As I have been developing my game WorldAlpha I have come to realize there is a lot to do to market my game effectively. Coming from a web marketing background, I have been mildly successful. That being said, I looked early, and continue to look to see if there are marketing firms out there that specialize in helping indie devs. Not a huge Marketing PR firm, but rather one that would help with the nuts and bolts of creating an effective website, using social media, finding beta testers, giving out beta keys, as well as creating buzz about the game. So, far I haven't really come across one. Here are my questions.

1.) Does this company exist? If so what is its website?

2.) Would you as a game developer use this type of service if one existed?

3.) Would you pay a decent amount for this kind of service? (Kind of subjective, but I'm getting a feel if indie devs would expect this type of stuff for "next-to" free or would be willing to pay a decent monthly for it!)

Look forward to the answers.

Indie Dev Marketing companies - Do they exist?

They're called "publishers." I've never heard of a company that just marketed games. You listed more than just marketing:

one that would help with the nuts and bolts of creating an effective website, using social media, finding beta testers, giving out beta keys, as well as creating buzz about the game.

I say again: "publisher."

I'll be in the same boat as you in about eight months.

I'd be really worried about a poor marketer damaging my reputation by spamming forums. Even the big guys occasionally hire a bad forum-spamming marketer by mistake.

Also, there's alot of "Let me tell you the secrets of web marketing for three small payments of $29.99" scams on the internet, though not game-specific, so I'd be very wary of that.

I'm personally more interested in: Help polishing my website (or creating one if I hadn't already make my own), advice on how to contact journalists, and networking (through whatever service I am paying) to directly reach journalists that are personal and professional contacts of the expert I'd hire. If all the 'expert' is doing is spamming a billion journalists' and websites' email addresses, I can do that on my own. If all the 'expert' does is give me a list of well-known websites for me to post on, I already got that covered. If all he does is post on forums for me, without invitation from the forums, not only is it spam, but he'd also have zero clue how to answer any follow-up questions if people actually are interested.

What I *don't* have is the ability to make sure my demos land in the hands of reviewers and journalists. Professional contacts would do that.

I'd also want have my press releases be reviewed by the expert, and receive his opinion and advice, before I send the press releases out myself.

I don't want someone to talk for me, but I want someone to give me advice on how to talk, who to talk to, and to make the introductions between those contacts and myself.

I guess I want to hire a 'matchmaker', or a professional networker, not a marketer.

I'd also want have my press releases be reviewed by the expert, and receive his opinion and advice, before I send the press releases out myself.

I don't want someone to talk for me, but I want someone to give me advice on how to talk, who to talk to, and to make the introductions between those contacts and myself.

I guess I want to hire a 'matchmaker', or a professional networker, not a marketer.

In other words: "agent" or "representation" - or "consultant."

Indie Dev Marketing companies - Do they exist?

They're called "publishers." I've never heard of a company that just marketed games. You listed more than just marketing:

>one that would help with the nuts and bolts of creating an effective website, using social media, finding beta testers, giving out beta keys, as well as creating buzz about the game.

I say again: "publisher."

Sure if a publisher wants to pick up your game great. But what if no publishers wants to pick up a small indie game? Surely there is some sort of middle ground, where an indie is willing to pay to help promote their game, to a point where maybe a publisher would take notice and pick it up.

Sure if a publisher wants to pick up your game great. But what if no publishers wants to pick up a small indie game? Surely there is some sort of middle ground, where an indie is willing to pay to help promote their game, to a point where maybe a publisher would take notice and pick it up.

A common marketing company will most likely do the job, but it would be like paying a lawyer to clean your own yard, nothing you want when running low on budget. The publisher, taking his share of risk and win, is the cheapest way to marketing your game, though he needs to believe in your game idea and must be aware of your game.

IMHO the best chance is to use steam as publisher (greatest digital market share) and buy some advertising from them once you surpassed greenlight, though to surpass greenlight you need to kickstart the perception of your game yourself (I know, chicken/egg problem)

There are publishers that aren't AAA driven.

ArmorGames for example specializes in flash games.

505 games specializes in... well I'm not sure they have a specialty, but they certainly don't do AAA

And so on, and so forth.

Hello!

My name is Nick, I'm a mobile project manager at MyPlayCity.
MyPlayCity, Inc. is the world’s largest publisher of free-to-play PC downloadable casual games.
We recently began to work on the mobile gaming market and we're willing to publish high-quality mobile products on local markets like Russia.
We will carry out all the localization work. We have a strong team and a huge marketing budget to drive traffic to your mobile apps.

Let me know who is the best person for me to speak about the localization of your mobile games into Russian (and their promotion on the Russian market.)
We offer 80/20 revenue share, where developer receives 80% of revenue generated by that localized game.

Mail me nikita@myplaycity.com!

Hope to hear from your soon.
Have a great day!