Promoting Your Mod

Introduction

Please be patient while I explain my philosophy regarding this topic. I believe that amateur developers need to view potential players of their mods as customers. Whilst these customers don’t pay with money to download and play maps and mods they “Pay” with something more valuable - Their time and effort.

Companies spend billions of Dollars every year ensuring that their product or service is never forgotten. Of course it’s different for companies like Coke or Ford because their business works differently from the amateur map and mod releases but there are still lessons to be learnt.

Why Bother?

It doesn’t matter how good a map or mod is if nobody knows about it. I could have the greatest mod every made sitting on my HDD but that is a complete waste of time if nobody plays it. The best way to promote your map or mod is to make it as good as possible because then “Word Of Mouth” takes over. One person tells another person and so on. Soon the whole gaming community knows about. That’s all you need to do, right? Wrong!

Competition

Let’s be clear about something: You are in direct competition with EVERY OTHER map or mod being made. Players can only be playing one game at a time (I’m talking about the actual playing not having games on their HDD.) Nobody has unlimited playing time. This means choices have to be made. “Should I play mod A or mod B”? Let’s help make that choice for them by giving them something that looks interesting.

Objectives

Your job is to get people talking about your mod before it’s even released, get them curious about release dates and features included. Amateur Developers forget that the greatest compliment to be paid is to be asked “When is it going to be released?” Why? Because the person asking actually wants to play the map or mod as soon as possible! Yes, it’s frustrating to be asked the same question regularly but it’s a damn sight better than never being asked!

Plan of Action

Accepting the hap-hazard nature of amateur (And probably professional) mod development there are still some things to you should do. I also accept that I have never been part of a mod team but I have some experience in Marketing and Promotion (Who doesn’t? I hear you cry) and I also see things from the potential players perspective. You should have a plan of action that includes many possibilities.

Some suggestions

• Schedule Carefully
  You should try and schedule your media releases more carefully. Mods that release huge updates and then go months without any signs of life miss the opportunity to stay in players’ consciousness. Better to keep something back and aim for a monthly or every two months release. That way potential players feel the work is constant and more likely to result in a finished mod. The actual truth is not important. To achieve a huge update you probably had to work no stop for all that time but we are talking about perceptions NOT reality!
  I’ve spoken about specifics but this also applies to a total campaign. Think about good times to give interviews and even the release date of your mod. Build expectation (That hopefully you can fulfil!) through teaser trailers etc. Don’t just let it happen but plan it carefully to gain the maximum exposure!
• Be Proactive
  Don’t wait to be asked to do interviews, contact sites yourself and offer! Be pushy and look for any opportunity to promote your mod. This means looking for somebody to deal with the PR and promotion of your mod. Accept that it is a skill just like modelling or mapping and try to find somebody with some working knowledge.
• Keep the Quality High
  It’s always better to take longer to release high quality work than rushing low quality work. Of course there maybe print deadlines that need to be met but that’s rare for amateur maps and mods. Ask yourself if what you are about to release is really ready to be seen.
• English
  Everybody makes mistakes. Try to get somebody to check your work before you publish it. (Unfortunately I don’t have that option regarding PlanetPhillip.com, which is why there are occasionally stupid mistakes) This is especially true if English is not your native language. Although I have great respect for multilingual speakers there are plenty of people who are willing to help you, make use of those people.
• Websites
  This is often considered the easiest way of promoting your mod. Get a kick-ass website design and post a few images every now and again and you have done your job. Wrong Again! Having a great looking website is important but ultimately content is as important as its presentation. Make sure it’s easy to navigate and that the content is updated regularly. Even if you say the same thing as last month, say it in a different way!
  Have separate sections for About, Story and Features. I get very frustrated how many sites mix these sections up and it takes me over 10 minutes of reading to find that the mod is Multiplayer. Make it easy for the visitor to learn about the mod.
  My last piece of advice about the site is try to avoid the front page being a list of news items, UNLESS you know for sure that this is going to be updated AT LEAST once a week. It’s very bad for a visitor to see the last update is a couple of months old. Not a good first impression!
• Press Area
  Most big maps and mods nowadays have a website and often the sites are excellent. However consider having a special section for Press. Normal visitors want to see the latest news and media releases and perhaps talk about the mod in the forums. But there are other types of users who also visit your site. Users who are editors of other sites, they may need or appreciate a special area that allows them access to higher quality images etc. These images can then be used for better promotion. To access this area perhaps users need to register. This is to ensure that you bandwidth is used as efficiently as possible. However there is an alternative motive.
• Mailing Lists
  So exactly what is this alternative motive? As the title suggests it is a mailing list. Instead of waiting for potential players and Webmasters to visit your site send them the latest updates directly to their inbox. I’m not suggesting spamming people but get a list of email address of people who want to receive your news.
• Media Releases
  Make sure that all images contain the name of the mod or map or at the very least a logo. Two great examples are Black Mesa Source and Poke 646. Every media release has their name on it. It looks very professional and doesn’t require too much extra work. It also ensures that the map or mod name is always associated with the images and also makes it harder for people to misuse the images. I’ve often found images in my PC and thought “Which mod does this come from?”. If only it had the name on it!

How PlanetPhillip Can Help You.

I want PlanetPhillip to become the best Single Player Map and Mod Resource in the Galaxy. I make no secret of that and I’m working hard to bring that to fruition. To do that it has to have content that readers want to see. In general readers are interested in knowing and learning not only about the latest releases but also about maps and mods in development. This means working with me to promote your maps and mods.

Ways to Promote your Mod at PP

I am open to any suggestions that will benefit my readers regarding ways to promote your mod. Below are a few possibilities for you to consider.

• Interviews
  These can be a great way of getting information to potential players. They can be conducted with one particular person or the team. They can coincide with a particular media release to ensure maximum publicity. IM/ICQ chats or pre-sent questions the choice is yours.
• Exclusive Media Release
  Normally you want every website to get some images but occasionally exclusive can help to create interest. Admittedly PlanetPhillip has more to gain in this regard but as more maps and mods release exclusive media through PP then the gaming community will come to recognise that this is an important site for information and ultimately your exposure is greater.
• Banner Display
  Since my server move I’m having trouble getting this working but I’m sure it’s a temporary issue. Along the sidebar is an area I have allocated for mods to display banners. It’s completely free (Unlike some other sites!) and all you need to do is provide a high quality banner (Maximum dimensions of 250 x 600) and the URI you want it linked to and I will add it.
• Homepage
  Not everybody has the time, skills or inclination for creating their own homepage. If you are one of those people consider using the PlanetPhillip post as the homepage. I’m NOT saying that I will host mods (Although I wish I could) I’m saying that for single mappers or maps then a good compromise is to have one place to put all the information.
• Promotion Consultancy
  I am available for consultancy regarding the best way to promote your mod. I do this for a very small fee, which goes towards the hosting costs of PlanetPhillip.com

Conclusion

• See every Potential Player as a customer that has to be convinced that your mod is worth the time and effort to download and play.
• Make it as easy as possible for those customers to find useful up-to-date information.
• Accept that promoting your mod is an important task and needs as much professionalism as any other area of design or development.

If you are interested in working with PlanetPhillip to promote your map or mod then please send me an email and we can discuss the numerous possibilities.

I look forward to hearing from you.