There are many strategies to successfully promote a mobile game but not every mobile marketing strategy will match the needs of your mobile game. In this post, I will examine the current and most effective mobile marketing strategies for games. Mobile use has skyrocketed during the last few years. It is the reason why mobile marketing has become a crucial part of advertising.
But what are some of the mobile marketing strategies you can use to promote your game?
Scroll down and find out how to use mobile marketing to make gamers download your game and keep playing it.
Soft Launching in Specific Markets
Soft launches allow marketers to test waters without diving too deeply. Usually, a game is published in a single or couple markets in a soft launch before heading to mainstream or worldwide markets.
It ensures you can see how people interact with an app and how it works on a smaller scale before going any further. Now, most developers launch soft in the U.S. to obtain a greater understanding of the game in this market before determining when to scale.
A soft launch helps you to check users’ acquisition costs and lifetime (LTV) through localities and demographics to suit your ideal customer. Soft releases offer input on all forms of data points, including the success of devices, budget goals, what users like and what they don’t, etc. From here, you can decide where and when to ramp up and through user acquisition.
Work on Game Reviews
Game reviews are effective marketing. Game feedback will hit users you could never find on your own and implement them into your press kit and other aspects of your marketing campaign.
There are several platforms that will provide you feedback, and naturally some would be more trustworthy than others. That’s not to suggest you shouldn’t first try less famous reviews pages. Indeed, having a number of reviews on smaller sites could help create more hype around your game and attract bigger sites’ attention.
When you get ratings, make sure you tell people about them. Post them on your profiles or include them in your newsletter. You can also provide customer reviews on your app store pages, a perfect way to attract prospective customers.
Build a Mobile-Friendly Website
Mobile use is constantly going up. More and more people are browsing the web on their smartphones and tablets instead of their computer. It’s easy and convenient to look up any website on your phone and get the information you need on the go.
So what does that tell you?
You need a mobile-friendly website for your game.
The thing is, most users are not spending all their time in the app store. They’re browsing the web, discovering new products, and searching for information online. So creating a landing page for your mobile game increases the chances of getting noticed. Think of it as another channel to promote your game and get more exposure.
What to Include in the Website?
There are many cool things you can add to your website. The obvious one is a link to the game’s app store pages.
But there are many other things you can include as well like:
- Embed a video trailer for the game
- Provide news and updates
- Announce new features
- Post tutorials and walkthrough guides
- Add company info and contact
Pretty much anything that represents your game and creates excitement. Just make sure to make user experience a top priority. If your website is loading slowly on mobile or the content isn’t optimized for mobile, you might get the opposite effect.
If you go to PUBG Mobile’s website, you can see there’s a lot of cool content there. You have links to download the game in the app stores. There are trailers and promotional videos for the games. You can also find updates on new features, tutorials, events, meet the developers and watch fun clips. That’s a great example of a well-executed responsive website for a mobile game.
Another way to utilize a website is to collect emails and grow your list of subscribers. Since a lot of people check email on their phone, it’s a great advantage to have them subscribe to your mailing list. Then you can announce the launch of your mobile game in a newsletter and any future updates and news.
Take Advantage of Social Media
Did you know that 4.76 billion people use social media apps? That number is incredibly high and we can only expect it to grow.
So if you want to market your game successfully, you need to go where the people are. And they’re on social media. All of us are checking our social media apps many times a day. It is the main way we consume content. That’s why it is a great marketing tool.
Marketing your game on social media is a great way to establish a direct connection with gamers from all around the world. It’s important to note that you should start promoting your game on social media before you even launch it.
The key is to create a buzz around the game. You can do that by sharing different content related to the game. That includes previews, trailers, game graphics, storylines, etc. It will make people interested in the game and they’ll download it once it’s out.
Which Social Media Platforms to Choose?
The social media platforms you choose to focus on depends on your target audience. However, we do recommend that you create a YouTube channel for your game. Video is the perfect format for promoting a mobile game. There’s no better way of showcasing gameplay and all of the features your game has.
But make sure you keep updating your YouTube channel. Posting a trailer and a couple of promo videos is not enough. Yes, your first goal is to excite people enough to download your game. But you should also work on captivating gamers to continue playing the game. And that’s something you can do by posting regular video content that grabs attention and keeps players interested.
Mobile Content Marketing
One of the most effective ways to promote your game is content marketing. Here’s what happens when you create top-notch content that gives value to the audience. Brand awareness and brand loyalty increase and you drive more sales.
However, the way users consume content on mobile is very different. That makes mobile content marketing a bit trickier since every piece of content needs to be optimized for mobile. That includes your website, which should be responsive, and all the content you host there. But it also includes anything you post on social media.
Since the screen size is much smaller on mobile devices, you need to optimize content so that it fits on the screen. Also, think about the format of your content. For example, short, attention-grabbing videos work much better on mobile than long-form videos. And, of course, the videos should be vertical, not horizontal.
Another thing to consider is the way users search for content on mobile which is also different than desktop search. The use of long-tail keywords is much more common on mobile as well as voice search. So keep that in mind.
Create a Killer App Promo Video
Mobile video consumption is on the rise. A study from Hubspot reveals 54% of people want to see more video content from a business they like. So the people have spoken. Go and make some videos.
Creating an app promo video for your game is imperative. When people go to an app store page listing for a mobile game, they want to get the most information in the shortest amount of time. A promo video is perfect for that. Plus, it has been shown to drive conversions the most out of any other ASO element.
A good promo video should excite the viewers and make them want to download the game right now. You want to show the most interesting and captivating parts of your game. Think characters, storylines, gameplay, anything that will make your game attractive to gamers.
Also, make sure to share it on your website and social media channels.
Take the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery promo video as an example. It demonstrates the most exciting features this game has to offer – customization, learning spells, magical mysteries, quidditch, and the ability to form friendships and fall in love. Furthermore, it shows another important thing – just how similar this game is to the Harry Potter movies. That’s an important USP. Players can experience everything they ever wanted to in the Harry Potter world, which is what motivates them to download the game.
Influencer Marketing
When people hear the word “Influencer” they usually think of individuals who have a big social media following. Although that is one of the requirements for being an influencer, there’s a lot more to it.
What’s key about influencers is that they have social influence in their respective fields. So a gaming influencer is a person who has knowledge and interest in games and a strong connection with their followers who are also gamers. This allows influencers to affect their followers’ purchase decisions. That is why businesses spend thousands of dollars on influencer marketing. It is the perfect way to reach a new audience.
That’s why we recommend that you team up with gaming influencers to promote your game.
A good influencer has exceptional storytelling abilities. It allows him or her to present your game in a very captivating way which should earn you a lot of new players. Plus, it increases brand awareness which is particularly important if you’re just starting.
Not Everybody is an Influencer
However, make sure to choose influencers wisely. Otherwise, you’ll be throwing money down the drain. We live in a time where everybody wants to call themselves an influencer. It’s trendy and sounds cool. So there are a lot of “influencers” that either don’t have a huge following or they buy followers which are essentially bots.
Also, even if someone has a lot of real followers, it still doesn’t mean they’re an influencer or a thought leader. Look for people who have a connection with their followers, engage them in conversations, and create good content. This is the type of influencer you should work with to promote your game. To find gaming influencers that fit your brand, check out Twitch, it’s the best channel for it.
App Store Optimization
Getting noticed among thousands of games in the app store is not an easy task. It’s one of the biggest hurdles any mobile game developer faces.
That’s why you need to put a lot of effort into app store optimization. Similar to search engine optimization for websites, ASO improves the visibility of your game in the app stores.
The algorithms that decide which game will come up on the top of the search results are always a bit of a mystery. That’s why ASO is often based on trial and error. However, there are some ranking factors that we know. For example, the title and description of your mobile gameplay a big role in driving organic traffic to your app store page. So make sure you include relevant keywords in both.
The description should be fairly easy to write, but sometimes there are certain elements that can make this process hard. The algorithm scans your game’s description for keywords, which you have to include. However, you shouldn’t use your keywords too much, but rather try to organically include them in your description text.
Moreover, the description should contain the most important information about your game. In this case, it can be hard to decide what is really important about your game, especially if the game contains many complex elements. Try to think of your most attractive game features, what is the most unique thing about it, its most appealing mechanic?
Furthermore, when creating a title, keep it simple and make sure that people know what the game is about. Your title should hint at your game’s genre, as well as contain branding and keywords. Additionally, it should sound attractive. Sometimes, it is best to think like this: what would I click on if I was searching for a game in ______ genre?
Of course, this doesn’t mean that if your game belongs in the action genre that it should include the word action in the title. But, it does mean that the users should recognize your game as an action game by seeing its title. For example, some of the words that could sound cool in an action game title are ultimate, battleground, fire, dead, doom, etc.
If want to learn more about app store optimization strategies, check out our easy ASO guide.
Paid Advertising Is a Must
Finally, no matter how much effort you put into organic and social user acquisition, you will hardly get the results you want for your app without paid advertising. This is especially important when you’re first launching your mobile game.
At this point, you want to be omnipresent and seen by different groups of users. After you’ve gathered some initial data on who your most valuable users are, you can optimize your campaigns accordingly.
Of course, before you even start, you should have basic understanding who your target audience is. For mobile games, you should answer the question: are they casual, mid core or hardcore gamers? Knowing who your target group is will prevent wasting your advertising budget.
Equally important, try out different ad networks to see which works best for your mobile game. Other than Facebook and Google, it is a good idea to advertise on app-only networks as well.
Invest in Video Ads
Mobile game marketers are becoming more aware that video ads are extremely valuable for their game’s success. The main reason for that are engagement rates for this ad type. In fact, a study by Mobile Marketer has shown that video ads have a 7.5x higher CTR than display ads.
Creating a trailer and promo videos for your game is imperative. It should excite the viewers and make them want to download the game right now.
You want to show the most interesting and captivating parts of your game. Think characters, storylines, gameplay, anything that will make your game attractive to gamers. This way the users get a clear idea of what they can expect from the game.
Generally, the best practices to follow for effective mobile game video ads are clear: keep it short, display the most important game features and include a strong CTA.
The beginning of the video is equally important, as this is where you have to grab the user’s attention.
Moreover, you should constantly test your creative assets and make as many ad variations possible. When you learn why some videos are performing better than others, you will be able to produce even better videos in the future.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many different ways to use mobile marketing to promote your game. To be honest, it’s not an easy thing to do, but with the help of professional marketers, anything is possible.
Need help with mobile marketing strategies for your game? Ask anything you want to know in the comments below. We got you!
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