cheap, people will think it is cheap. Don’t scrimp on your production values with good content, or it’s like sticking a Ferrari engine in the body of a Morris Minor.


DON’T SPEND ON AN AGENCY IF YOUR INTERNAL STRUCTURES AREN’T IN PLACE I can’t tell you how many CEOs and CMOs I’ve dealt with over the years who think they can manage the relationship with their PR agency and their actual job. It just doesn’t work; if your agency is any good, it’ll burst with ideas and ask for insight, thoughts, stats and data. PR works best when it’s done as a partnership between agency and client, and that takes time and resources from both parties. That means investing in a dedicated PR or


marketing manager with the experience and time to properly work alongside an agency, not the CEO or a just-hired junior the agency ends up managing rather than the other way around.


“We all like a laugh. So why is so much B2B stuff so bone- dry and lackng in creativity?”


B2B DOESN’T HAVE TO MEAN BORING TO BORING We all like a laugh. We all enjoy something fun and interesting, don’t we? So why is so much B2B stuff so bone-dry and lacking in creativity? If game publishers and big brands are spending millions on creative ad campaigns, why do so many people on the B2B side of games assume their prospects have checked their sense of fun at the office door? Dull and technical ‘white papers’ belong in


academia, not in the inbox of someone who wants to read something engaging and interesting. Be fun and creative with B2B - your readers will thank you.


HAVE YOUR SUCCESS METRICS CLEAR Consumer PR campaigns can directly correlate to game sales and other obvious metrics. In B2B marketing, establishing a direct correlation between one piece of coverage and a spike in sales is a lot more challenging.


That’s why measuring a range of metrics over time is essential, such as website visits, engagement on LinkedIn, the number of inbound qualified leads, high-quality backlinks from websites with high domain authority and more. Lead attribution and automation platforms like


Hubspot and Sharpspring can tie all these metrics together for you, but these platforms can be expensive for start-ups and smaller companies.


BE IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL (AND WORK WITH AN AGENCY THAT LIVES AND BREATHES VIDEO GAMES FOR B2B VIDEO GAME PR!) Sadly, B2B PR isn’t a quick fix, a sticking plaster or a magic bullet. You’ll have to give it at least six months to see measurable differences across some metrics I’ve outlined above. Effective B2B PR is a long-term investment that


requires excellent content, a commitment to quality, and a willingness to build relationships with journalists and industry influencers that only happen over time. It should be considered an investment in growth rather than an additional marketing cost or something you only do when you want to announce you’ve opened a new office somewhere hot. Most importantly – and I hate this cliche, but it’s


true – a decent B2B PR agency should be an extension of your team. They should understand your business goals and objectives and provide strategic advice and guidance to help you navigate any particular challenges you might be facing. For B2B companies in the video game industry,


this means working with an agency that lives and breathes video games. It’s not enough to have a general understanding of video games because, as anyone knows, new trends and challenges are emerging daily. Your agency should be able to explain why there’s


so much fuss over the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard acquisition when it appears in the headlines, why platform holders are focussing their attention on user-generated-content, why AAA publishers are moving into mobile and the trends which are simply trends, or indicative of a new emerging market that you and your stakeholders should be prioritising. In summary, if you are willing to put


in the work, B2B PR can be a powerful tool for growing your business and your revenues. Just be sure to go in with your eyes wide open.


October/November 2023 MCV/DEVELOP | 43


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60