Game promotion/advertising

[Unknown98]

Been thinking about this for a while. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to how we can get the word out about Airline Enterprise? Nobody knows about the game except for a small group of people that used to play CA. If I'm not mistaken that's where everyone here has ultimately come from. 

We have 44 users currently registered in-game. I'd really like to get that to around 100 or so, to open up the possibility of performing a game reset and then simulating gameplay from the very beginning, with the correct amount of starting cash and so forth. That's one of the main things we need to do before we can move out of public beta stage, but we can't do it accurately with only 44 players.

I don't want to go and advertise on other games or post threads in their forums, so please don't go and do that. Facebook gave me $30 in ad credits to use, so I used those. It's reaching people but so far nobody has actually come to the game from Facebook. I did think about maybe posting something on Reddit, but I don't really know the rules or how it works. Their website layout confuses me lol. I rarely use Reddit and don't even have an account there. But they do have a r/Tycoon section that this might fit into. 

I'm no marketing expert, in fact I dislike sales & marketing lol. Hated the subject in school. I don't have much of a marketing budget, at this time I don't really have any budget at all, so spending money is currently something that's out of the question. Unless perhaps it's a small amount, I'd consider it.

[Yupiter]

Why not to make a small entry on AE forum? There is one topic dedicated to this subject. 

http://i.imgur.com/TNUbuoV.png

[skifans]

While do agree with the general priciple of not spaming other forums l do think that AE is different as there is a clearly designed section for this purpuse and a post should be made there. Regarding Reddit, l have an active account and a frequnt user of the site including/r/tycoon. Id gladly make a post there which l think could be a good idea, il try and write something for it later (I'm not really able to on my phone)

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I could just post a link to reddit but I think it would be better if we wrote a little about AE. Heres an example if another game I'm a similar position: https://www.reddit.com/r/tycoon/comments..._our_game/

[Frenchie]

Agreed with skifans, AE and reddit are two communities that encourage grassroots tycoon builds and alphas, and therefore should be likely candidates for promoting AE.

Might I add my small and humble contribution concerning a very successful French airline simulation game called Airline Manager 2 (this is their second version). Though they do possess an English section, it is fairly inactive and being a native Frenchman I would yield considerably more outreach and influence if I were to promote the game in French (though stressing that all interactions on the forum and the game layout will remain in English, at least for the foreseeable future).

There is no guarantee that this will in turn add a significant number of members, but if you feel comfortable with it unk I could give it a shot.

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Also an interesting suggestion might be to create a small-size Youtube channel along with possibly Facebook and/or Twitter (the latter probably more effective for updates and news flashes).

Youtube could be utilized to create a small introduction series to the various features of the game thus attracting fresh newcomers to the airline simulation genre whilst broadening our potential scope of player base. In this regard I would gladly volunteer given I've got previous experience with Youtube as well as video/sound editing and could work out quite a decent series.

[skifans]

I don't know anything about Airline manager but i agree with unk that the way to go isn't just to spam forum posts. I think airline enterprise deserves an exception because they have a section designed exactly for this purpose. And the /r/tycoon subredit is a fine place as it is a group of people looking new tycoon games and news around the area which i think we would fit into. I don't know if there are any subredits for other airline manager games but I don't think that that's as good idea.

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Also, i think we already have a Facebook and Twitter pages set up. YouTube could be a good idea but it takes time to produce high quality videos, and I'm still not sure what we would have to put in them.

[Carde]

I can drop it on Reddit no problem, give me a little blurp to post with it and done.

[Unknown98]

Well, I think there's a difference between 'spamming' our game on another forum and starting a discussion about it. If you're an active member of a particular community I don't see any issue creating a topic about our game as long as the rules allow it. Frenchie if you feel comfortable promoting/discussing the game on Airline Manager 2 then I'm fine with it. I just don't want our game to come across as a spam post.

Taking another look at Airline-Empires I see they do have a sub-forum dedicated to member projects, which you are allowed to post in as long as you were involved with the creation of that project. I suppose I could make a post there. The name similarity between the two games worries me a bit though lol.

Concerning Reddit, I could write up a small post and then somebody that knows how to use Reddit better than I do could make a post there, I suppose. I'll just have to draft up something.

Youtube could certainly be cool, I think a small series walking people through how to use various features/parts of the game could be a success if it's done professionally. I watch a ton of Youtube but I've got no video editing/producing experience. Although I think I do have access to Adobe Premier... my brother is into filmmaking and I think it's installed on our main PC. Frenchie if you're serious about volunteering to help set that up maybe shoot me a PM and we'll see if we can come up with something.

I do have a Facebook page set up but have yet to make a Twitter. I suppose making a Twitter couldn't hurt, I hear that's what all the kids are using these days. 

It's just a difficult balance on my part, I don't want to dedicate all my time to promoting the game and then not have much time left to actually develop the game. But at the same time promoting the game to new players is extremely important for the lifespan of the game.

[skifans]

Regarding spamming vs postong. Sorry I didn't really make this clear, I don't want my previous post to be taken by people that I think we should not make posts in forums, I think it's fine if they are an active member and wish to create a discussion which could be a valuable advertising tool.
I'm not really sure there is much we can do about the name, can anyone think of a better acronym for Airline Enterprise as Airline Empires have sort of taken AE? Regarding reddit and your time, I'll happily write something up tomorrow morning and post it unless someone wants to do so first. I know very little about making YouTube videos but it could be a good idea. I'm concerned that this is happening in the current sort of beta staging where things will change and be added. Is it worth having to update these videos frequently? I feel that having out of date/incorrect tutorials could cause confusion in the long term.

[Unknown98]

I know very little about making YouTube videos but it could be a good idea. I'm concerned that this is happening in the current sort of beta staging where things will change and be added. Is it worth having to update these videos frequently? I feel that having out of date/incorrect tutorials could cause confusion in the long term.

This is true and definitely something to consider. I wouldn't want to make video tutorials or videos in general on things that are still changing.

[Carde]

I am not pro with youtube vids, but I have no problem quickly pushing out some basic tutorials and updating them as needed.