How to find a game marketer for your indie game

Updated October 28, 2026 · 7 minute read

Plenty of good indie games launch to silence because nobody knew they were coming. I'm making my own game too, and marketing is the part I'm most tempted to put off. If you'd rather have help with it, here's how I'd find a marketer who actually moves the needle for a small game.

1. Decide what kind of help you need

"Game marketer" covers a lot of different jobs. For an indie game it's usually one or more of these:

• Strategy. A plan from today to launch: when to announce, which festivals to enter, when to send keys, and what to post where.
• Your Steam page. The short description, tags, screenshot order, the capsule brief and where the trailer sits. The page is where wishlists actually happen.
• Social and short-form video. Turning your gameplay into GIFs and clips that make people stop scrolling on TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, X or Bluesky.
• Creator and press outreach. Finding YouTubers, streamers and writers who cover games like yours, sending keys and following up.
• Community. Running your Discord and Steam forums, answering players and keeping people around between updates.
• Paid ads. Some marketers run them, plenty of indies skip them. If someone suggests ads, ask what they'd expect to learn from a small test first.

Tip: If what you really need is a trailer, that's a video editor, and my trailer editor guide covers it. If it's your capsule art, that's an artist, and my capsule art guide has sourced prices.

2. Start earlier than feels natural

Here's why timing matters so much on Steam. Valve's wishlist docs say that once your store page is public, players can wishlist your game, and when it releases (in Early Access or full release) everyone who has it wishlisted gets an email or mobile notification. The same happens when you run a discount. So every week your page is live before launch is a week of collecting people who'll hear about it on day one.

Festivals are the other big moment. Steam Next Fest is a weeklong event for upcoming games with playable demos, and it runs three times a year, in February, June and October. You need a public store page and a playable demo to take part. A marketer is most useful when there's time to plan around moments like these, not two weeks before launch.

One honest note: a marketer can make a good game easier to find, but can't make a dull clip exciting. If your GIFs don't grab people, a round of playtesting might be the better first spend.

3. Where to look

• IndieGuild. This one's mine. Marketer profiles show their actual work: Steam pages, launch plans, campaign results, press kits and social posts. In Find my match you pick what you need, like a Steam page, a launch plan, short-form video or community help, plus the channels you care about, like TikTok, streamers or Steam festivals, and it shows marketers who fit. Or post a role and mark it paid, rev share, paid or rev share, or hobby, with a budget if you like. Marketers who fit get it in their inbox. It's free, and I don't take a cut.
• Games like yours. Find a few games in your genre that launched well, then check their credits, dev blogs and LinkedIn for who ran marketing and community. People who've done it for your kind of game are worth a message.
• Work With Indies. Work With Indies is a job board for indie studios, and it lists marketing and community roles alongside art and code. Studios pay to list, so it suits a real role with a budget.
• Reddit. r/gameDevClassifieds is for paid work, and r/INAT is for rev share and hobby teams. Read each sub's rules before you post.
• LinkedIn. Good for people who've worked in marketing or community at publishers and studios and now freelance.

Freelancer, agency or publisher? A freelancer is great for a clear piece of work, like your page, a festival or a month of posts. An agency can run a bigger campaign with more hands. A publisher may take on marketing as part of a much bigger deal, usually in exchange for a share of revenue, so read that contract very carefully. For a lot of small games, one good freelancer and your own effort is plenty.

4. Judge past launches and real results

Marketing is easy to talk about, so look for proof. Here's what I'd ask to see:

• Real games you can check. Steam pages, trailers, posts and Discords they worked on, with links.
• Results with context. What changed after they joined, and how they measured it. Wishlists before and after a festival, a post that took off, coverage from a creator. Steamworks has UTM analytics that show which links led to wishlists and purchases, so a good marketer should be comfortable explaining where their numbers came from.
• Your genre. A cozy farming game, a horror game and a strategy game find their players in different places.
• What didn't work. Good marketers will tell you about the campaign that flopped and what they learned.
• Their take on your game. Ask them to look at your Steam page and name the first three things they'd change. If they come back with specifics, that's a great sign.

If you can, ask a past client how it went. One short chat tells you more than any pitch deck.

5. What to put in your post or first message

• Your game, the genre, your Steam link and a short gameplay clip
• Where you are: announced or not, page live or not, demo or not, and your launch window
• What you need, as specifically as you can. "A Steam page review and a plan for Next Fest" beats "help with marketing."
• What you've tried so far and how it went
• Who makes what: will you capture the clips and GIFs, or should they?
• The time you hope for, the deal (paid, rev share or hobby) and your budget

Tip: If creator outreach is the part you need most, PlayScout is mine too. It makes creator outreach simple and gives a big list of YouTubers and streamers who played games like yours.

6. Start with a small paid piece

Before you sign up for months, pay for one small, real piece of work:

• A Steam page review with the exact changes they'd make
• A launch or festival plan you can follow even if you part ways
• One month of social posts from your footage
• A creator outreach list and the email for one beat, like your demo or your launch

Agree on what "done" looks like and how you'll judge it before they start. A month of real work together tells you more than any interview.

7. Put it in writing

Write down what they'll do, how they're paid (per task, per hour, a monthly fee or rev share) and when. Keep any ad budget separate from their fee, and say who approves spending it. Your Steam account, social accounts, Discord and mailing list should stay in your name: give them access, not ownership. Add how they're credited, whether they can show the work in their portfolio, an NDA if the game isn't announced, and what gets handed back if it ends, like logins, files and contact lists.

Red flags

• Guaranteed numbers. Nobody can promise a set number of wishlists or sales.
• Bought followers, bots or fake engagement. It looks good for a week and does nothing for your game.
• No real games to show, or results with no way to check them.
• Wanting your accounts or mailing list in their name.
• Big ad spend before your page and trailer are ready.
• Only vanity numbers, like impressions, with nothing about wishlists or players.

Common mistakes

• Hiring a month before launch, when there's no time left to build anything.
• No Steam page yet, so there's nowhere to send anyone.
• Trying every platform at once instead of doing two or three well.
• Paying for ads that send people to a page that isn't ready.
• Handing marketing off completely. Players love hearing from the dev, so stay in it even with help.

Frequently asked questions

Where do I find a game marketer for my indie game?

Look at who ran marketing for games like yours that launched well, Work With Indies for studio roles, r/gameDevClassifieds for paid work, r/INAT for rev share and hobby teams, and LinkedIn. On IndieGuild, marketer profiles show Steam pages, launch plans and campaign results they worked on, and Find my match shows marketers by what you need and the channels you care about.

When should I hire a marketer for my game?

Earlier than feels natural. Wishlists start once your Steam page is public, and Steam tells everyone who wishlisted your game when it launches, so the months before launch matter most. A marketer is most useful with time to plan around your page, a festival like Steam Next Fest and your launch.

How much does a game marketer cost?

I won't make up numbers. Marketers charge per task, per hour, as a monthly fee or sometimes as rev share. What drives the cost is how much they do (a one-off Steam page review or running your socials every week), for how long, whether ads are involved, and their track record. Ad spend is usually separate from their fee. Ask for a quote on a small first piece.

What should a game marketer's portfolio show?

Real games you can check, what they did for each one, what changed and how they measured it, and ideally a launch plan or campaign write-up. Ask about something that didn't work, too.

Is IndieGuild free?

Yes. Posting a role, browsing, matching and messaging are free for game devs and creators, and I don't take a cut. You and the marketer agree on pay, scope and access directly.

More guides

• How to find a trailer editor for your indie game
• How much does Steam capsule art cost?
• How to find a UI/UX designer for your indie game
• How to find a QA tester for your indie game
• How to find people to work on your game
• How to find game marketing work (for creators)