10 Reasons You Should Work With a Game Marketing Agency

As a developer with a couple of high-potential games, you already know your game (no pun intended). But marketing it is a whole different story. 

The truth is marketing constantly evolves and adapts. The modern marketing landscape has tried-and-true techniques that get results and strategies that have fleeting success. Guessing your next move can cost you time and money — which you need more of! A skilled marketing team has enough data, experience, and dedicated time to find the right opportunities for you. 

But any old marketing team won’t do! You’re in a specialized industry that requires many layers of knowledge to get the marketing right.

If you are still on the fence, searching for good enough reasons to outsource this part of your business to a game marketing agency, here are not one but TEN reasons: 

1. You're lost for where to begin, what to do, or how to start

This is one of the most common problems that game developers face. There are as many avenues to marketing as there are digital platforms. It is not enough to have a great game; you also need to let your prospective gamer get interested in and engage with your game. 

But, to reach a community as passionate and tight-knit as gaming, you need an out-of-the-box approach and a deep understanding of your ideal gamers' personas. What kind of ads will they welcome, and what will they block? Do they enjoy seeing videos or reading content? And with so many options and questions, confusion is bound to happen. 

Game marketing agencies can pinpoint precisely what it is you need, including:

• What your goal should be.
• Who your audience is.
• The platforms to use.
• The content you need.
• The strategies to use.

If you're overwhelmed by all these aspects, it's time to hire a game marketing agency. Hiring an agency is a great way to ensure you get the assistance you need to grow your business. They will help you develop a strategy and guide the development of your brand (and game!) from the beginning.

2. You don't have experience or a marketing team

The most common goal of game developers: Raise awareness of the game and profit from it

In today's market, advertising is a critical factor in in-game sales. Correctly applied advertising can make a lower-quality game sell better or a higher-quality game go beyond expectations. But marketing is difficult without experience. 

Also, for a solid in-house marketing team, you will need to hire:

• Data-driven digital marketing specialists.
• Creative content writers.
• Artistic graphic designers.
• Intuitive UX developers.
• A dedicated manager.
• A financial manager.

And sure, you might be able to hire people that can do a couple of these things, but they can't do them all!

On the other hand, agencies have a wide range of tools at their disposal to help boost your campaigns. When it comes to producing video content such as game trailers, research, data, and analytics are extremely valuable. Based on previous campaigns, a great video game marketing agency will have a wealth of data and software. They understand you need a different marketing strategy for other channels. 

For example, they can assist you in developing a solid strategy for YouTube-specific content. When doing video marketing, many people make the mistake of creating content and repurposing it across multiple social media platforms. Protocols differ across all distribution channels. A game marketing agency will show you how to tailor the content to appeal to various platforms and users. 

Want to know who else should be on your team? Read more in Game Marketing Awards Winner Reveals Ideal Team Composition for Growth.

3. It costs less than hiring in-house

Hiring a game marketing agency is always less expensive than doing it in-house. This is because trial and error can cost a lot of money. An agency has learned all of the best hacks, resulting in a return on investment for your business. Additionally, they can assist you in developing innovative campaign ideas that are proven. 

Secondly, you can save a lot of money on ads compared to DIY marketing. With a plan backed by experience, you can drastically reduce the amount of money you spend on advertising. Video game marketing companies are skilled at creating ads that connect with your target audience while not wasting your advertising dollars.

Thirdly, you get dedicated people to handle your marketing needs at a fraction of the cost. You don't need to hire or pay the salaries of all the team members you need (mentioned earlier). Consider this: You could employ ONE full-time marketing employee for 50,000 USD or get a comprehensive game marketing campaign cheaper!

4. Your team is struggling to agree on a strategy

Bringing in a partner agency also means bringing in a new set of eyes and a second opinion. Having a creative expert to collaborate with on ideas can be highly beneficial. What's more, whether it's your game development team or marketing staff, your vision for your game may not be shared or require more clarity to get everyone on the same page. A game marketing agency provides third-party input from a team with experience in getting games like yours the exposure they require. 

5. You're not seeing the results you want

If your marketing efforts yield little to no results, it could be a sign that your game marketing strategy needs to be fixed.

It may be time to take a step back and evaluate its effectiveness.

Before beginning your campaign, a good advertising agency will identify the KPIs that benefit your business. This way, you'll know your campaigns are optimized for what you want rather than simply mimicking what your competitors are doing. The agency can step in and suggest pivotal changes if you already have an ongoing campaign that isn't getting the traction you want. Or you can let them take the lead and create customized campaigns that your game and audience need. 

Check out our game marketing case study to see how a specialized marketing agency can bring a turnaround in your ROI. 

6. You don't have the time, capacity, or understanding to create a comprehensive campaign

The most difficult challenge for game developers is gaining visibility in a crowded marketplace. While you may believe that creating game assets and sharing them on social media is all that is required to solve the problem, the truth is that a marketing campaign consists of much more.

You must know how to:

• Conduct extensive audience research.
• Use various marketing tools (like Google Ads and the Meta Business Suite).
• Improve specific aspects of your campaign.
• Look for opportunities.
• Analyze the data and look at the appropriate metrics

Expert marketing agencies (like us) understand how to do all of this. After all, we work with games of all sizes and genres to determine what will and won't work in a campaign. 

7. Your ad copy is just not coming right

You're attempting to create marketing content, but your technical abilities are limited. If you are constantly stuck getting your ad copy to convert, you should seek professional assistance. Creating digital content is no longer just about writing. You must write for both human readers and search engines.

Game marketers are excellent storytellers who understand how to tell compelling stories through audio and visual means. A great video marketing agency will have a team of professional content creators trained in the art of storytelling and persuasion. It takes years of practice to become a quality writer, so hire a professional and avoid the risk of low-quality content. 

8. You lack the know-how to make high-quality marketing media

Ad creatives

Sure, you can make beautiful game assets on your own, but you need to consider whether you have the time and resources to bring your vision into reality and have a product that can be multi-use.

Just because your art looks good doesn't mean that it can be used as is for ad creatives.

Want some tips for creating assets? Then read this: How to Make Ad Creatives: 10 Things You Need for Your Game.

Video marketing

A trailer is your game's best chance at making an excellent first impression and is THE asset you must nail.

The trailer is one of the few assets that combines exciting music, stunning imagery or animation, and a clear call to action. If you can create an epic trailer and highlight all of this in less than two minutes, you'll have completed your first marketing task: generating interest in your game and creating a buzz. It is critical to get it right. 

Find out how we make video mastery in 6 Things You Need for a Good Game Trailer.

9. You've had a poor experience with generic marketing agencies

This is the biggest reason why game marketing agencies exist in the first place. A traditional marketing agency knows how to bring about a campaign together, but they may not know the ins and out of the gaming sector and all the intricacies that come with it. So you may find that your results aren't hitting the mark despite everything looking in place on the surface. 

Which leads us to the next point…

10. You get experts in the gaming industry

Most digital marketing agencies (no matter their niche) concentrate on buyer behavior. This is one of the benefits of working with a specialized gaming agency. They understand gamers as consumers and can tailor their marketing to their preferences. Any gaming company must ensure its marketing agency is a good fit. They must comprehend the game's vision and assist in communicating it to the rest of the world. Marketing, like gaming, is evolving and is not a one-size-fits-all industry.

Here are some of the best reasons to work with a specialist agency: 

• You get the experience of an expert game marketing team without having to go through the entire hiring process (which includes finding people that know the gaming industry)
• Instead of requiring in-house members to multitask across multiple areas, you get numerous people dedicated to specific talents (such as writing and analytics)
• Marketers who regularly play games themselves, stay current on industry trends, and understand the subtle differences between marketing games to Generation Z and selling to Millennials are available

The ultimate guide to game marketing

Hope you enjoyed this article! To get our best game marketing tips, check out our full guide in The Ultimate Guide to Game Marketing: Everything You Need to Know.

Connect with us at Game Marketing Genie

We are passionate about bringing our clients' games to life at Game Marketing Genie. We intend to create a strong marketing campaign to help our clients achieve the best results possible.

Our digital marketing solutions and services include the following:

• Marketing strategies
• Social media marketing
• Search advertising
• Programmatic advertising
• Influencer marketing
• Email marketing
• Search engine optimization
• App store optimization
• And more!

We can create a comprehensive high-level marketing strategy for your game or focus on a specific area to supplement your in-house marketing efforts.

Connect with us at Game Marketing Genie if you want to save time and get started with a specialized game marketing agency. We'd be delighted to assist in taking your company to the next level!