Suggest You - Internet and Businesses Online

Focus On Their Needs not Yours
"The point is ladies and gentlemen, that greed… for lack of a better word is good." Gordon GekkoSaving money, generating cash flow (creating an atmosphere where the employer can do those two things) are all the employer is interested in. They will not hire you because their bank accounts are swollen and about to burst and they need a way to get rid of the money. Before you try to market yourself to the employer, you need to get focused on their Greed Gland. Business is about profit, pure and simple. Even non-profit organizations have to keep costs down and funds flowing in, to stay alive. So how are you going to do that for them?Will what you have to offer make their life easier, richer or more productive? If you weren’t a solution to some of their concerns, then why would they want to talk to you? When I’m coaching a client on how to approach a company or business, I will ask them to consider what the concerns may be for the manager or owner for that position. Is it generating sales? Is it expanding the client base? Is it keeping costs down by eliminating waste? Or is it creating a strong team that can do all three? Communicate to them how you’re going to do any or all of those things and the position is yours.Go back through your work history and look for solid examples of where you made an employer or manager's life easier. By taking problems off of their plate you'll free them up to go do the things that creates more profit for them. They see this as a good thing.The chronically unemployed or underemployed have spent most of their work life trying not to be noticed or as one of my clients called it 'flying under the radar." Sure this attitude may prevent the boss from picking you out from the rest of the masses but you'll also end up never accomplishing anything worth noticing. When the time comes for layoffs it is much easier to let go a generic worker than someone who adds to the bottom line of the company. If you have been guilty of 'flying under the radar' make a vow to change that approach. Look for ways you can increase profits or reduce cost

ends - as long as the game is good. They are over 20 and mostly male. Their income level is more than $10,000 yearly and they can spend $20 or $30 easily for entertainment now and then. Our players own a high-speed internet connection (256 KB or better) or at least a fast IDSN connection. Our players have at least basic understanding of the English language, they are interested in Japanese/Chinese mythology and know something about Eastern cultures.

Edoiki will use several promotion methods: Google Adwords targeted directly to board games, banner ads on multiplayer and similar online sites, multiplayer gaming forums, press releases, newsletter announcements, major review sites, article writing, community forums, PAD services, blogs, entering the Independent Games Festival.

5. The Website - Get Players to Download Your Game Demo

The indie game marketing plan lists what you will do for your website. Your website's main purpose is to get people to download the demo of your game. That means your plan should include the steps you will take to enhance the website's marketing capabilities. If your site gets visitors that visit only the first page and leave without downloading, then you need to refine your website. The other reason for your website to exist is to get people to purchase your game. Make sure user can access to purchase page within one or two mouse clicks.

Edoiki website
Edoiki website will use a virtual private server to handle traffic and make sure the system is online every hour of day. The website will present screenshots, player forums, contact information, company information and present clear and easily distinguishable download and purchase buttons. The website won't use Javascript or font that would make it hard to use the site. The headline of the site will be tested and the game requirements, features and any other game-related hints & tips will be listed. The site graphics will be polished by the game artist.
The website traffic will be estimated and website specific goals (the rate of downloads) will be refined to meet the download goals after initial number of downloads are received.

6. The Demo - Get Players To Purchase Your Game

Your game demo has only one single goal: to close the deal, to get the player to purchase the game. It's very important to have a good demo version of your game that fills its purpose. If the conversion rate - the rate of people who purchase the game after testing it - is

Why is a Franchisor Mad at the Multi Level Marketing Companies?
Why would a franchise company which has master franchisees in charge of regions and those regions in charge of the franchisees and the franchisees in charge of their stores and each store has a manager in charge of the employees? After all doesn’t that represent 5-levels of marketing? Isn’t franchising the duplication and replication of a business method and brand name? Why would Franchisors be angry at a Multi Level Company which basically in “abstract theory” anyway operates in such a similar way?Well, I am a franchisor so let me explain my beef with this particular situation. You see as a franchisor, I have all these rules of what I can and cannot say. In fact there are some laws, which prohibit things I am allowed to say even if they are true, unless I pay a high priced accountant to do many audits of my franchisees to prove that it is true.If those are violated or rather if a franchise buyer tells the government I told them something that I was not supposed to, whether I did or not is immaterial, they launch an investigation against my company. The franchise buyer may simply be saying that to break his contract with me, so he can use all my life's work to do it on his own and then compete against me, it is your basic traitor syndrome. But what the hell some say, deal with it, Jesus had a traitor in his group too. Think on this in 2006.

Introduction

A marketing plan might sound something awfully hard to do for a game developer, but to briefly put it: the marketing plan is your flightplan on how to get your game to your players. The contents of a marketing plan can be divided into several sections. A strategic plan or the company's business plan will describe the company's strategic objectives. The marketing plan will focus on those major objectives, and how to reach those goals.

You don't have to have tens of pages long marketing plan that you will never use. It's much better to have a short plan that you use. Use your computer's desktop wallpaper or a one page printed plan where you put the marketing plan: goals, actions and notes. Then use and refine the plan.

Contents of a Marketing Plan

These sections of a marketing plan are listed below.

[1] Goals
[2] Distribution
[3] Product
[4] Promotion
[5] Website
[6] Demo
[7] Measurement
[8] Maintenance
[9] Refinement

1. Goals - Make Sure You Know Where You Are Heading

Goals define where you are going. In an indie marketing plan, you can start by choosing the goal for the desired income. Then, you continue by adding the goals for sales, downloads, conversion rate, and the price for your product. Let's assume your goal is to make $50.000. The pricing of a game may depend on several variables. You might look at what others are using and settle for $19.95. Or you might try a bargain price and go with $9.95. Some people have used $29.95. Depending on your game, the company's profile, target market, you might price your game differently. It's worth noting that you might want to adjust the price later. Maybe you realize that $9.95 is too low and go with $15.95 and still get the same number of sales. But for starters, let's assume you use $19.95 as the price of your game.

The eCommerce provider gets about 10% of each sale, so the actual profit for you per game would be about $18. To make $50.000 you would need about 2800 sales. If you assume that one out of hundred players purchase your game, then game's conversion rate would be 1.0%. The rule of thumb could be that very targeted games receive higher conversion rates, up to 2%, 3% or even 5% while more generic games, or games with severe competition may receive a .1% - .5% conversion rate. That means about 1-5 sales per 1000 downloads. Let's assume you try to get your game's quality to such a level that you receive a 1.0% conversion rate. Now as you do some math you can see that to reach 2800 sales you would need 280.000 downloads for your game.

A goal wouldn't be a goal without an exact date. Have an exact date for the goal. Split the goal in smaller divisions: months, quarters or years - or something that suits you best.

Example marketing plan goals for Edoiki game

The goals for Edoiki are:

* Direct Sales goal: $50.000 (after eCommerce provider expenses)

* Other Sales goal: $50.000 (after publisher/distributor expenses)

* Total Sales: $100.000

Exact direct sales details:

* Initial price: $19.95

* Conversion rate goal: 1.0%

* Downloads goal: 280.000

* Units goal: 2.800

* Deadline: By the end of 2007

The quarterly download & sales goals for direct distribution:

* Q3-Q4/2006 - 600 units, 60.000 downloads

* Q1-Q2/2007 - 1100 units, 110.000 downloads

* Q3-Q4/2007 - 1100 units, 110.000 downloads

2. Distribution - Select the Right Channels For Your Game

There are several options for distributing your game. Indie and casual games tend to follow these main distribution channels:

* Direct website store

* Retail stores

* Portals

* Content delivery systems

* Publisher channels

Depending on your company's strategy, your marketing plan might use more than one distribution methods. An easy choice for direct selling would be to set up a website and concentrate on optimizing your website.

If you have a casual game, you might consider casual game portals. Different portals have different requirements for games. Here are some of the most common portals: Big Fish Games, EA's Pogo, Gamehouse, GameXtazy, GameZone, Playfirst, Real Arcade, Shockwave, Trygames, Yahoo Games. Include the portals you want to target in your marketing plan and check the top 10 bestsellers from each portal. After you have gone through the list, you have a better understanding on what kind of games portals want and how you can improve your product to meet their guidelines. Indies typically sell through portals or through their own website, but retail stores can be a valuable choice to consider. It is possible to contact retailers directly but in some cases, it can be very difficult or practically impossible. However, you can make it so that it's easy for them to contact you. Set up your company website in such way that distributors can easily get touch with you. Arrange the distribution options by country or by some other region. If you want to contact some publishers, then go on and make a deal. There are publishers that can deal with the retail stores.

Besides retail stores and portals, there's always the publisher opportunity. There are many indie game publishers that can get a deal for you: some of the popular ones are Garage Games, Indiepath and PopCap. All these companies provide different terms, and your marketing plan can change depending on the deals you make. If you commit yourself to creating an exclusive deal with some of the publishers, then you might not be allowed to sell the game through your website, thus making direct selling options unavailable. Besides pure publishers, there are also content delivery systems available. Valve's Steam is perhaps the biggest example and could be appealing to indies.

Your marketing plan should tell you which channels you are going to use, and which ones you'll ignore.

Edoiki distribution channels
Edoiki will be sold directly through Edoiki website. Besides the direct websites we'll approach Mumbo Jumbo/United Developers and Tri Synergy to discuss retail channels. There are other retail opportunities: Dreamcatcher/The Adventure Company, Cylon Interactive, Merscom, MWR connected - some of them will be considered in the future, while some of them will be ignored.
We will also contact a few publishers for a non-exclusive deals. The first ones to target are Shrapnelgames, JoWood and Matrix Games. Edoiki will omit the casual game portals, as the game is targeting a different audience.
We'll also approach Valve and discuss the distributing opportunity via Steam.

3. Product - Have Something to Sell

Offer a high-quality product that people want to purchase. If the conversion rate is very low, then it might suggest that your product simply doesn't offer enough quality. Ask what players and other developers think about your product and refine the product until you start hearing that the only problem with your game is that "it's too addictive". Remember: the low conversion rate doesn't necessarily indicate a bad product. Ask people: if you hear comments that say that your product is fine but the website or the demo are poor, then forget polishing the product and move on to the next step in the marketing plan.

Make sure your product offering is in sync with your distribution strategy. If you are aiming for the portals, make sure your game appeals the portals and their players. If you are using retailers to get hardcore gamers to play your game, you need to design your product for the retail store customers.

4. Promotion - Make People Aware of Your Game

The next step in the marketing plan is to choose how to get people information about your product. You need to make people aware of your game and either guide them to your website for more information, or to get them to download the game through various sources. How you make the offer depends on the market segments your company has targeted. There are different types of players, games and needs. "Casual gamers" have different playing habits than "hardcore gamers". 6-year old kids play differently compared to 15- or 30-year old players. Females and males have different needs and wants for games. In Japan , they favor different kinds of games than in Germany. It's your job to define the market segments, and decide which segment (or segments) you choose to target your marketing.

There are several ways to segment the consumer market. The four common marketing segmentation variable types are: geographic (most likely world region or country, but also cities), demographic (age, gender, education, religion, occupation, income, family size), psychographic (social class, lifestyle, personality) and behavioral (casual to heavy user, attitude towards service, loyalty towards company, awareness stage, attitude towards product, genre, favorite games). Also the technical aspects (speed of Internet connection, age of computer) could be included in the segmentation.

After you have chosen the segments, you position your marketing message. Positioning is arranging your whole market offering in a way that it distinguishes your product. If you position yourself as offering the lowest price for young strategy gamers then the market message is much different than if you try to get offer high-quality, non-violent games for very religious players.

After you have selected your target segments, you need to reach those audiences in different ways. Here's a list of promotion efforts you might want to consider: major download sites, advertising, press releases, PAD services, magazine reviews, website reviews, news sites, other major websites, blogs, contests, nominations, affiliates, articles, forums, conferences, banner ads, text link ads, link exchanges and newsletters. There are also very creative options such as advertising banner in your own car back window or leaving demo CDs in busses - so use your imagination.

Depending on your distribution channel options, the promotion could be totally handled by the parties you are dealing with. If you sign a publishing deal, then you can expect the publisher to take care of the promotion.

Edoiki promotion efforts
Edoiki aims to please board gamers and non-casual gamers, players that are addicted to the online multiplayer game experience, and look for games where they can challenge their friends. These gamers don't necessarily have a favorite genre, their main goals is to play with friends - as long as the game is good. They are over 20 and mostly male. Their income level is more than $10,000 yearly and they can spend $20 or $30 easily for entertainment now and then. Our players own a high-speed internet connection (256 KB or better) or at least a fast IDSN connection. Our players have at least basic understanding of the English language, they are interested in Japanese/Chinese mythology and know something about Eastern cultures.
Edoiki will use several promotion methods: Google Adwords targeted directly to board games, banner ads on multiplayer and similar online sites, multiplayer gaming forums, press releases, newsletter announcements, major review sites, article writing, community forums, PAD services, blogs, entering the Independent Games Festival.

5. The Website - Get Players to Download Your Game Demo

Edoiki website
Edoiki website will use a virtual private server to handle traffic and make sure the system is online every hour of day. The website will present screenshots, player forums, contact information, company information and present clear and easily distinguishable download and purchase buttons. The website won't use Javascript or font that would make it hard to use the site. The headline of the site will be tested and the game requirements, features and any other game-related hints & tips will be listed. The site graphics will be polished by the game artist.
The website traffic will be estimated and website specific goals (the rate of downloads) will be refined to meet the download goals after initial number of downloads are received.

6. The Demo - Get Players To Purchase Your Game

Successful Self Employment on a Budget for Artists and Other Freelancers
Being a business takes a lot of hard work, to put it mildly. Artists generally have experience in creating beauty, but are usually less than knowledgeable about the world of business and self-employment. It pays to work hard, to avoid that horrible starving artist cliche. Who needs to starve? By spending a lot of time building a reputation and trust in clients, the business will grow all by itself. The trick is to think like a savvy businessperson, not a fine artist.First of all, advertising is very important. Without it, nobody knows who you are and what you have to sell. Learn how to sell, read, and absorb as much marketing knowledge as possible. The internet is a wealth of information. Focus your study on basic business building and marketing concepts, and then grow that knowledge by adding more study on it, later.Join many clubs and organizations. Think like a business not a hobby. Don't go crazy with fees and big titles. Just get your name out there, and do it as cheaply as possible. Word travels fast if you're good and have products that people like.Be realistic. Don't expect to take over the marketing world overnight. Build on your knowledge. It may take years but that's ok, it's to be expected unless you have an unlimited marketing budget or an MBA to move ahead quicker.Be professional. Copyright everything. Keep up with the legal side of everything. It pays to be professional and expect nothing but professionalism back from others you deal with. Customers will try to get something for nothing. Don't take it personally but don't cave in, be firm with what you think your items are worth, document everything and believe in yourself. Don't let others control your business decisions unless you hire them to do so.Put out a quality product. That goes without saying. Lousy product, no repeat customers, and your reputation suffers. Craftsmanship and professionalism. Don't be late in delivering items, dress appropriately when meeting clients and be businesslike. Sloppy presentations will put you at a disadvantage. To stand out you must be a class act

e. Have an exact date for the goal. Split the goal in smaller divisions: months, quarters or years - or something that suits you best.

Example marketing plan goals for Edoiki game

The goals for Edoiki are:

* Direct Sales goal: $50.000 (after eCommerce provider expenses)

* Other Sales goal: $50.000 (after publisher/distributor expenses)

* Total Sales: $100.000

Exact direct sales details:

* Initial price: $19.95

* Conversion rate goal: 1.0%

* Downloads goal: 280.000

* Units goal: 2.800

* Deadline: By the end of 2007

The quarterly download & sales goals for direct distribution:

* Q3-Q4/2006 - 600 units, 60.000 downloads

* Q1-Q2/2007 - 1100 units, 110.000 downloads

* Q3-Q4/2007 - 1100 units, 110.000 downloads

2. Distribution - Select the Right Channels For Your Game

There are several options for distributing your game. Indie and casual games tend to follow these main distribution channels:

* Direct website store

* Retail stores

* Portals

* Content delivery systems

* Publisher channels

Your marketing plan should tell you which channels you are going to use, and which ones you'll ignore.

Edoiki distribution channels
Edoiki will be sold directly through Edoiki website. Besides the direct websites we'll approach Mumbo Jumbo/United Developers and Tri Synergy to discuss retail channels. There are other retail opportunities: Dreamcatcher/The Adventure Company, Cylon Interactive, Merscom, MWR connected - some of them will be considered in the future, while some of them will be ignored.
We will also contact a few publishers for a non-exclusive deals. The first ones to target are Shrapnelgames, JoWood and Matrix Games. Edoiki will omit the casual game portals, as the game is targeting a different audience.
We'll also approach Valve and discuss the distributing opportunity via Steam.

3. Product - Have Something to Sell

4. Promotion - Make People Aware of Your Game

Edoiki promotion efforts
Edoiki aims to please board gamers and non-casual gamers, players that are addicted to the online multiplayer game experience, and look for games where they can challenge their friends. These gamers don't necessarily have a favorite genre, their main goals is to play with friends - as long as the game is good. They are over 20 and mostly male. Their income level is more than $10,000 yearly and they can spend $20 or $30 easily for entertainment now and then. Our players own a high-speed internet connection (256 KB or better) or at least a fast IDSN connection. Our players have at least basic understanding of the English language, they are interested in Japanese/Chinese mythology and know something about Eastern cultures.
Edoiki will use several promotion methods: Google Adwords targeted directly to board games, banner ads on multiplayer and similar online sites, multiplayer gaming forums, press releases, newsletter announcements, major review sites, article writing, community forums, PAD services, blogs, entering the Independent Games Festival.

5. The Website - Get Players to Download Your Game Demo

Edoiki website
Edoiki website will use a virtual private server to handle traffic and make sure the system is online every hour of day. The website will present screenshots, player forums, contact information, company information and present clear and easily distinguishable download and purchase buttons. The website won't use Javascript or font that would make it hard to use the site. The headline of the site will be tested and the game requirements, features and any other game-related hints & tips will be listed. The site graphics will be polished by the game artist.
The website traffic will be estimated and website specific goals (the rate of downloads) will be refined to meet the download goals after initial number of downloads are received.

6. The Demo - Get Players To Purchase Your Game

Truck Drivers: Beware And Prepare - A Guide To Trucking In The Northeast
As someone who is investigating the opportunities in truck driving careers, you undoubtedly have heard the horror stories about trucking in the Northeast. The stories of overcrowded roadways, lack of parking spaces and the constant fighting to jockey into position so you won’t miss your exit, are all true. A driver has not lived until they have experienced trucking in the Northeast. This area of the United States is one place that the truck driving schools cannot prepare you for. Even seasoned drivers will stop beforehand and psych themselves up before tackling what lies ahead.The major problem of driving in this area of the United States encompasses several areas. The first problem, obviously, is the enormous amount of traffic. Thousands of vehicles are doing battle to get to wherever they are going. Traffic jams, accidents and, within the cities, pedestrians EVERYWHERE! Within the boroughs of New York City, it is no easy task to get 18 wheelers down streets that are packed with hundreds of cars and thousands of people, and which were originally built in the mid 1800's!The second problem area causes much aggravation and stress within the truck driving field. There is simply no where to park. Once you get past a certain area, parking becomes obsolete. Without trucks, America stops. Yet, in areas such as the Northeast, they provide nowhere for these drivers to stop and rest or simply even to catch their breath. Also, once you’ve reached your origin or destination, space is usually so cramped, that it can literally take hours to just get backed into the dock to get loaded or unloaded. The stories can go on and on about the Northeast. In recent years, many drivers have started to refuse to run to this area. Other problem areas too numerous to expand on include the high toll rates, the gutted, worn out road surfaces that will shake your teeth out, the hate-filled, disrespectful sentiment displayed toward the trucking industry and the outright dangers of entering into the boroughs at certain times of the day.Yea

blisher opportunity. There are many indie game publishers that can get a deal for you: some of the popular ones are Garage Games, Indiepath and PopCap. All these companies provide different terms, and your marketing plan can change depending on the deals you make. If you commit yourself to creating an exclusive deal with some of the publishers, then you might not be allowed to sell the game through your website, thus making direct selling options unavailable. Besides pure publishers, there are also content delivery systems available. Valve's Steam is perhaps the biggest example and could be appealing to indies.

Your marketing plan should tell you which channels you are going to use, and which ones you'll ignore.

Edoiki distribution channels
Edoiki will be sold directly through Edoiki website. Besides the direct websites we'll approach Mumbo Jumbo/United Developers and Tri Synergy to discuss retail channels. There are other retail opportunities: Dreamcatcher/The Adventure Company, Cylon Interactive, Merscom, MWR connected - some of them will be considered in the future, while some of them will be ignored.
We will also contact a few publishers for a non-exclusive deals. The first ones to target are Shrapnelgames, JoWood and Matrix Games. Edoiki will omit the casual game portals, as the game is targeting a different audience.
We'll also approach Valve and discuss the distributing opportunity via Steam.

3. Product - Have Something to Sell

4. Promotion - Make People Aware of Your Game

Edoiki promotion efforts
Edoiki aims to please board gamers and non-casual gamers, players that are addicted to the online multiplayer game experience, and look for games where they can challenge their friends. These gamers don't necessarily have a favorite genre, their main goals is to play with friends - as long as the game is good. They are over 20 and mostly male. Their income level is more than $10,000 yearly and they can spend $20 or $30 easily for entertainment now and then. Our players own a high-speed internet connection (256 KB or better) or at least a fast IDSN connection. Our players have at least basic understanding of the English language, they are interested in Japanese/Chinese mythology and know something about Eastern cultures.
Edoiki will use several promotion methods: Google Adwords targeted directly to board games, banner ads on multiplayer and similar online sites, multiplayer gaming forums, press releases, newsletter announcements, major review sites, article writing, community forums, PAD services, blogs, entering the Independent Games Festival.

5. The Website - Get Players to Download Your Game Demo

Edoiki website
Edoiki website will use a virtual private server to handle traffic and make sure the system is online every hour of day. The website will present screenshots, player forums, contact information, company information and present clear and easily distinguishable download and purchase buttons. The website won't use Javascript or font that would make it hard to use the site. The headline of the site will be tested and the game requirements, features and any other game-related hints & tips will be listed. The site graphics will be polished by the game artist.
The website traffic will be estimated and website specific goals (the rate of downloads) will be refined to meet the download goals after initial number of downloads are received.

6. The Demo - Get Players To Purchase Your Game

Developing Deeper Skills to Expand Leadership, Innovation and Stronger Relationships
The signals to raise the bar on personal and professional skills are increasing in frequency:The need to assist managers coming from a technical skill base to move to an interpersonal skill base in order to facilitate a healthy working environment for productivity and innovation.The need for smooth succession between outgoing leader and emerging leaders.The need to utilize the limited window of opportunity to benefit from the extensive experience of long standing employees mixed effectively with the energy and insight of youth in working teams and relationships. The need for old ways of doing the work to expand into new territory with a red carpet pathway of least resistance. The opportunity to apply an expanded way of seeing and deeper level of sensitivity to facilitating natural innovation at all moments. The skills required to create a workplace where people want to work and where the organization can achieve its purpose are parallel, portable, overt and covert as are career paths. For example, the capacity to be fully present and engaged in the task at hand is as relevant to the improv actor as it is to the project manager. Trust in interpersonal wisdom and group leadership is as pertinent to theatre as it is to teams. The practice of channeling skills into exclusive silos of application is dead.The skills and talents you use in your personal life are equally applicable to professional life. As obvious as that seems the cultural context may not be receptive so blocking, a term used in improv for denying a reality. By day you are a working professional; by night an actor or work with horses, for example. Your day job will most likely engage predominantly linear analytical thinking. Your night's creative practice, in theatre or working with horses, is the place where leadership skills are being practiced in a team setting. The opportunity is to bridge the application between night and day to expand the benefit of the learning to leadership performance.To successfully build the bridge across gaps in communicat

e information, or to get them to download the game through various sources. How you make the offer depends on the market segments your company has targeted. There are different types of players, games and needs. "Casual gamers" have different playing habits than "hardcore gamers". 6-year old kids play differently compared to 15- or 30-year old players. Females and males have different needs and wants for games. In Japan , they favor different kinds of games than in Germany. It's your job to define the market segments, and decide which segment (or segments) you choose to target your marketing.

Edoiki promotion efforts
Edoiki aims to please board gamers and non-casual gamers, players that are addicted to the online multiplayer game experience, and look for games where they can challenge their friends. These gamers don't necessarily have a favorite genre, their main goals is to play with friends - as long as the game is good. They are over 20 and mostly male. Their income level is more than $10,000 yearly and they can spend $20 or $30 easily for entertainment now and then. Our players own a high-speed internet connection (256 KB or better) or at least a fast IDSN connection. Our players have at least basic understanding of the English language, they are interested in Japanese/Chinese mythology and know something about Eastern cultures.
Edoiki will use several promotion methods: Google Adwords targeted directly to board games, banner ads on multiplayer and similar online sites, multiplayer gaming forums, press releases, newsletter announcements, major review sites, article writing, community forums, PAD services, blogs, entering the Independent Games Festival.

5. The Website - Get Players to Download Your Game Demo

Edoiki website
Edoiki website will use a virtual private server to handle traffic and make sure the system is online every hour of day. The website will present screenshots, player forums, contact information, company information and present clear and easily distinguishable download and purchase buttons. The website won't use Javascript or font that would make it hard to use the site. The headline of the site will be tested and the game requirements, features and any other game-related hints & tips will be listed. The site graphics will be polished by the game artist.
The website traffic will be estimated and website specific goals (the rate of downloads) will be refined to meet the download goals after initial number of downloads are received.

6. The Demo - Get Players To Purchase Your Game

Turn Your Competitors into Collaborators
Do you get discouraged or stuck in building your business because you think there's too many others to compete against in your niche? A lot of solo business owners feel this way, especially when they are first starting out. I don't want you to give up before you really get started, so I'd like you to consider thinking about your competition in a different way.1. There's an abundance of clients and customers for everyone.2. Your competitors are potential collaborators and strategic alliances for you.3. The better you come to know your competitors, the more you will become aware of the uniqueness of your own message and your own offerings.If you embrace this perspective, you'll find that those feelings of discouragement and "what's the point - I can't compete" will melt away.1. If you come from the mindset of abundance, you won't feel discouraged by the competition. There are more than enough clients and customers for everyone. And if you are building your business online, there is essentially an unlimited audience for your work.Think about your niche for a moment. How many of them do you need to serve to reach whatever your definition of success is? Then think about how many people there are around the globe who are your potential clients or customers. Could you really reach them all, even if you wanted to? :) Of course not.2. There are several ways that you can collaborate and develop strategic alliances with others in your niche. You could hold a teleclass or workshop together. This is particularly helpful if you are new in business and can hook up with someone more seasoned, who already has a ready audience built (an email list). Doing this will also help you gain experience and confidence to hold them on your own.You could write an article or a column or even a book together. For instance, if you are savvy with technology and your partner is savvy with a certain set of coaching skills, you could work together to create something unique to offer online to both your audiences.Or you could offer a free product (a mini e-bo

5. The Website - Get Players to Download Your Game Demo

Edoiki website
Edoiki website will use a virtual private server to handle traffic and make sure the system is online every hour of day. The website will present screenshots, player forums, contact information, company information and present clear and easily distinguishable download and purchase buttons. The website won't use Javascript or font that would make it hard to use the site. The headline of the site will be tested and the game requirements, features and any other game-related hints & tips will be listed. The site graphics will be polished by the game artist.
The website traffic will be estimated and website specific goals (the rate of downloads) will be refined to meet the download goals after initial number of downloads are received.

6. The Demo - Get Players To Purchase Your Game

[1] Demo feature limitations: does the demo have limited features (like less units, levels, powers etc.) compared to the full version? Are you sure you are telling the player what he will get if he buys? Add nag screens to both beginning and the end of the demo. Use those screens to explain the limitations and benefits of purchasing the game.

[2] Demo time limitations: time limitation combined with feature limitations can be advantageous: offer 15 demo launches or 60 minutes of gameplay, or a 30-day period. Or try something in between.

[3] Guide the player to make the purchase: is it easy (within one or two mouse clicks) for player to purchase your game or enter to your game's purchase page? If not, adjust the demo.

7. Measurement - Be Aware of What's Going On

The only way to make sure you are flying in the right direction is to constantly check where you are heading: be sure to measure impacts of different modifications. If you decide to change the price, promotion or demo, be sure to measure the effects. Conduct an A/B split test for your game price: try both a $20 and a $30 price to see which one works better. Offer a money back guarantee and measure how it impacts sales. Do you get more sales with different demo limitations? Test it. Do the sales increase if you offer a better tutorial in game? Does it help to have nag screens in the beginning and in the end of the demo?

Be aware of where you are flying.

8. Maintenance - Make Sure The Passengers Are Happy

Your marketing plan involves maintenance: how are you going to deal with the customers and build such a relationship with your current customers that they come back and purchase from you again. Customer support could include FAQ lists, support databases, and automated emails. Your marketing plan should describe how you will maintain the relationship with your customers. Will you use support forums or outsource your customer support? Will you use customer relationship management (CRM) tools? Will there be an online chat available for those who purchase? Will you use blogs or newsletters to inform the players about your product updates?

Your marketing plan will tell you how you will deal with the relationship: it will tell you whether you let your publisher or portals handle customer support, or use all or some of the methods discussed earlier.

9. Refinement - Adjust Your Flight Plan

The last step in the marketing plan is to refine the plan. Go to step 1 and adjust your goals. If you think your conversion rate is dropping to .5% feel free to double the goal for download number. As you double your download number goal you know that you need to focus on more promotion rather than optimizing the demo, website or product. On the other hand, if you choose to refine the conversion rate, then you know that you should focus on the quality of your game, demo or website rather than promotion.

Conclusions

The indie game marketing plan describes the goals derived from a company's strategic objectives. The main idea for the marketing plan is to describe the goals, decide the actions necessary to reach those goals, measure and eventually refine the plan as the production progresses.

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