14 Game Marketing Ideas to Attract Funding for Your New Video Game

by Game Marketing Genie, on 02-Feb-2021 11:23:05

The global gaming industry now exceeds $300 billion in value (2021 stats: data from Accenture), and is anticipated to grow at an incredible annual rate of 10.5 percent until 2026. It will be difficult for your brand new game to capture the attention of potential investors. This is because game development and marketing are two sides of the same coin, one inseparable from the other. 

While game development helps you to create a great product, game marketing helps you position it better, create interest, get downloads, and increase your sales. But most importantly, marketing your game well can help you receive attention from investors. 

Your 14 game marketing ideas for investment

1. Remember, investors don’t have to be big name 

You don’t have to shoot for the stars when it comes to investors. You can get even your target audience to invest in your game too. Crowdfunding platforms not only help you create buzz for your game but also gets you some early investors. 

Platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter are great for you to get video game investment from your audience. Investments received on these platforms are more donations than traditional investments. However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still reach out to venture capitalists and angel investors. 

For an even easier form of investment, start with your friends and family! This is a great start point for that little kick-start you need to get going.

2. Set up a Kickstarter campaign (or similar funding) 

Speaking of kick-starts, Kickstarter is a powerful platform to secure funding for your next game. Since its inception, Kickstarter has helped thousands of creative business projects secure more than one billion dollars in funding. 

Once your game’s proposal is submitted, Kickstarter’s staff will review it and make minor changes to refine your pitch. But don’t be afraid! The reason Kickstarter is so popular among creative minds is because it allows creators to retain complete ownership over their work. 

As much as 44 percent of project creators have received full funding for their projects on this platform. If your game also receives complete project funding, Kickstarter will even waive off processing fees.

Crowdfunding text

3. Establish your game before looking for investors

A game that is just an idea will not get investors. Having a concrete business plan that is functional is a prerequisite for making your game successful. Business plans help you make critical business decisions, set benchmarks, secure financing, and prove the practicality of your idea. This is a surefire way to show that you know what you’re building, the impact that it will have and what the final product will look like.

But a business plan alone will not help. Here’s a list of assets you’ll need to consider before you reach out for funding:

  • A game demo
  • Rich media (i.e. images, trailers, sound and more)
  • A detailed budget plan
  • A game marketing plan

4. Your USP is your key 

An excellent way to attract your investors is with your unique selling proposition (USP). Your game’s USP is the competitive advantage that you have over your competitors. It is easy to catch the attention of potential investors with an attractive USP. 

In addition to helping you attract investors, a great USP also helps you find out how you fit into the industry, find your target market, determine your direct and indirect competitors, offer something unique to your audience, and most importantly define your game’s core features. 

Investors are always on the lookout for a disruptive, competitive, and unique product that is worth their time and investment. Creating your game with a different USP will be of great value not only to your business and audience, but also to the gaming industry. 

5. Pitch a return on investment 

It may be tempting to focus on your business model and yourself while pitching to investors, but one thing you need to remember is that investors are real people who are risking their money. This is why while pitching your game, you need to do it by emphasizing a good return on investment (ROI). 

Though you might think your game is great, that’s not enough - investors want to know what’s in it for them. Highlighting the ROI and the time frame that you can achieve it in is one of the trigger points that can help you win investors’ confidence and stand out from the crowd. Kickstarter backer rewards, and an average rate of return annually are some returns that investors could receive.

Pitch white text

6. Try a soft sell 

Soft selling is a sales technique that focuses subtle persuasion with casual language, and is an indirect approach to persuading people to either purchase your product, subscribe to your service, or invest in your business.

To do a successful soft sell, you first need to research your prospective investors' concerns and concentrate on building your relationship with them by being an active listener and asking questions that matter. During your interaction, show them what value addition your game brings without anticipating an immediate sale from them. 

Then, leave room for them to decide whether your game is the right investment option for them. Get in touch with them at least two days after to clarify any questions they may have to help them make better decisions. 

Try using this approach at networking events, industry conferences and conventions. Sometimes it may seem awkward to push business conversations like these, but if any potential venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors are interested, they will prolong the conversation and may also fund your game. 

7. Have strong co-founders 

When you’re pitching to angel investors and VCs you’re not only selling your game, but also your leadership team. This is why choosing the right co-founder is essential.

It is not surprising that any good investor will be keen on knowing who is on your leadership team, their expertise, and their strengths. Having a co-founder who compliments your skills will boost your business in terms of talent, creativity, innovation, productivity, and your business value as well. 

8. Set up a good game dev team with experience in the industry 

Your game development team is as important as your business plan itself. 23 percent of startups attribute their failure to having the wrong team on board. This is why having experienced team members is truly a game changer for your business. 

From design, programming, and sound engineering to art, project management and business development, a mix of an exceptional team can take your business to the next level. Moreover, mentoring them from time to time can help them to sharpen their skills. This will only be of benefit when pitching to investors. Proving that your team has experience in the industry and are guaranteed to perform shows that you have a solid foundation for your game.

Game developers

9. Promote it on your social media 

Yet another way to get the word out about your game to investors is to promote it on social media. Creating compelling content with text, image, trailers, GIFs, and other media helps capture the attention of both your target audience and potential investors. 

Pay attention to the details of your branding to establish yourself as an accomplished brand. Choosing a good logo, image and video quality, fonts, color palette, and text content will pay off in the long run. Additionally, consider working with reputed influencers to promote your game and show that you’ve invested strongly in your marketing plan. 

To learn more about leveraging influencer marketing, read our article, What Is the Foundation of Your Influencer Marketing Strategy?

10. Email marketing

In addition to being a cost effective approach to drive sales and increase revenue, email marketing is also a powerful tool to reach out to investors. Known for delivering targeted messages to an engaged audience, successful email marketing helps you get your game across to investors. 

Whether you’re planning to start a new gaming studio or looking to raise a new series of funding for your game, you need to consider the following before you reach out to your investors with targeted email marketing campaigns:

  • Understand what interests your prospective investors
  • Research and create compelling email subject content
  • Choose the best time of the day and week to conduct your email marketing campaign
  • Understand that the first email you send likely won’t achieve your goals
  • Keep your email marketing consistent and know when to persist

11. Focus on your marketing to your audience, not for your product 

Marketing for your product and marketing to your audience have two different objectives. What you need to focus on is marketing to your audience. This involves knowing and understanding your customers, gaining customer insights, aligning your game with their goals and objectives, rigorous research, and detailed analysis. This form of marketing is all about knowing what interests potential players and investors rather than trying to hard sell your product. 

From customizing your game to players’ needs, to deciding on its price and making sales, marketing to your audience and understanding them is key to making your campaign successful. Knowing your audience, and in turn knowing your investors, is what you need to convince and convert them to give you money.

Boys playing video games

12. Share user engagement and key metrics

User engagement determines how much people like your game (or assets pre-release) and how valuable it is. When your user engagement metrics show that there is a high interest in your game, this is one of the trigger points to intrigue your potential investors. 

If you’ve rolled out any versions of the game you’re pitching or have any previous games’ customer reviews and testimonials, presenting them to investors will be of high value as it reveals your customer-centric approach of creating games. Documenting what your customers think about your product and how many times they’ve purchased it will attract potential investors as it shows you have potential. A couple of metrics that will interest investors are your: 

Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Your CAC is the cost of marketing incurred to acquire a single customer. Giving you a comprehensive view of your overall marketing costs and how your business is achieving ROI, CAC can be calculated using the following formula: 

CAC = [Total cost of marketing]/[Number of acquired customers]

K-value

One of the key performance indicators (KPIs) that reveals your business growth, K-value helps you measure how viral your business is. Usually calculated by finding the ratio between old users and new users, a higher K-value indicates that a high number of existing users are inviting others to use your products or services. 

Additionally, keeping track of your KPIs, as well as compiling, documenting, and sharing them will show your commitment to growth, as business growth is one of the key factors that determine whether your business is of high value. 

13. Attend events, join groups online and join a startup accelerator

For those who don’t have experience with investment, getting in touch with investors is quite a challenge. This is why networking is the one of the best ways to connect with them. Attending networking events, industry conferences and conventions (gaming or otherwise) are a great way to meet investors face to face. 

A few noteworthy gaming events that you can attend to build your networks are:

  • Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)
  • GamesCom
  • Game Developers Conference
  • EuroGamer Expo
  • Taipei Games Show
  • London Games Festival
  • BlizzCon
  • Tokyo Games Show
  • Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3)

At events like these, using the soft sell approach is a great way to initiate conversations with potential investors.

Additionally, you can join existing online communities and groups to meet well-known venture capitalists (VCs) in the gaming industry. Online communities like AngelList, CircleUp, Seedinvest and Wefunder can help you break the limitations caused by your geographical location and reach out to investors across the world.

Another excellent approach to reach out to investors and VCs is joining a startup accelerator. Giving you the ability to find mentorship opportunities from accomplished business owners in the industry, a startup accelerator will help your business through all its growth phases. Joining one can help you get experiential knowledge, hone your skills, manage risks and roadblocks that may arise, and most importantly get access to investors. 

14. Always follow up with them! 

Finding an investor is not a one time activity! Whether your investment comes from crowdfunding or from external sources, you must ensure that you keep them up to date with your activities, where progress is at and when your game will be ready.

The following are the best times to reach out and follow up with investors:

  • Before the financing round to raise brand awareness
  • Through all phases of your fundraising
  • As you secure new investors in each round
  • When you close a round of funding
  • Report quarterly updates and progress
  • When you reach key business milestones or timelines
  • When you hire key people for noteworthy positions
  • When you’re featured in well-known media outlets
  • When you’re planning to initiate the next round of fundraising.

Follow up text

The ultimate guide to game marketing

Hope you enjoyed this article! For more insider game marketing information, check out The Ultimate Guide to Game Marketing: Everything You Need to Know.


Finding investors who are interested in your game and will give you funding is a challenging task. Teaming up with a video game marketing agency will help your game attract the right investors. Game Marketing Genie is an accomplished game marketing agency that has gaming experts who will help you target, attract and secure your video game investors

Topics:Video Game Marketing StrategyVideo Game MarketingDigital Marketing StrategyDigital Marketing

Book in a free consultation