Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[I3erent]

You know I've been thinking toady, you can buy radio spots on FM stations in some markets for like a few (maybe 2-10 bucks in some cases maybe less) dollars.  Perhaps running some 30 second DF spots on stations all over you could generate quite a bit of response.  Kind of a guerrilla  
ad campaign. For maybe a few bucks a month you could bounce around the country in different markets every month.  If you are interested I could get together a list a stations where you can get a good buy for a few bucks.  I think it could help in many aspects.  Also it wouldnt really be a hassle to do all of this because the buys r easy on all these stations.  Mostly just a few phone calls.

Now I'm not trying to sell you, I do sell ads for a living but I would charge the shit out of ya!  

But I would be willing to put together a list of cheap stations for you in different markets to help.

Even doing just a few of these a month in different places it could help out.

Imagine the morning traffic in Sioux city, Ia brought to you by Bay12games and Dwarf Fortress.  IT would be epic and cheap.

[Idiom]

Shouldn't we wait until DF is at least past the alpha stage?

[Karlito]

I think the presentation arc should be completed before any marketing is attempted.

[Kogan Loloklam]

Do like I do, make your own marketing campaign.

Don't push Toady One to worry about something else, advertise for him instead!

[Vugor]

im thinking about makeing dwarf fortress flyers or something like that and putting them up on all the boards around my school.....they are everywhere.......

[Idiom]

Spam every forum you visit. They can never have enough stickies.

[umiman]

Please keep in mind that you're proposing advertising an incomplete product. This isn't a car or a house, it's software. Regardless of quality, feature, or price (or lack thereof), you should ask yourself what the purpose of such an endeavour would be as well as the moral and legal issues regarding it.

In addition, what would the average person think about when he hears a spot about a relatively (hugely) unknown independant game in some backwater radio station (2-10 bucks for 30 seconds?)? Would he actually give a damn? Are you sure it wouldn't actually hurt credibility as it resembles "selling out"?

Furthermore, what's the payoff matrix for such a project? Would the projected increase in traffic and prospective donations be significant enough to exceed if not cover base advertising costs? I find your 2-10 bucks for 30 seconds far too conservative and for reasons I will illustrate below, unrealistic.

Advertising is pointless if its without aim or reason. What is Dwarf Fortress? It's an ASCII roguelike game that is excruciatingly (and fantastically) complex. It's main audience consists solely of overeducated, bored nerds and geeks. It is also targeted specifically to such an audience (at least for now). What are the  odds of such a target market listening to radio at the times where 2-10 bucks for 30 second ads play?

Conclusion: It's far too early to market this game. Word-of-mouth is fine, free is fine, but doing anything extra is counting chickens.

Here's a weblink, which seems reasonable enough, concerning radio advertising costs, suggested frequency, and marketing. It's cheap, but not that cheap. http://www.burkhardworks.com/Radio_Advertising_Costs.htm

[Kalimar]

Hordes of people reeled in by a commercial blitzkrieg are never the ideal users of really any product.

[McDoomhammer]

I have to agree- has great potential to be counter-productive and unlikely to do any good.

[herrbdog]

I've already made and been sticking up df and bay 12 stickers that I made. (I am a printer, by profession.) Once I am back at work next week, I can make pdf's available for ya'll to print and use as well.