MobileSix Mobile Game Marketing Strategies

Six Mobile Game Marketing Strategies

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By Yunyi Zhao, Showbox.

According to Statista, mobile games will generate more than $3.3 billion in revenue in 2016. That whopping figure is up from $3 billion in 2015 and up from $2 billion in 2013. If you’re a mobile game developer and you’re not marketing your game, you’re already on the losing side of the game money market.

This explains why some games development studios go as far as creating TV ads and hiring celebrities to endorse their games. If you’re really interested in making the most of your game, you’ll have to promote and market it.

Even if you don’t have the budget for a Super Bowl ad or hiring a celebrity for endorsement, there are several other effective strategies you can use. Let’s dig deeper to find out!

Mobile Games Marketing Strategies

Game1
Figure 1: Your game on a mobile screen

1. Make a Promo Video for Your Game

Many mobile gamers are not really interested in reading about how to play your game or how interesting it is. And why should anyone download and play your game just to find out if it’s worth playing? You can actually convince hundreds of thousands of mobile device users to download and play your game by making a short video.

Your game’s video should showcase the most thrilling parts of your game and what makes it awesome or absolutely interesting. You can make it as fun and interesting as a movie trailer. Don’t make a long or boring video; keep it short, simple, and very interesting.

You should create a YouTube channel for your game and upload the video. Share the YouTube channel link on your game’s description page on Play Store and your game’s landing page so that visitors can watch the video. You also can share your game’s video on Vimeo to drive traffic to Play Store.

2. Take Advantage Of Mobile Games Promotion Platforms

Being a game developer doesn’t automatically make you a game marketing expert. Sometimes, you may have to bring a game marketing expert on board to showcase your game appropriately and give it all the amazing exposure it deserves.

While you focus on designing an excellent user interface for your game and making it more user-friendly, mobile games promotion platforms can help you find the right target audience for it. These mobile games promotion platforms often provide low cost-per-impression (CPI) for mobile games ads.

Some games promotion platforms can boost your game’s ranking on Play Store within the shortest possible time. They have registered users who are willing to download, install, and play your games. So, you can easily gain organic traffic, long installs, and engagement to help your game rank higher on Play Store.

3. Build a Home for Your Game on the Web

Every game deserves a unique landing page on the Web. The competition in the mobile gaming space is too fierce for you to limit your mobile game marketing to Play Store. When you create a home for your game on the Web, you can blog about what makes your game so distinct and interesting.

Game2
Figure 2: Place your game on the Web to increase its accessibility

You can blog about how your game is played, its features, tips and tricks, and lots more. Gamers will have the freedom to ask you as many questions as possible about your game. This is a very easy opportunity to use your game’s Web site as an extension of customer support for gamers.

As you blog about your game, use keywords that describe your game in your blog posts topics and content. Chances are your game will pop up in search engine result pages when Web users use those keywords during an online search. So, on the landing page, place links to the game’s page on Play Store to redirect visitors on your Web page to Play Store.

4. Use App Store Optimization

One of the best methods of marketing and promoting your mobile game is app store optimization (ASO). It’s a strategy that involves several tactics of positioning your mobile game the right way to boost its visibility and ranking on Google Play.

If you implement the right ASO tactics appropriately, your game will benefit tremendously from it. Odds are, it’ll boosts your game’s chances of becoming more discoverable on the Play Store search results page. Also, you’ll drive traffic to your game’s page and convert those people into players when they download your game.

To optimize your game maximally, you’ll have to pay attention to some segments of your game’s page on Play Store. These segments make up the key algorithms that Google considers in games visibility and ranking on Play Store.

These are the key metrics:

  • Game’s description
  • Game’s ratings and reviews
  • Game’s number of downloads
  • Game’s user experience (long installs, uninstalls, and engagement)

Start by conducting research to find out the keywords that best describe your game. You can start your research on Play Store by searching for your game using several different keywords. Carefully analyze the keywords of the games that pop up at the top of the search result to have an idea of the best keywords that describe your game.

Once you have the right keywords, you’ll have to use them tactically. Use the keywords in your game’s description about five or six times for emphasis. You can also use latent semantic (LSI) keywords; they are keywords that are related to your main keywords.

Design a visually friendly and outstanding icon for your game. Sometimes, an icon is what makes the difference between a game that is downloaded more often and one that is not. Also, you should take screen shots of your game on a mobile device and showcase it on your game’s Play Store page.

5. Use Social Media

Across the globe, millions of people connect with friends, loved ones, and even strangers on social media. The best part? Many people use social media for play and to have fun, some of the exact reasons why people play games. So why shouldn’t you promote your game on social media?

You should create a Facebook page for your game. Make sure the profile picture is the icon of your game, and make sure the cover photo of the page is a crystal clear picture of your game. You can promote the page and boost some of your best posts to reach hundreds of thousands of people.

You also can create an account for your game on other networks such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Vimeo, and several other social networks. Pick the best social networks where your game’s target audience are spending time and having fun.

6. Make the Most of Your Game’s Reviews

There are several gaming Web sites that focus on mobile games reviews. Many mobile gamers often visit such sites to learn more about new and trending mobile games. You should submit your game to such Web sites for reviews.

Regardless of the review you get for your game, one thing is certain: Your game will enjoy the spotlight. The best part is that you can submit your game to as many review sites as you want for maximum exposure.

On the other hand, positive reviews and ratings for your game on Play Store can boost its ranking and visibility. That automatically translates to higher traffic and increases the chances of downloads.

Some of your game players will leave feedback about what they experienced when using your game.

Pay constant attention to every feedback. Reply as required and, if you look closely, odds are that some of that feedback contains ideas that can make your game better and more interesting.

Once you see any of such ideas, don’t take it for granted. Discuss it with your team and, if it’s worth it, don’t hesitate to implement it.

Conclusion

Mobile games promotion and marketing doesn’t become successful overnight. It takes some time and consistent efforts. While you’re busy marketing your game, don’t forget to measure your efforts so you can do more of what works and change whatever is not working.

Enjoy gaming!

About the Author

This article was written by Yunyi Zhao, who works for Showbox, a games and apps discovery platform. Yunyi is a regular writer at Showbox and a digital marketing expert.

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*** This article was contributed. © All rights reserved, Developer.com. ***

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