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The video game market is flooded with games. In 2021, video game companies released an average of 30 games every day on the Steam platform alone. Additionally, games must compete with other forms of entertainment, such as video streaming services, for customers’ dollars.
Effective video game marketing is critical for getting noticed in the crowded entertainment market. However, marketing for video games has changed considerably since the days when children were the industry’s primary audience.
Key Takeaways:
Modern marketing campaigns fit into two broad categories. Branding and awareness campaigns aim to put games at the top of consumers’ minds without any call to action and have few hard metrics. Performance marketing campaigns attempt to increase video game purchases or downloads directly. Within these categories, there are multiple types of marketing campaigns.
An effective website is a critical marketing tool because it attracts customers through organic search and provides a landing page that supports your other marketing efforts. Your website should be easy to navigate and understand. Include marketing copy that encourages purchases and downloads and provides all of the information players need to know about your game.
More than 40% of internet users say that researching products and brands is one of the main reasons they use the internet. Search engines are the primary way consumers research products they have an interest in buying.
Search engine marketing is a type of video game marketing that helps you attract customers to your game’s website by optimizing it to rank well for low-competition keywords and by purchasing ads on popular search engines, such as Google. Search engine marketing campaigns are popular because of the large audience of potential customers and low cost.
App store marketing is similar to search engine marketing, except that visitors to the app store are already actively searching for games. Optimizing your app store page will help you rank better in app store search results and increase the chance that your page will get featured on the app store home screen.
You can purchase search ads that will direct the app store to recommend your game to users who are searching for similar games. These ads are particularly effective because they target customers who are already interested in a similar product. You can further increase your reach by featuring your game on multiple app stores, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon, AppBrain, and Baidu.
Influencers are celebrities or other prominent figures who affect the purchasing decisions of their audiences because of their authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their followers. Some influencers have millions of followers on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok.
Influencer marketing is a particularly effective type of video game marketing for millennial audiences. Gaming-specific influencers on Twitch and other platforms attract audiences who are already interested in games through live streams, walkthroughs, eSports competitions, and other gaming content.
Influencer marketing campaigns have propelled games to instant popularity. For example, Supercell’s influencers helped Brawl Stars reach 5 million registrations within 8 hours, making it the #1 gaming app in 32 countries and generating $10 million in revenue during the game’s launch week.
However, merely partnering with popular influencers isn’t a guarantee of success. It is important to find influencers that are a good fit for your game and brand, which may mean partnering with influencers who have smaller but more engaged audiences.
Positive reviews can jumpstart your video game marketing efforts by generating buzz for your game before it launches. Reviews also motivate customers who are on the fence to make a purchase. Submit reviews to as many sites as possible and be sure to include a promo code so the reviewer can download your game.
Adding a blog to your site benefits you in a variety of ways. It helps drive traffic to your site and gives readers a reason to return. It is also a way for you to communicate with current and potential customers about your game.
Unlike promotional materials that exist mostly to generate buzz for a game launch, a blog keeps players coming to your site after the launch date. Make the posts on your blog fun, creative, informative, shareable, and search engine optimized.
Interactive ads usually include infographics, fun quizzes, and interactive videos. Interactive ads are particularly effective tools for video game marketing because gamers are naturally drawn to interactive media.
Interactive ads work well for mobile games because touchscreen interfaces are easy to interact with. Advergames are a type of interactive advertising that involves creating short games solely to advertise a product. Advergames can be effective but are resource intensive to create.
A thriving and engaged fanbase is a valuable asset for any game. One way to cultivate a thriving community is to actively engage with forums, chats, social media users, and comment sections.
Time your posts for when users are most active and offer content that your followers will want to share with their friends and social media audiences. Encourage users to promote your game for you by making it easy to share user-generated content such as screenshots and gameplay videos.
Sonamine’s monetization services help you boost the effectiveness of your video game marketing campaigns throughout each stage of game development. Whether you are launching a new game or growing an existing one, we can help. Contact us online to get started.
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For a limited time until December 2024, Sonamine is offering a 60 day money back guarantee to OneSignal customers. Come experience the ease and simplicity of the First Time Spender Nudge package and watch your conversions soar.
