Marketing Plan

Targets

 * Kids (8-12)
 * Casual gamers
 * Women
 * Free software (as a relay)

Contact
Find relays for the the beta:
 * Community websites
 * Blogs
 * News websites
 * Magazines
 * Portals (gaming, kids, tv...)
 * PR Agency
 * Libraries

Ideas

 * Help us to test the game - Best contributors get an official card designed for them
 * Cards ideas contest - best ideas get done as cards
 * Creating a set of cards on a hot news topic:
 * US elections (caricatures of politicians, or of typical bad politician behaviors during campaigns or in office)
 * Wall street, economy
 * Social networks (behaviors of users online, privacy issues...)
 * Find other ideas through crowdsourcing ($100-$200 / subject)
 * Inviting journalists to online previews/demos
 * I18N: to investigate leads in local markets, if cost of translating it low:
 * France: La Boite com
 * Brazil: Contact Deborah in kids newspaper
 * Kickstarter campaign (need a US account, to check with lawyer), Flattr
 * Kickstarter campaign (need a US account, to check with lawyer), Flattr

Beta Preview

 * Pre-requisites:
 * Confirmation playtesting (FeedbackArmy, UserTesting.com)
 * Installed on cardstories.org, Facebook connect & OWA working
 * Google Alerts


 * Ads:
 * StumbleUpon: 10 euros/day (200 visits)


 * Post on:
 * Facebook, Twitter, Blog
 * Concept - "come to play the game before everyone else"


 * Start contacting sites to find relays for the the beta (see open beta)

Open Beta

 * Concept: "Help us to test the game - Best contributors get an official card designed for them!"


 * Prerequisites:
 * Facebook invites working
 * Banners
 * Modified video
 * Pressbook
 * SEO, DMOZ registration
 * Feedback tab
 * Card idea submission page/contest
 * Design bugs fixed


 * Blog articles (HN, reddit, etc.):
 * How Farsides work (decentralized, processes, open source, travelling etc.)
 * Practicalities of travelling like wifi, cost, airbnb
 * Recruitment process & outsourcing/choice of contractors
 * Communication (daily meeting, 121, feedback, interaction with players...)
 * Free software business model
 * Transparency as an enforcer of the "don't be evil"
 * Some challenges we had:
 * The "invite friends to play" chicken & egg issue


 * Push ads:
 * StumbleUpon: 20 euros/day (400 visits)
 * Small budget on FB/Google to get conversion rates
 * WeTransfer
 * Contest for best card suggestion on BoardGameGeek
 * Giveaway contest&ad on Pikaland (cards printing: 1 2


 * Contact bloggers:
 * See first list below
 * Journalists database (Cision => $5K/year or $500-$1000 for one time contacts extraction, Vocus => $2-$3K/year, Burrelles => $2-$3K/year)
 * Contacts from CMG
 * Blogs from FreeGameDev planet


 * Register for Contests:
 * Independent Game Festival
 * Awwwards
 * (later - January) Mozilla Game On


 * Partnerships: miniclip&co, publishers, schools/teachers, libraries, women/kids websites...


 * Ask feedback in:
 * Reddit (section on indie games)
 * others listed
 * Cf listing of FS sites
 * FreeGameDev
 * OpenGameArt


 * Enter description of game:
 * LibreGameWiki
 * Happypenguin&co
 * Squidoo: education and languages, entertainment


 * Crowdfunding:
 * Kickstarter
 * IndieGogo
 * RocketHub
 * Catarse (BR)
 * FOSSFactory
 * SelfStarter
 * etc.

Annex A. Blogs

 * Learning:
 * VG as a lerning tool
 * Kids:
 * Pinky/CP
 * Parents (needs parental discourse):
 * Gaming with children
 * American geek mom
 * Safe video games
 * Kimnfam
 * Inspiration for Parents and Teachers
 * Be a fun mum
 * Metropolitan Mum
 * FabMums
 * Board games:
 * Open Card Games
 * Next Level Card Games
 * Dice Bay
 * Board and beers
 * The Board Game Family
 * Games:
 * Creativity games
 * Art in games
 * VG and booze
 * Gay Gamer
 * Games for change
 * MTV Multiplayer blog
 * Game Informer
 * Guardian games blog
 * UGO
 * Jeuxvideo.com (FR)
 * Free Software
 * Indie Games forums:
 * MobilRead
 * IndieGamer
 * BoardGameGeek
 * VideoGameGeek (+submission)
 * GameOgre
 * Illustration:
 * DeviantArt
 * BeanceNetwork