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Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

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VeritasGames
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Which is a better investment for game publishers, going to cons, like Gen Con, or spending the money on more advertising?

Does the answer depend on whether you are attending a retailer-oriented convention or a player-oriented convention?

It just seems like you have to sell hundreds of units of smaller games to pay for booth prices at some of these cons. A small loss could be worth it as an advertising cost to expose people to your game. But big losses seem pointless and we could do better, it seems, just by advertising more. It looks like it costs $2000+ to fly to the big game cons, get a hotel, have a booth, and run some demos.

Anonymous
Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

For convention sales I recommend partnering with someone else or, better yet, just find someone to do it for you. I use Key20Direct for my con and distributor sales and have been very happy with the service and speed of payments.

www.key20direct.com

Zzzzz
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Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

Well cons like GenCON are a great place to promote a game, of course each con can cater to specific game styles, last year at GenCON Indy there was approx 35,000 attendees. So you can get a lot of exposure from the booth and if you have product ready, it can sell on the spot. CONs also allow you a chance to actually interact with consumers and show them your game in action. This can really help, obviously it can also hurt if the game is not truely ready and problems occur. I know from past GenCONs that the RPG game I helped to co-develop has benefited from holding events so ppl can actually see the game in action. If possible I would look into sharing a booth spot at any con for a few to help the cost, I know GenCON has a forum for ppl to post about sharing a booths.

As for advertising, it can also be very expensive, though there are ways to cut costs since there are usually options for size/color/b&w and of course different magizines. I have looked into various ads and the cost for full page(8.5x11 approx) color adds can run into the $1k-$2k range.

Ok I have not helped you one bit, but I guess I would ask if you have distributors/retailers trying to get your product into a store? Are you promoting an online store for selling product yourself?

How much do you already promote?

One other thought, which many have commented out in the past, have you looked into holding a demo at local game stores? This might help get your game into closer stores interested and maybe you can create window posters for advertising with them to promote you game even more. Maybe if the demo worked out well they would consider selling on consignment...

VeritasGames
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Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

If our art license gets signed we'll be coming out in late 2005. We don't promote now, but we will, of course.

I know the prices of ads, but I don't know whether ads bring in extra sales compared to cons.

We will be going through distribution plus some direct sales.

phpbbadmin
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Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

VeritasGames wrote:
If our art license gets signed we'll be coming out in late 2005. We don't promote now, but we will, of course.

I know the prices of ads, but I don't know whether ads bring in extra sales compared to cons.

We will be going through distribution plus some direct sales.

The problem with Ads is that you never really know how well they are really doing (unless you include a coupon or rebate code or some other tracking utility). With a con, you can go in and sell X # of units and you know that that X # of units were sold using the con as the selling method. Not to mention the 'fringe' benefits already mentioned (networking, demos, etc).

-Darke

Zzzzz
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Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

VeritasGames wrote:
If our art license gets signed we'll be coming out in late 2005. We don't promote now, but we will, of course.

I know the prices of ads, but I don't know whether ads bring in extra sales compared to cons.

We will be going through distribution plus some direct sales.

Based on this information, I think you would be better off attending a convention. Places like GenCON allow you to meet multiple distributors and retailers, not to mention show off your product to consumers from around the WORLD. Not sure what you have to spend on advertising/marketing, but I would suggest trying to attend a "popular" con (like GenCON), then follow up your convention debut with an ad in a major magizine. Obviously this is not easy when money is limited, but sadly you need to keep your game in the publics eye as much as possible in order to create a interest/desire/demand.

I would also listen to what Darke stated, you just never know how well an ad is doing until you see the sales start coming in. At a convention you will see the interest and sales first hand. Now with that said, conventions like GenCON can make you feel like a small, small, ok tiny fish, last year my company got lost in the middle of MANY big players. Our booth was surrounded by Decpher, nVidia, Nintendo, Dreamworks for starters and boy did they engulf our little booth with all of their eye candy.

I guess what I am trying to say is that conventions are good, because you can learn so much first hand, not to mention sell the game on the spot. Which advertising just cannot do. But you also have take into account everything a convention has to offer, if you are promoting a board game, make sure you figure out how to give a few demos over in the board game area (well at least at GenCON). It will help get your game name out and word of mouth advertising is the best advertising!

Another small piece of advice that I was told my many other exhibitors at GenCON... take it slow. You need to build up over time, not many people have the money to show off like a big player. But some smaller companies have done this, and one year they are there, the next gone!

So take it slow, make a plan that you feel happy with carrying out and do it!

VeritasGames
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Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

Thanks for the feedback. I've now had quite a few people tell me that I need to advertise in some key retailer-oriented publications (so that they know that they can order the publication), but that all my other money seems better spent on con attendance (either directly or through a distributor or fulfillment house) instead of advertising.

Lots of people are pushing the importance of cons to me. However, some people (in other threads) have distinguished big cons from small cons. Some people have suggested that I MUST attend Origins and Indy GenCon and GTS, but said that other cons were entirely up to me.

Thoughts on GenCon So Cal? Worth attending? Or mostly not worth the hype?

Zzzzz
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Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

VeritasGames wrote:
...
Lots of people are pushing the importance of cons to me. However, some people (in other threads) have distinguished big cons from small cons. Some people have suggested that I MUST attend Origins and Indy GenCon and GTS, but said that other cons were entirely up to me.

While I agree that you need to think about the bigger CONs, you also should consider which CONs your product best fits. Not everytime of game is good to exhibit and sell at GenCON and Origins. So keep that in mind since you need to make sure you have the correct CON audience thus increasing your potential sales.

VeritasGames wrote:

Thoughts on GenCon So Cal? Worth attending? Or mostly not worth the hype?

Again this depends on the audience you need for your game. I have not been to SoCal, but Indy is great and the hype is actually worth it, IMO. But of course I was there helping to promote the RPG I helped to co-develop. So GenCON was great for our audience, but the cost was not easy to overcome. With so many new products at shows like GenCON you cant expect to hit a home run at your first convention, though I have seen it happen to other small shops.

My best advice to you is to research various conventions and find one that meets your needs. Find one that helps to target your needed audience, and then figure out what one you can honestly afford. It might take a little work, but I think any exposure you get at any convention will help you in the long run. Another thing I did not mention about my learning experiences at GenCON is that consumers that see you there year after year start to take you seriously. It also helps to builid your company name and/or game name. Companies that can attend shows like GenCON year and year start build a serious rep of being "for real". You are also showing stablity and building a rep that you are there to truely bring a great game.

Not sure I am really helping you at all, but you need to really plan what you feel is the best business direction for you game. Only you can figure this out, since it might be online, it might be convetions, it might be distributors and retailers. In ever case you need to look into many options for promoting to your targe audience and also figure out how to keep your cost low, if possible.

Best thing I can say, targetting your game audience in any way will help. You just have to figure out the best way. Which honestly can be very daunting.

VeritasGames
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Con Sales vs. Add'l Advertising

I appreciate the feedback.

Thanks.

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