6 Good Reasons You Need a Digital Game Marketing Strategy

More and more businesses are taking their marketing strategies online. 

You might be wondering what the reason for this is. Out of the almost 7.75 billion people in the world, more than half all have their own unique smartphone or are internet users. It is also true that people typically spend almost 7 hours a day using the internet - which equates to somewhere around 40% of their waking lives online.

So, if you’ve always been hesitant about getting into the world of digital marketing, it’s the best time to get started or you will risk being left behind by your competitors. And with the world the way it is at the moment, your audience will more than likely be spending a little extra time online - browsing, researching and wasting time trying to find things that interest them. 

Let’s dive into six important reasons that digital marketing could work for you.

A digital strategy ensures you have the right direction and goals

Many gaming companies that do not have a digital game marketing strategy often also do not have a clear set of goals for what their businesses want to achieve online. Before you even consider digital marketing, you’ll need to take a look into what you want to achieve online.

First, your gaming studio needs to learn how to define SMART goals. Each letter stands for something your goal needs to be - "specific," "measurable," "attainable," "relevant," and "time-bound".

To make a goal that meets all of these criteria follow these rules:

1. Use wording that is specific and distinguishes your goal from others.
2. Make them measurable so you can track their progress.
3. Aim for goals that are actually attainable, don’t shoot for the moon.
4. Choose relevant goals that relate to your studio needs.
5. Make your goals time-bound by giving them a solid deadline and time frame.

This will help you evaluate your online marketing goals and determine if digital marketing is within your capabilities.

Digital consumers are spending more time online

Like we mentioned earlier, there are some 4.54 billion Internet users across the globe. Unless your audience lives off-grid, that means that the vast majority of them will exist somewhere online.

The digital demand for the games your business provides might be underestimated if you haven’t fully looked into your online player base. But most importantly, you won’t understand your online audience - what they want, where they look for it and the channels they use to communicate this information.

By getting online, you get access to a range of information including audience demographics and behavior, competitors’ activity, communication channels, optimization platforms and marketing channels that reach the right audience at the right time.  You can use this information to target your marketing efforts and make sure you always reach the right people - saving you time, money and effort in the long run.

It’s cost effective when compared to traditional advertising

One of the biggest concerns of any business is their budget. Well, fear not, because digital marketing cuts many of the costs tied to traditional marketing and can help you save money.

Businesses that rely on traditional marketing methods attribute much of their marketing spend to ad space - anything from billboards and print ads, to tv and radio ads. But these spaces aren’t cheap. Print ads can cost you anywhere from $2,000 to $160,000 or more depending on where you choose to advertise. 

Furthermore, with traditional media you do not have the power to oversee who your ads reach, how your audience interacts with them, where you could optimize them or increase their ad spend if they’re performing well.

The analytics you can get from your digital campaigns will not only help you optimize the campaign itself, but will give you insights into how you can improve in the future.

The analytical data you receive is powerful

Continuing on from what we’ve mentioned about the wide range of analytics services available online, we want to stress that it’s crucial that you understand the opportunities that you’re missing if you’re not marketing digitally.

Many social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, have their own built-in analytics services that you can access to monitor how your page, content and ads are performing. You can also use tools like Google Analytics to measure your ROI (return on investment) and track the performance of your sites, apps and more.

There are also software products that you can manage, optimize and analyze your website’s performance through. Products like HubSpot can help you do anything from automating your ad campaigns, distributing content and managing your player relationships to creating your website from the ground up.

These services make it easier than ever to track how you’re performing, and can help you make decisions that affect your studio in other areas.

It’s easier than ever to interact with your audience

Not only does digital marketing give you the option to control your online presence and advertising methods down to the very last detail, it also gives you an invaluable opportunity to connect with your players.

And we’re not talking about sending emails, we’re talking about having natural, human conversations to prove that you can help them with their needs.

Your social media presence is one of the most powerful tools you can set up online. While you will need to research where your audience exists online, what your competitors are doing and how you want your presence to be displayed (i.e. images, tone of voice etc.), you also get an amazing channel through which you can connect with your audience.

You can also use conversational marketing to connect with potential players. Conversational marketing uses two key methods to make the connection between your brand and audience flow naturally.

1. Chatbots
2. Live chat that allows users to message you in real time

This personalized approach moves potential players through the sales process more efficiently, as it is easier for them to receive and share information, and easier for you to prove your authority within your industry.

You can read more about conversational marketing and other digital marketing strategies in our blog The 7 Best Digital Marketing Strategies for 2020.

It ensures a greater ROI

If you haven’t noticed already, digital marketing will transform your marketing spend and ensure that your ROI is positive and impactful.

The effort you expend into digital marketing will provide consistent and continuous results that you cannot otherwise get if you invest into traditional marketing methods. Measure your ROI by following one of these formulas:

1. ROI = (net return on investment/cost of investment) x 100
2. ROI = ((final value of investment - initial value of investment)/cost of investment) x 100

But it’s not only money that proves if your investment was worth it. Here’s a few non-monetary key benefits that will help you make sure your return was worth the initial input:

1. Your ad space costs less (the average cost-per-click for search ads in the last quarter of 2019 was 0.62USD according to Statista).
2. You get valuable data that can help shape your strategy.
3. More of your potential players will both connect and take an action from your ads.
4. The service is more personalized.
5. You can directly target your audience and ensure that you will reach them.
6. You’ll see more traffic on your website than ever before.

If you’re a smaller or indie studio, this is perhaps even more relevant for you. Digital marketing will help your brand make a greater impact in its market, and provide both your game and players with value that will last into the future.

Want to learn more about digital marketing?

Digital marketing is a vast industry, and you need a strong understanding to master it. That's why we've compiled all of our best resources to create the ultimate guide to digital marketing. Check it out here: Everything You Need to Know About Video Game Digital Marketing.

Taking the dive into a new game marketing strategy can be scary. We hope that you are now aware of the benefits of a digital game marketing strategy, and how they could apply to your studio. If you’re still unsure and need advice on how it could work for you or where to start, let’s organize a time to talk about how we can help you get started.

Need more info? Let's have a chat about how we can help you become the game dev you want to be!