by Game Marketing Genie, on 15-Oct-2020 10:31:41
There are many game marketing tips floating around the Internet. But some of these will lead you down the wrong path. Listen to the leading video game marketing experts to find out what you need to know.
1. “You need to market using every strategy available to you”
One of the major misconceptions of gaming studios is that they think that using as many game marketing strategies that they can will help them break into the market. However, you don’t need to do everything. Using every marketing strategy you can find will cause more confusion rather than helping you to reach your audience. Why? Because marketing has changed more in the last two years in the last fifty years. You need to use what’s right for you - and what works!
Additionally, being a game developer, there are some restrictions that may make you feel the pinch when it comes to marketing and its execution. One of the fundamental elements being budget issues. You need to calculate your budget to ensure that you can carry out a strong marketing plan. Another fundamental element that you might not have is a large and/or capable marketing team. Therefore, focusing on a few powerful marketing strategies is much more powerful than trying to do everything at once.
2. “Focus on your game, not what your competitors are doing”
Neglecting your competitors is something that you cannot afford when you’re building a business. We understand how important it is to concentrate on your business, but knowing what your competitors are doing is also essential. Competitor analysis is vital for your company’s success. Being updated with what’s happening in the gaming industry helps you stay alert at all times.
You’ve got both direct and indirect competitors and their target audience is similar to yours. Your competitors will show up when they are using your game’s name as a keyword, using keywords similar to yours, in the same genre as your game, and more.
You need to ensure that you top the search results to stay on top of the competition. Instead of seeing them as just your competition, you can step up even further and learn what is and isn’t working for them. This will help you understand patterns and strategies that are being employed by different gaming companies and help you understand which approach will best suit your game in order to propel it in the market.
3. “PR is enough”
Many game developers are of the opinion that if they opt for PR, their marketing efforts are covered as it is earned media. Earned media is press coverage where you have control over how much information is published and when it is published. However, the truth is that PR is not enough. Solely depending on earned media cannot get you the marketing coverage and results that you’re looking for. One of the reasons why indie game devs gravitate towards PR is because of its cost effectiveness.
PR is the part that you use to get people to write about your game. We are emphasizing this point as we’ve witnessed many companies in the industry that couldn’t hit their sales goal even though they’d had successful PR in place. Though this approach helps you create a buzz for your game, it is not enough. It needs to be supplemented with a variety of other marketing methods. These could include digital marketing, app store optimization, influencer marketing, social media marketing, and more.
You need to consider how you want to position your game and one of the best ways to do this is by studying your audience thoroughly. Research reveals that consumers don’t purchase a product the first time they see it. It takes at least the fourth or the fifth time for them to get familiar with your game and decide to buy.
You may hear that certain companies hit their marketing goals only by implementing PR, but that is only the case when the industry has very little competition - not the gaming industry where you find new games being added to the stores so frequently. But does this mean that you don’t need it? No - 92% of consumers say they trust earned media more than advertising content (source: PR Daily).
If you want to stand out in the market, you need to use the right mix of marketing methods to show up at the top of search results, magnify your reach to your target users, and compel them to download your game by offering a unique gaming experience.
4. “You’ve built your game, marketing it is easy”
This is one of the common misconceptions that game developers may experience, thinking that marketing is an easy thing to do. However, making the game is only half your job. On Steam, around a third of all games are unplayed - meaning no one has actually bothered to open the game or even purchase it.
Think about this, you have your game ready, and you’re confident about the marketing plan that you created. But what if your game hit the market and didn’t make the impact that you envisioned? What if along with poor marketing efforts, your game’s reputation is sabotaged and drowned in the dynamic gaming industry environment? You wouldn’t want that to happen.
The bottom line of creating a game is to make your audience see your game and experience it and not hide it. That’s exactly what marketing does to your efforts, it places your game in the forefront and makes it visible to your audience. After all, why make it if no one is going to see it?
In order to bring your efforts to fruition, you need a considered marketing plan to make sure your game succeeds. For that, you should work with the leading experts in marketing. We understand that when you put someone who has expertise in a project, you get the results that you want. Roping in experts makes your work easy and helps you concentrate on what you’re best at. The crux of building a successful company lies in its leader’s ability to bring in the best minds to achieve the organization’s vision.
5. “You can market your game yourself”
While it may be true that you can market your game yourself, most of the time it isn’t. Did you know that over 95 percent of indie games are unprofitable and as many as 80 percent operate in losses? You need the right marketing strategy for your game to make sure it succeeds.
We understand that unlike AAA gaming companies, smaller game developers’ budgets are lesser, and their team sizes and capacity is usually much lesser. Having such major functional or operational differences, it is not easy to achieve the targets that you’re aiming for. You don’t have to dread the competition that AAA games bring in or any other game in the market. If you’re in a constant state of anxiety about whether your game will perform, don’t be afraid to reach out for help. For this reason, game marketing agencies exist and you should work with them as an extension of your team.
For instance, when you hire a new person for your organization, you see the person as a part of your team. Though that person may be hired as a part timer or a freelancer, you would be of the opinion that the person belongs to your team. In a similar fashion, think of the game marketing agencies as temporary staff that you hire to help your game to move in the right direction. See them as a team that is dedicated to making your game win.
Indie game devs - we've got your back!
Hope you liked this article! If you'd like to learn more about indie game marketing, check out our full guide on the topic in Indie Game Marketing 101: Your Top Indie Game Dev Guide!
Marketing tips are available for businesses of sizes. But this does not mean that you can use all of them. Only work with the strategies that will help place your game in the forefront. We understand that indie game marketing can be difficult, especially if you’ve been given the wrong advice. Therefore, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask for help. Reaching out to a proficient game marketing agency will help you.
The team at Game Marketing Genie will help you chart out your marketing course to success. We will help you place your indie game ahead of the competition and maintain your position in the market. Why hold yourself back when you can start your journey to a phenomenal game marketing experience and make your company’s dream come true?
Need more info? Contact us today!
