Mobile Game Marketing by Lauren Comp
March 2014, Game Developers’ Conference, San Francisco—The gaming industry is going through changes and is seeing more pressure to measure and show results. Some of the issues are cost of loyal users, competition and limited markets, too many games being the same, and targeting isn’t accurate enough.
As a result, it is important to optimize a campaign by working with a network to get better data. The analytical tools and resources are available, so does this effort mean dealing with bidding wars and outbidding competitors to win? Teams have to weigh the pros and cons on their own. A key facet is player retention! Good developers need to understand: how do you make an experience that’s attractive.
Focus on engaging and immersive experiences first by making a high-quality game, and monetization will follow. The number of blockbuster games will always be one in a thousand, but the number of games that generate a credible income is fairly large.
Structural issues for game developers include an understanding that incentivized installs are a thing of the past. Producers and publishers need to know what’s the best ad format for their niche. Video is the top of the adverts right now, but other forms are viable. Video Ads are good but playable ads are an emerging platform. Users love rewards, and users respond well to in-game currency as a reward. One interesting prospect is to let players create your ads using picture-in-picture techniques.
One part of player retention is understanding why are users leaving. Figure that out, and use the knowledge to tailor your ads so new users don’t leave for the same reason. Design your campaign strategy around game activation. Give your players a reason to come back!! New elements advertised via social channels is one suggestion. The fan community should be their own ads for new users. Word of mouth is still the most valuable source of product placement.
Encourage users to join your social channel so you can reach them. It’s a free way to re-touch users who have stopped playing and paying. Seed your community with assets, sneak peeks, etc. so they CAN be excited about new and upcoming things! Users that actually share content are your most valuable users. Make content that users will want to share, or prompt them to share it.
The player demographics are changing very dramatically. Although you can’t compare casual users versus hardcore gamers, the midcore gamers are emerging as a very large population. These people and their mobile devices make up a place for targeting. If you have an ad that is showing what your game is, broaden the heck out of it when you market it. Let more people see it than just your target audience. Someone who you consider outside of your “target”, in reality may end up being exactly who would play your game for hours on end – and pay for the experience. Many dolphins are better than one whale. After you’ve gotten all of these new people, get data on which of them are actually paying. From this data, you can reanalyze and re-target your ads to bring more likely-to-pay customers to your game.
