VGPR #015: It's 2021

Work/life balance and collected advice from games industry PR pros

Jan 07, 2021

[Hi, I'm Lizzie Killian, founder at FIFTYcc PR. You're reading VGPR, a newsletter featuring interesting developments and topics impacting public relations in the video games industry.

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After some much-needed time off (and absolutely *not* playing Phasmophobia every night…), we’re back. Hello to all of the new subscribers, too! Come by and say 👋🏼 by signing up to join the VGPR Discord.

In this issue: Work/life balance, collected advice from games industry PR pros, a super-sized recap on some of the many media moves in the past month, and of course, new PR jobs.

A New Year’s Resolution

Better work/life balance. It’s a new year, but we’re still in a global pandemic, and many of us will continue working from home for a long time. WFH offers more flexibility with your time, but also blurs some useful lines.

More control over my work/life balance was a big reason I decided to start FIFTYcc, but I also have high standards about doing thorough, thoughtful, and responsive work. SPOILER ALERT: You can have both! One of my keys to maintaining balance is staying organized. If I don’t know the status of a task, or have no clear sense of what still needs to be done, I often end up paying a “mental tax” by worrying about it, which can eat into time in subtle ways that add up.

Work tools help me minimize those costs. They’ll do the predictable stuff you’ve heard about making you more efficient and productive, but they also pay off for me by helping me be “done” with a day of work without paying that tax on tasks in progress (which means more time for Phasmophobia!) I’ve mentioned tools like Toggl and Trello in the past. In the next few issues, I’ll share my experience with some of the other tools that have made big impacts for me. What they do well, what they don’t do well, and how much effort and learning it takes before you start seeing value from a tool.

What are some of your favorite tools that help you to work?

The Art of the Pitch

No alt text provided for this image — Image Credit: Steve Ahn

So, what is the best way to pitch media? Chase (just Chase), Head of Communications at StreamElements, recently shared his tips on media relations in “The Art of the Pitch.” It’s a helpful reminder that we’re all humans communicating with other (busy) humans, so keep it brief, keep it clear, keep it simple.

Before you send a pitch to a reporter, say it out loud to someone unfamiliar with your product to hear how it sounds. If it is loaded with jargon that you must dumb down, then use the dumbed down version for your pitch.

PR Pet Peeves

Every now and then PR people will just straight up ask media how we can annoy them less. We want that feedback! This week TriplePoint PR’s Sara Green asked media about 1) their biggest PR pet peeves, and 2) what they appreciate from PR reps.

A lot of it boils down to doing your research and making sure you’re tailoring your pitch to the right people:

Gabe Gurwin @GamingAngelGabe

@98saraFLOPS 1. When they pretend to have read my work and obviously haven’t. If you haven’t, just get to the point. Don’t lie. 2. When they HAVE read my work enough to tailor a relevant pitch!

Also, responsiveness: write that hard email. Sometimes you have to tell someone something that might disappoint them. Practice it, because that’s inevitably part of the job.

Adam Pavlacka @gamescan

@98saraFLOPS @EvolveTom 1. Not giving a straight answer, esp around code/events/etc. If you can provide content/interviews for coverage, great. If not, still useful. The *worst* thing to hear is "we've noted your interest" and then silence. A direct "no" is so much easier for planning.

Again, we’re all just humans talking to other humans in the end, so let’s not sound like robots. Authenticity counts!

Mark Ⴟ Delaney @markdelaneysays

@98saraFLOPS 1. “I’m sure you’re busy, so choose one of my provided reply options below.” 2. I like not being stuffy in an email, and know a few reps that chit-chat a little and seem like real people. Also what @GamingAngelGabe said.

Review Keys: Who Gets ‘Em?

Evolve PR’s Tom Ohle gave a nice tl;dr on PR agency thought processes around sending out early review codes. There’s no simple formula but it’s not random or mysterious.

Every company and PR rep is unique, and there’s no standard for how recipients of review keys are decided. Some will be happy to send keys to everyone who asks; others will be exceptionally tight with them; some will stagger distribution based on various factors; others will send no keys at all.

He breaks down how a variety of factors, from the audience size of a media outlet or content creator, prior relationships, and simple quantity of codes available can all affect whether or not someone gets a review key. Read all about it here.