going back to a physical thing people can hold helps cut through all the internet noise.