Experience with PR firms?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Broken Thumbs Apps, Oct 23, 2009.

  1. Now that we have two games out, with more on the way, we were wondering if it makes sense to engage a PR firm to get the word out about BTA and our games. In particular, we wanted to see if anyone has had experience with a PR firm that would fit the budget of a small indie developer like us. Also, we'd like to use someone who has good experience representing iPhone app developers specifically.

    After a quick search on the internet, I found one PR firm, Reverb, but it sounds like there was controversy over their use of interns to post fake positive reviews for their clients' games, and that's not the route we want to go.

    Would anyone here care to share their experiences with PR firms for iPhone apps?

    -Scott
     
  2. Two others I've heard of:

    www.appular.com - I contacted these guys and spoke to them on the phone. In my opinion, they didn't really seem interested in helping an unknown app get noticed (which to me is the whole point of hiring a PR company). I felt that they only want to spend their time marketing games that are basically so unique that they don't need marketing. They told me that although my game Charmed has some unique features, they felt they couldn't create enough "traction" with their industry contacts.

    I thought that this was a particularly odd attitude for a PR firm. Coke and Pepsi are not really that different than the generic brands. The difference is in the marketing, not the product.


    www.triplepointpr.com - This is the firm that was used by Bolt Creative (Pocket God) and Critical Thought Games (geoDefense series) among others. I contacted them, but have had no response so far after over a week. Would love to work with them though, as the geoDefense developer had good things to say about them.
     
  3. Big Albie

    Big Albie Well-Known Member

    Feb 12, 2009
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    Casual gamer/marketing dude
    San Francisco, California
    I've worked on the PR agency side, and one of things I suggest is you first figure out what type of budget you have. This will be key in determining the scope of work and the extent of campaigns. Having worked with EA and Sony in the past, campaigns are still limited by budgets with the PR firm because you are mostly paying for overhead...hate to admit it, but it's true.

    I also suggest you have a clear and precise set of measurement goals...what will the agency have done to make it successful...and it needs to be more specific than "Sell more games". You should have these goals in mind before approaching a PR firm and be realistic. Being realistic is important because I've seen too many clients with lofty expectations that are out of whack with reality.

    Have some ideas ahead of time such as target media outlets, crazy publicity ideas, and even future plans. The agency will either help you flesh these out or be completely honest about you're on crack. Make sure you find an agency where the people are not "yes" people. You want them to be honest with you. Too many agencies overpromise and under deliver just to sign you up.

    Back to the budget issue, as an indie dev, you should consider hiring a consultant/freelancer over a PR agency. PR agencies have higher retainers and 30-60 day outclauses that are not budget friendly. In addition, agencies represent numerous companies, and staff (your team) almost assuredly will be working with other clients. You may not get the attention or creative input you want especially if you have a smaller budget. Going the consultant route is easier budgetwise because they typically bill hourly, are more focused on you since they have fewer other clients, and willing to work more one on one with you. If you have a bigger budget with bigger campaigns, then you can always move to an agency later, but if you're just starting out or have a small budget, a consultant is the way to go.
     
  4. Thanks for the suggestions, MindJuice.

    Others that I've since come across are applaunchpr.com (which helped launch AdMob's iPhone advertising network and Zippo's Virtual Lighter app) and mhnpr.com (trying to get more info), which we are looking at as well.
     
  5. Big Albie, thanks for the insight and great suggestions. We will definitely consider the issues outlined in your post when deciding between a PR agency v. consultant/freelancer v. something else. At this point, we're still trying to gather information and will make a decision based on what we can afford and what will maximize our budget.
     
  6. mromanuk

    mromanuk Active Member

    Jun 18, 2009
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    Big Albie, great insider information :) I'm seriously thinking in hiring some PR guy for my upcoming game.
    Do you have some guy/consultant to recommend? are a consultant yourself?
     
  7. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    Albie's not around much anymore, if you want a reply you should probably try sending him an email :)
     
  8. Eli

    Eli ᕕ┌◕ᗜ◕┐ᕗ
    Staff Member Patreon Silver Patreon Gold

    Just something to consider-

    Any good PR firm will only get behind excellent games, since in essence they're putting their reputation on the line by pimping your product. If you have a truly great title that the top-tier PR firms will take on, it's hard to say if you even need a PR firm at all since exceptional games rarely go unnoticed.
     
  9. If a PR firm will only get behind games that are already going to do well, then why do we need them? To me that is not a "good" PR firm. That is just a lazy PR firm.

    There are many, many good games on the App Store that nobody will ever see. If I retain a PR firm, I expect them to let people know about my games and improve their sales. Sure it would be great if my games have some particular advantage over the competition, but it isn't always about that.

    It shouldn't matter whether you are marketing iPhone apps or soft drinks or toilet paper. The PR firm's job is to get exposure for your product in some creative ways. A PR firm that only takes on established content and guaranteed hits seems like a waste of money to me.

    Which is better, Coke or Pepsi? Is there really enough difference between them that marketing makes a difference? Yes, because it's all about getting the product in front of enough eyes. If one did marketing and the other didn't, the marketed drink would totally dominate sales.

    It's all about getting the eyes on your product. Then if your product is good, pretty good or great, you are likely to get much higher sales.

    Last week, Charmed was featured by Apple in the Hot New Games category. For a few days we sold 20 times as many copies as before being featured (down to about 15 times now). Charmed didn't get any better or worse, it was just seen by thousands and thousands of more eyes that week.
     
  10. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    Ahh game theory :) If neither company advertised, they'd still both sell equally as much and save billions!
     
  11. mromanuk

    mromanuk Active Member

    Jun 18, 2009
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    Yes, that's the main point that everybody keep hiding behind quality (or maybe confusing) that obviously is really important.
    If you has a great product without publicity you'll have a great product without sales.

    Isn't Coca Cola sugar with water? :p
     
  12. EssentialParadox

    EssentialParadox Well-Known Member

    Sep 21, 2009
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    Well the reason for being selective is that their image is directly related to how successful their PR is.

    TouchArcade may hear from MindJuice PR™ and get incredible games turn up in their inbox once a week. TouchArcade will always take notice to those emails, and that PR firm will foster very good relationships with the important journalists; get good pre-release exposure, exclusive articles, interviews, etc.

    On the other hand, let's say VGood PR Corp. isn't so selective. The more money the better, so they'll take on anyone. They send TouchArcade press releases that promote absolutely terrible games just as much as the decent games. TA won't trust them… Sure, they'll probably still read each press release, but they won't be excited to see those emails, and the relationship will suffer.

    That's the way PR firms work… they have the contacts. I think I would have more faith in my game doing well with a highly selective PR firm than I would a PR firm who will promote any game that comes through their doors.
     
  13. eJayStudios

    eJayStudios Well-Known Member

    Oct 17, 2009
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    so PR company decides if game is any good and not gamers themselves?

    For some reason it doesn't make any sense to me. I always thought that PR job is to advertise product, not decide how good it is.

    I see so many crap products advertised on TV and newspapers every day it's not funny. Like those magic abs workout machines which is absolute scam IMHO, but with good PR companies sells them like a hot cakes.
     
  14. Exactly my point! Not that my game is a scam or low quality!

    As an acquaintance of mine says, if you market it badly, you can't sell a bar of gold for the price of sh*t, but if you market it right you can sell a piece of sh*t for more than a bar of gold is worth.
     
  15. The "image" they need to be concerned about is what people like ME think about them, not what their contacts think about them. We're the ones paying them. Also, these PR companies bring advertising $$$ to sites like TA, not just press releases. That gives them a pretty good "image" to TA I would think.

    Nobody is saying that the PR companies should bring absolute garbage to TA, but if they bring something that is not too bad and present it in a very good way, that is what I expect from them. I think TA tries to keep reviews and advertising separate, but I know that is definitely not the case with other sites.

    The PR company's "image" from my point of view is how well they help me sell the product. TA is NOT the customer of the PR firms. People and companies like ME are!
     
  16. acidshaman

    acidshaman Well-Known Member

    May 5, 2009
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    Well a name like Broken Thumbs is a PR Nightmare, try something with Xtreme! and go from there.. ;)

    also to comment above: its because Arn is a freakin legend

    macrumors.com...
     
  17. eJayStudios

    eJayStudios Well-Known Member

    Oct 17, 2009
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    What the image of PR company has to do with anything anyway? I don't know name of any PR company, nor I really care.

    When you see the ad on TV how often do you see name of PR company?

    They advertise product not their company afterall.
     
  18. ElectricGrandpa

    ElectricGrandpa Well-Known Member

    Sep 5, 2009
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    Game Developer
    Brampton, Ontario
    Sorry dudes but I work in advertising(which is very similar to PR in a lot of ways) and that's just how it is. Let's face it, there are WAY too many games out there... It's a "buyer's market" so to speak. The PR firms can be picky because there are so many other options out there.

    Also, there's no such thing as a "guaranteed hit" in the App Store unless it already has an established brand. If a PR firm is gonna take a game that nobody's ever heard of, from a company that nobody's ever heard of, with a gameplay mechanic that nobody has every tried before, it had better be a DAMN GOOD game. Why would they even bother with the games that are 'decent' or 'pretty good' when there are dozens, if not hundreds, of FANTASTIC games.
     
  19. mromanuk

    mromanuk Active Member

    Jun 18, 2009
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    Well, if there are hundreds of fantastic games out there, I don't see the problem. We have millions of users and they keep growing. If you are a developer better make sure that your game is fantastic :)
     
  20. Appency

    Appency Well-Known Member

    Oct 16, 2009
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    CEO - Appency iPhone Marketing
    California
    Appency PR & Marketing

    As the head of Appency App PR & Marketing, I wanted to add my two cents into this conversion.

    A PR firm does, and should be selective in the clients that they take on. They have a limited set of resources, and as such cannot always take every client that walks through their door.

    I read someone saying "why would a big name developer with a big product hire a PR agency when its going to do good anyways?"

    The answer is because its not going to do good anyways. Not good in the way a big name developer with big costs and big overhead has to cover. These can be the easiest... but also the hardest clients to market. A PR agency is measured by how well they can move the bar. When the bar is already set high.... it can be very difficult to get that bar higher. I would also like to say the reason these big companies got to be big companies was not only quality products.. but quality advertising and PR to get them there.

    My FAVORITE type of client? Mid range developers with mid range budgets. Quality apps that really just need their break into the spotlight. Those are the clients that really excite us, and of which we have had the most success with.

    Every app we take on goes through a "app analysis" phase. If your app is crap - were going to end up telling you. We have had clients delay launch for months because they needed to incorporate a list of suggestions that came out of our focus groups. We have even had clients pull their apps out of the app store until fixed. The result? Clients going from averages of 2.5 stars to averages of 4.5 starts and 10x more sales.

    Finally - trying to promote crap is, well, no fun. Its nothing personal, but this is our livelihood. We get just as excited as you do when we get big bloggers reviewing our clients, or mentions in USA Today. We love this stuff, so no - we don't want to take on crap apps... but bring us potential and we will work wonders.
     

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