Why is marketing in video games important? The number of active gamers worldwide is continually growing, making game development companies, such as Melior Games, very busy. According to one of the basic market laws – demand creates supply – the amount of games also grows. Developers suffer from a high level of competition and have to raise their budgets dramatically, trying to attract customers. What can a smaller company that cannot spend much money on traditional advertising methods do? Let us discuss the four easy and efficient game marketing methods.
Most Effective Game Marketing Strategies for 2020
Classical advertisements on TV, in newspapers, and other kinds of mass media are not as effective as they were just ten years ago. Everybody is just tired of it. So, developers have to investigate new ways for video game promotions. Here are the four most compelling:
- Get in touch with the potential audience through influencers;
- Conduct a social media advertising campaign;
- Organize live events;
- Employ crowd-sourced marketing.
It does not matter at what platforms you aim to release your game. Currently, these methods display the most efficiency and attract the highest amount of attention from potential users. Let us take a closer look at these video game marketing strategies.
Influencer promotion
Not only are many millennials active gamers, but most of them also follow at least a couple of influencers. These can be different bloggers, streamers, Instagram celebrities, and other kinds of people, who are famous on the internet. Today, their aid is extremely useful in video games promotion.
In the graph above, you can see the approximate number of people younger than 35 years, who regularly watch e-sports broadcasts or content from different streaming platforms (Twitch, YouTube Gaming, Mixer, etc.). Instagram is among the 5 most popular apps worldwide. Imagine how popular your game may become if millennials would watch their favorite influencer reviewing or regularly playing it. By the way, the top games of Melior Games are often promoted in this way.
Read also: Game Development: The Power of Analytics And Promotion
Social media advertising
Did you ever notice any advertisement posts while scrolling your Facebook or Instagram feed? Probably you did not, because to spot that some post is an advertisement, you need to check its subheaders very intently, which most people do not. The users are scrolling through their feed and perceive your ads as regular posts. That is the first great reason to get the aid of the SMM manager.
In addition, social media marketing tools allow targeting quite specific audiences. You can target your campaign by gender, age group, nationality, profession, a favorite pastime, and many other relevant parameters. Clearly targeted social media gaming marketing campaigns can grant you a vast increase in customers.
Live events
What can be more interesting for young people than to socialize by visiting a party and making a few new friends? And what can be more exciting for them than the limited event, where everybody is gathered around one main thing or topic? For instance, your new, exciting, fresh, and fashionable video game! We at Melior Games have employed this method many times to great success.
This kind of promotion is the most effective in big cities. This would allow inviting the same influencers, celebrities, and bloggers to your event. Potentially you can trigger the interest of the most popular of them by providing some kind of additional incentive. Afterward, many of these would provide reactions to the visit, giving you a free video game promotion.
Read also: 5 Must-Dos For Any Game Startup
Crowd-sourced marketing
Probably the easiest of game marketing strategies, crowd-sourced marketing is a recent invention. This is a technology of covert (“guerrilla”) advertising on the Internet, with the help of answers or recommendations on forums, blogs, in comments to a product, service or video. In other words, crowd marketing is a modern “word of mouth”, transferring reviews from a satisfied customer/buyer (or an actor playing such) to other people by posting an answer to a consumer’s question or problem.
Promotion with the help of crowd marketing is an excellent solution in terms of return and efficiency since it requires minimal effort from a marketer. Positive user reviews in app stores like Play Market, App Store or Steam also apply to this type of advertising.
Summary
Currently, Melior Games does not even have a dedicated marketing department. By implementing these four efficient video game marketing methods, we can successfully promote our games, at the same time allowing the staff to focus on the development processes and quality of our products.
