Getting started
This part is boring, but important
January 2024
TL;DR
- Get your analytics (probably google) working
- Website
- Mailing list (how to pick your mailing list provider)
- Steam / Itch.io
- Google/Facebook Ads if you plan to use them
- Set up your socials (and decide who they are targeting)
Analytics
You want to set up your analytics so that you can track traffic spikes and where it is coming from. There are lots of ways you can use your analytics, but the main one is which marketing campaigns are working and which are not.
Therefore, you probably want to track your main calls to action. For us those were Steam wishlists, mailing list signups and discord community growth. There will probably be specific conversions that make sense at a later date, like a kickstarter or streaming events, but for now this is enough for us.
Website
I created accounts on Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and Google Ads and for our website and linked them all up.
Steam
Steamworks used to allow you to connect to Google Analytics, however since mid 2023 that is no longer the case. They have their own internal tracking tools and they do support UTM links which conversion stats for Wishlists, Purchases and Activations, so for big campaigns do use those.
Other distribution platforms such as itch.io do still support direct integration with Google Analytics so be sure to check with any platform you intend to use.
Socials
Only pick the socials that you actually will use. There is nothing worse than dead or empty accounts when people are trying to engage with you. Also, some platforms are better for reaching a certain target audience than others. Sometimes it may even be worth having multiple accounts on a single platform to reach separate audiences rather than trying to please everyone from the same place.