This question was posed to us by the team at Shroom Games as they prepared to launch their first mobile blockchain-based strategy game, Econia. The guys didn’t have sufficient funding for a large-scale promo campaign, which significantly hindered their community-building efforts.
Every day, hundreds of new games are released, all vying for the attention of major media outlets. Given the intense competition, as a game developer, you simply can’t neglect brand awareness in your product launch strategy. Hence, communicating your project’s unique selling point (USP) to your target audience is more crucial than ever. For Econia, this USP combined elements of classic city-building and clicker genres with dynamic synchronous multiplayer and realistic economic simulation.
The tasks ahead were challenging yet intriguing for us:
- Create a market entry PR strategy for Econia.
- Organize PR outreach to secure as many organic mentions of the project as possible in gaming media and from niche bloggers.
We had four months to accomplish this. During that time, we conducted all necessary research, identified the most effective promotional channels, and built strong connections with dozens of journalists and influencers from scratch. But first things first.
MIKE’S COMMENTARY
Most of the PR work involved in bringing a little-known (or unknown) project into a major market is still done manually, including mailings, pitching, and data collection. Therefore, it’s best to start preparing at least 2-3 months before the official product launch. Since delays may occur due to human factors, giving yourself a time buffer allows for smooth adjustments along the way.
Stage 1 – Breaking down pre-launch activities
While determining the key USP for Econia was paramount, we knew that having a fantastic product alone was insufficient. Our team had to work on many details before the release, which ultimately enhanced the effectiveness of our PR efforts. Why were these nuances so crucial, and what exactly were they? Let’s explain.
Research
PR specialists are responsible for all the preliminary research required to help a product achieve the desired visibility. This involves a thorough examination of the product, its target audience, geographic markets, performance metrics, competitors, and more. Additionally, it’s essential to analyze the media landscape to build a database of relevant media outlets and bloggers and to review their terms for collaboration.
After briefing the Econia team, we identified several fundamental insights:
- Econia was developed for both iOS and Android platforms.
- The primary geo-targets for promotion were the USA, the UK, and Germany, with Russia as a secondary market.
- The team had already compiled a list of over 120 gaming bloggers and 30 gaming media outlets.
- They also identified seven main competitors: four mobile games and three web-based games.
These insights formed the foundation of our pre-launch PR efforts. We aimed to:
- Conduct an analysis of competitors' media presence at all stages of the launch (pre-launch, launch, and post-launch).
- Expand the list of media outlets, including platforms for free content submission, by at least 100 entries, targeting designated geo-regions.
- Expand the list of bloggers by 150 entries, also targeting the designated geo-regions.
- Request publication rates and identify publishers we could attract with benefits beyond financial incentives.
- Prepare custom pitches designed to appeal to specific media outlets and influencers across different Tiers.
MIKE’S COMMENTARY
Competitor analysis is essential to understand which PR tools games in the same genre use to promote their USPs and shape your own PR strategy. Our initial examination revealed that while games without a competitive gameplay primarily rely on media and influencers, multiplayer games often depend on community-driven promotion. The latter approach would be ideal for Econia; however, to foster and support an active community around the game, it was crucial to first increase brand awareness and establish a strong reputation.
Ultimately, we expanded both media and blogger lists by over 150 entries each. Numerous choices were eliminated after a thorough, repeated analysis of sites to determine their suitability for promoting Econia. The final lists included 267 bloggers and 256 media outlets.
Yet, looking ahead, our intermediate results after the first wave of pitching were disappointing: the final response rate from media outlets was 24%, and only 9% for bloggers.
Strategy adjustments
Our initial steps showed that gaining immediate attention was nearly impossible. However, this outcome is quite typical in a highly competitive environment. You must be prepared for the possibility that not all influencers and major outlets will be interested in your product. It’s crucial to continue reaching out to various platforms and not give up midway. The key is to shift your focus to publishers who are most relevant to your project.
That's what further segmentation and personalization are all about. By initially prioritizing quantity over quality, we ended up with a weak response rate from bloggers. Consequently, we quickly decided to halt bulk cold emails and instead adopted a personalized approach, using the customer’s domain email to build more meaningful connections.
MIKE’S COMMENTARY
Personalization matters. While it takes more time to create customized press kits and individual press releases, bloggers and media outlets appreciate that they weren’t selected randomly. As a result, you have a much better chance of getting noticed and establishing the right connections.
SMM
Before deciding on a given game project, the average user will not only visit the app store but will also explore other official online pages. So, another goal during launch preparation is to make social media accounts visually appealing, informative, and aligned with the appropriate tone of voice. Gamers are particularly attentive to these elements, and the way developers engage with their target audience from the outset will significantly impact their game’s success.
For example, we developed a content plan for Facebook, created a landing page on Instagram, and produced several tutorial videos for our client's YouTube channel to help potential players become familiar with Econia.
Preparing copies for the media that allow UGC
It’s also worth considering the option of hidden promotion by using platforms for free article submission. There are plenty of gaming blogs willing to publish user-generated content (UGC), and all it takes is a quick search to find them. Gather a list of 30–40 platforms and select those that best suit your startup.
In our case, we identified 36 such blogs, and after a second round of analysis, we primarily engaged with six that seemed most appealing. Based on the specific requirements of each platform, we prepared tailored articles for them. Notably, we didn’t overlook the remaining 30 blogs and created a more general review for them, distributing it through a mass email campaign.
Stage 2 – Launch activities
To avoid reputational damage, it’s crucial for developers to launch only when the final version of the game is fully playable. The Econia team decided to postpone the release date after discovering several bugs during the final testing phase. The decision to prioritize the comfort of potential consumers over strict plans and deadlines was undoubtedly the right one, so we had to make a few more adjustments to our PR plan.
As a result, we began the second wave of mailing four days before the release, sending out 200 pitches during that period. And the first category of publishers to receive individual letters and press kits consisted of Tier-1 and Tier-2 media outlets and bloggers.
MIKE’S COMMENTARY
How can you attract the interest of top-tier publishers? Personalized links with exclusive access to the game can be highly valuable to them, so it’s worth taking the time to create one for each significant media outlet or blogger. At best, they’ll spread the word for free; at worst, they’ll enjoy being among the first to try your project.
For Tier-1 and Tier-2 media, we achieved a 4% conversion rate, which is an impressive outcome for such a short timeframe. The total reach of publications in major outlets that announced the Econia release exceeded 17.3 million, sparking a wave of organic interest. As a result, over 18 publications were released on launch day, increasing the overall reach to nearly 132 million.
Although progress with influencers didn’t go as well, we refrained from making snap judgments. Major bloggers likely didn’t have enough time to thoroughly review the game and provide a response. Plus, their endorsements are in high demand, and creating video content takes more time than writing journalistic articles. To improve our chances, we continued with planned pitches and sent the necessary follow-up messages.
MIKE’S COMMENTARY
Try to make your press kit available to bloggers and the media as early as possible. Remember that influencers and major publications are inundated with projects competing for attention, so you may not hear back from them immediately. That’s why it’s important to follow up to keep yourself on their radar.
Stage 3 – Post-Launch Activities
The day after the launch, we continued pitching to Tier-3 publishers and following up with those who had previously received the press kit. After the second wave of emails, media outlets began responding more readily, and the number of comments from bloggers increased at the start of the third wave, showing the effectiveness of follow-ups.
However, we encountered an unexpected problem: we had to pause our activities until the developers resolved an issue after Google Play banned Econia due to the quality of the integrated advertising. As a result, we were unable to fully assess the impact of follow-ups on response rates.
MIKE’S COMMENTARY
Be prepared for unexpected challenges. Even if you are confident in the quality of your product, you shouldn’t rule out the possibility of unforeseen events. Setbacks are inevitable, even in the largest game projects, so have a contingency plan in place to manage emergencies.
Despite the pause, we saw positive results, as our press release was published by four media outlets during this period, extending our total reach by an additional 1.6 million. Organic traffic continued to bring us reprints and mentions. By the end of November, we had secured 45 free publications, with total coverage exceeding 156 million.
After the pause, we completed outreach to the designated publishers, sending 174 pitches to bloggers and 88 pitches to media outlets, as well as approximately 400 follow-ups. Organic interest remained strong, resulting in nine additional publications with a total reach of over 12 million.
Results
Thanks to PR efforts, Econia received one-sixth of its traffic in the first month following its launch, which contributed to an approximate 17% reduction in installation costs. According to Google Analytics, Econia's search geography aligned well with our initial target markets: the top three were the USA (39%), the UK (22%), and Russia (15%). Germany also made it into the top 10.
Despite having limited funding, we managed to secure 60 media and blogger mentions for Econia, achieving a total reach of over 169 million. This significantly contributed to the project’s reputation as a promising blockchain-based mobile game. While many media outlets and influencers did not respond to our pitches, the publishers who agreed to cover Econia helped to attract attention in a natural way. Of all the coverage received, 90% was organic!
FINAL WORD FROM MIKE ERMOLAEV
I appreciate this case as it demonstrates that nothing is impossible. You can attract attention even in a highly competitive setting if you combine effective communication with a job well done. This is one of the few areas where people still excel over machines!
