As we have crossed the 90% of minimum funding milestone and are closing in on the end of the campaign, i think it is time to gather ideas on how to maximize the PR effect of being successfully funded, in particular for the Kickstarter campaign and for reaching some stretch goals.
For the purpouse of this thread, let us assume we reach 300,000 $ with one or two days left in the campaign, so we have time to utilize the funding success as a PR instrument. If we only reach it the last day, time will be too short to still impact the campaign. Post - Kickstarter PR and marketing will also be very important for stretch goal funding, but this is an entirely different topic and should have its own thread.
So, what consequences will reaching the minimum funding goal have for the PR efforts? I expect at least the following effects:
It should give hesitating potential backers the security that the game WILL be developed
It should be much more newsworthy than the start of a Kickstarter campaign by an unknown new studio
It should change our narrative from “lets push this over the minimum funding edge” to “hey look what awesome stretch goals are within reach”
What can we do to maximize the PR benefit? A couple of ideas:
The devs should re-email every news outlet they have already contacted, both the ones who did write an article and especially those who did not, as any game related magazine that ignores a successful 300,000$ game Kickstarter must really be run by zombies or something. Ideally, this would be a short, pre-formulated press release that can be copy-pasted by the lazyest article writer ever. It should include the news of the funding success, the hint for the remaining campaign time, the main bulletpoints for the game from the KS, and the most important links. Maybe also a reminder of the kickstarter exclusive interceptor model. ( I would guess the Devs are already planning something like this in parallel to the KS update. )
As the community, we should obviously spread the news in the forums etc. we are already active in. The message should contain the same information as the press release by the devs, plus some community enthusiasm.
We should now start to prepare some information on the stretch goals, especially the lower ones that are within reach. Here, we need some help from the devs - e.g., what does the improved damage model or the improved quality of capital ships really mean? I could imagine a lot of things, but i do not know. Also, what can the Fighter do that Interceptors and Bombers can not? ( e.g. flexibility of roles, better at scounting, more range, more sensor range, can take more punishment than an interceptor …? ). For things that will be decided by playtesting and can not be set in stone just yet, the general direction and feel needs to be defined. E.g. “Better capital ship quality is both about available armament and modules, increased visual fidelity and advanced tactical ship management options”. Not too specific, but outlines the direction.
We could track down those posts and articles that are dominated by old vapourware claims and post along the lines of “hey look, it got funded and will be made, that is awesome!” without appearing to want to attack the posters of the vapourware claims.
So jea, what do you guys think? What consequences for our PR efforts do you anticipate, what ideas do you have to maximize the effect of successful funding on the remaining campaign?
First, I’d let them get some sleep, spend time with family and friends and come up for air.
Then I’d suggest that they make sure that they’re ready to effectively accept additional funding via some means that is convenient to contributors - no glitches to throw off prospective backers. Then I’d suggest that they designate someone to keep funding going full time (including media contacts), with the rest of the team beginning work on their project.
Well +1 for this. If you pay someone 3k/month (example) to do publicity work (and perhaps community managing?), and the person gets you 4k/month, you win money every month AND don’t have to use your own precious time to do that.
Ah, I missed that. I figure that the timing of getting funded and being able to do anything with that knowledge will be limited to a post-Kickstarter period.
I think the option of doing a Reddit AMA should not be overlooked. If the project is funded then there would be no impediments and the amount of additional visibility could be very significant.
I hope the I-Novae team considers this possibility, assuming, of course, they have the availability to do it.
There’s always the grumpy mod, maybe they had bad luck and got one on a bad day.
Apparently, there’s a rule that says you can’t post an AMA promoting a Kickstarter if it isn’t funded yet, so there should be no barriers now.
There’s also the option of doing it on /r/gaming or /r/games, like many have done before. These are completely independent communities with different mods.
Honestly, I’d just let it ride as is, they will probably get around 350K’ish I presume.
The main problem with their KS timing is they picked the worst time of the year. Fallout 4 just came out and SW Battlefront is coming out Tuesday and a bunch of big name movies for the Holidays and the fact of the matter is realistically speaking, the media has a hard time covering all these mainstream things as is.
Had they started their KS in late Sept/early Oct, the timing probably would have worked out better (less competition with ppl’s wallets).
Going by a brief comment, it sounds like they are already trying to take full advantage of the PR possibilities of being funded. Hopefully some of the bigger sites pick-up the news.
If they have time to spare (probably not) then might be worth trying another AMA.
No. The more funding they can get now, the less they’ll need to get AFTER the Kickstarter to reach the (next) stretch goal. (Yes, they are accepting funding after the Kickstarter, somewhat like SC did.)
Waiting for the update on what will happen next will help. I think it could be useful to confirm which stretch goal tiers will be available post-Kickstarter asap.
Did people stop talking about the game after the Kickstarter ended? $750 from 6 backers over the last 3 days pledged on Indiegogo doesn’t seem all that much.
I’m sure I’ve personal heard from more than that number of people since the Kickstarter ended who were upset about missing out on it before the Indiegogo page went up.
Are people expecting a price-drop or is the existence of the Indiegogo page totally unknown by anyone?
*Sorry for the bump but this thread’s title seemed somewhat appropriate for it.
I think once we get the prototype into the hands of the Developer Access backers in January things will pick up. It’s the holidays, everybody is spending their money on presents, and there isn’t much externally exciting going on as we’re working on getting ready to ramp up production next month.