Flanders DC organised a number of webinars for the game industry on pitching, press coverage and influencer and community marketing. Get to know all about it from experts Bruno Urbain (Fishing Cactus), Ronald Meeus, Axel Gekiere (Adshot) and Anja Combs (Kickstarter).

Bruno Urbain on pitching

Whether it's for gamescom, GDC or other events or occasions: as a game developer it's crucial to be able to pitch your game in an enthusiastic, efficient and compelling way. But what are the key ingredients? Which goals are you pursuing and how does this impact your pitch? What does a good deck look like and how do you set up a good pitching meeting?

During this webinar, head honcho of Fishing Cactus Bruno Urbain talks about the vital topic of pitching. Having successfully shipped more than 50 games on different platforms with varying business models, he’s ideally placed to let you in on the secrets of the perfect video game pitch. Use his practical tips to prepare the ultimate pitch to unleash at a fair.

Natascha Rommens (Flanders DC) and Bruno Urbain

Natascha Rommens (Flanders DC) and Bruno Urbain

If you want to pitch new IP at a fair, you’ll want to meet as many targeted publishers as possible. But how and when do you select and contact them? Are there any practical or strategic tips? How should your pitching deck look like and do you need other materials?

Bruno Urbain on pitching

During your pitching meeting, you don’t often have much time. So it’s important to know what publishers are looking for. How do you communicate your assets in the best possible way? What to wear? And when do you start talking about money?

Bruno Urbain on pitching

If things went well, you want to follow up with the people you met. But when do you contact them and what’s your message? How are you going to track your results? Do you need an NDA (non-disclosure agreement)?

Bruno Urbain on pitching

Some last tips or ideas on how to make the most of a pitching opportunity. Bruno also answers these questions: What if a meeting didn’t go well? What are the pros and cons of working with a publisher? Which tools can you use to contact publishers?

 

Bruno Urbain on pitching


Ronald Meeus on press coverage

We can't say it enough: standing out in the flood of game releases every day, is absolutely essential to launch your newest game. No matter how revolutionary your game is, if nobody knows it exists, that's worth nothing. So media attention is always welcome. Unfortunately, only few manage to create it.

In this webinar, we help you think about a smart public relations strategy to get positive press coverage. Game journalist Ronald Meeus (De Morgen, 9lives, Data News, Trends and Invader) shares his tips and tricks for a successful pr approach based on his own experience. Ronald calls himself a writer, journalist and digital storyteller with a slightly unhealthy interest in video games, technology and business stories, and has almost two decades on the counter in those three specialties. In addition to his contributions in various general and specialized media, he also writes for some brands.

Natascha Rommens (Flanders DC) and Ronald Meeus

Natascha Rommens (Flanders DC) and Ronald Meeus

How do you get the attention of a journalist? What are they interested in? What should you certainly not do?

Ronald Meeus on press coverage

Which information, visuals, animations, etc do you need to convince journalists? And how do you present them? What do journalists use them for? How should you write a press release, and do you need a pr person? Is it necessary to hand out game codes or copies? 

Ronald Meeus on press coverage

Can you repeat your story if it doesn’t get picked up the first time? And if you try this, how do you avoid ‘overdoing’ or making it feel forced? Which types of different ‘beats’ can you use to communicate about?

Ronald Meeus on press coverage

What if you don’t hear anything from a journalist? Is it a good idea to give exclusivity to a journalist? What can you do to help journalists contact you if/when they might need you?

Ronald Meeus on press coverage

Are there specific moments during the year that journalists are more open for game news?

Ronald Meeus on press coverage


Axel Gekiere on influencer marketing

According to Google Trends, the use of the word 'influencer' has multiplied with more than ten times in the past three years. That shouldn't be a surprise, as influencer marketing is everywhere, so it seems. Nevertheless we still see so much (indie) game developers with no influencer strategy. This webinar will introduce you to the basics: What to expect? How to pick your influencers? What's the cost? Which ROI to expect?

Axel Gekiere is the co-founder of Adshot, a marketplace where brands and game studios can easily work with gaming influencers. As a digital marketer, Axel worked on digital growth projects at Google and assisted many companies in adopting digital marketing to reach their objectives. During this webinar, Axel enlightens us on how to use influencer marketing to get your game out to the relevant online audiences.

Nathalie De Schepper (Flanders DC) and Axel Gekiere

Nathalie De Schepper (Flanders DC) and Axel Gekiere

What is influencer marketing and why is it becoming increasingly important? Where should we situate it in a larger marketing strategy?

Axel Gekiere on influencer marketing

First you need to discover what kind of influencer you need, then you can use some tools to find them. What are possible criteria or metrics to choose the right influencers?

Axel Gekiere on influencer marketing

Which platforms can you use to contact an influencer, and what to say?

Axel Gekiere on influencer marketing

What kind of influencer attention can you ask? Do you need a contract? And probably the most interesting part: how much should you pay? What are the different remuneration models, are there good alternatives for money?

Axel Gekiere on influencer marketing

How much control do you have on influencers? Should you be worried about negative posts? How do you analyze the results, any tips and tricks? And how about payout administration, if the influencers are individuals without a company?

Axel Gekiere on influencer marketing

Is Youtuber interest for Indies in a drop the past few years? What to choose, several tiny influencers or just one middle-sized? How do you create ambassadors from influencers? Are there trends or evolutions in the current influencer scene?

Axel Gekiere on influencer marketing


Anya Combs on community marketing

When launching a new game, it's crucial that as many people as possible pick up your release and hopefully spread the word towards their peers.  But how do you stimulate this? Obviously a good game is vital, but it's not the only trump card you've got. In this webinar, we zoom in on the do's and don'ts of community marketing, also described as 'a strategy to engage an audience in an active, non-intrusive conversation'.

Anya Combs, Director of Games Outreach at Kickstarter, is the perfect person to share her views on this topic. Live from the Kickstarter HQ in Brooklyn, New York, she talked to us about the key ingredients to gain (online) traction and attract large numbers of users to a new game release.

Anya Combs

Who is Anya, and what is Kickstarter all about? How big is the Kickstarter community and how active is it? Anya also shares some specific stats for the games category on Kickstarter.

Anya Combs on community marketing

Data proves how big the impact is of good community building for a crowdfunding project, but also afterwards. How you build a community in the gaming sector, also depends on the social media platforms you use.

Anya Combs on community marketing

Anya shares some specific tips for Facebook, Twitter and Discord (this is a big one!), but also gives some ideas for other platforms like online forums or Reddit.

Anya Combs on community marketing

The remaining fifteen minutes Anya answered some very interesting questions from the audience. When do you start announcing your game to the public? How do you keep the communication going during a campaign, without losing your authenticity? Are there tips or even tools for small teams to take care of community building on multiple platforms in a time efficient way? Which are good examples of publishers or studios that do a really good job in community building?

Anya Combs on community marketing