Kudos to you for creating a cool mobile game, now let’s focus on getting it into the hands of everyone! Mobile game marketing requires a specific set of skills, and we have created this article to share them with you. Want your mobile game app to dominate the charts? Read our article to make your gaming app stand out from the rest.
Why do gaming apps require a solid marketing strategy? The app stores are flooded with millions of mobile games every year. Mobile gaming apps alone make up a significant portion of the whole gaming industry (that is huge!).
There are various reasons why mobile games seem to be the most sorted type of application worldwide. It is on a steady rise and is the most downloaded type of app at Google Play and the iOS App Store. The reasons are - It is easy to play, occupies less space, and is often free (making it accessible to everyone who has a phone and internet connection). People have loads of options to choose from due to the abundance of availability. So, if your game fails to create a dent in the market, it will end up lost or discarded in the sea. Good for you, we are here to help you stack on track to victory!
Table of contentsThe basics of mobile game marketing: Getting Started
Keep this in mind when preparing for a launch - “Once a product is developed, it can never be released into the market without due marketing”. Your product can be anything, it can be a shampoo or a tech gadget. Prior to its launch, a solid marketing strategy is a necessity for its success. Mobile game marketing is one such arena where noise makes heads turn.
The same goes for game app marketing, you don’t want your mobile game apps to disappear in the crowds, do you?
After creating your game, refrain from entering the market straight away. You are wrong if you think adding some pictures and a description will attract huge traffic to your mobile game in the app store. Most small-time game developers make this rookie mistake and realize it only after a while. Marketing a mobile game is the path to success. A strong mobile game marketing strategy is the only way for your game to stand out.
Read this article until the end to discover one of the leading marketing automation software that makes mobile game marketing a walk in the park!
Mobile game marketing strategy
Following are some of the best mobile game marketing strategies.
App store optimization
This is the phase that follows the creation of a fantastic game, testing it in a soft launch, and deciding that you're ready to launch it. When competing with hundreds of thousands of other applications, if your app listing lacks the appropriate language, graphics, style, and content to attract and engage your audience, it will be lost to time. And this is the essence of ASO. It is the practice of optimizing applications in order to help them rank better in app store search results.
This is because app stores operate in the same manner that Google does when it scans websites for important information in order to determine where to rank them in its page results in relation to a user's search terms. For example: when you have developed a motorsport game, your ranking will be higher when a user searches for "racing games".
iOS App Store ASO
Apple released iOS 14, its latest operating system, late last year. This new system included modifications to the App Store that might influence your app's visibility and conversion rate, in addition to basic changes to how iPhones work. Improved privacy, updated app store search, editorial collections, a redesigned app information page, and App Clips are among the new features. Each of them will have a distinct impact on how you may market your mobile game, so you'll need to adjust your iOS App Store listing accordingly.
Focus on screenshots
From a high level to individual marketing materials, optimization may be performed on your mobile game's listing. Screenshots are one of the most crucial aspects of your app store listing. However, any old screenshot will not suffice. In order to lure people into your game, you must tell a tale and build a picture for your audience before they even consider downloading. To guarantee that these images convert rather than turn people away, they must be of high quality and adhere to best practices.
Advertise mobile apps via playable ads: It works
Many mobile applications include 30-second advertisements that users may view and perhaps earn money from. While this is a highly popular method of advertising, it may become boring after a while. Are you looking for a more engaging approach to engage your audience than a basic video? Try advertisements that can be played.
Playable advertising may appear to be a feature only accessible in the gaming sector, but fear not! Making a brief, entertaining mini-game for your business, no matter what industry you're in, is a fantastic opportunity.
Influencer marketing 101
Influencer marketing, oh my! We've all heard of it, and whether you like it or not, you can't deny its dominance in the marketing world. Influencer marketing is one of the most effective tools accessible to today's businesses, and it's something you should appreciate and use in all of your marketing efforts. But don't just take our word for it. Let us explain why you need it and how you can use the power of influencers to build the finest marketing plan you've ever had.
You may begin designing your approach by following these five fundamental stages:
Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways for your game to reach audiences from the grassroots to the mainstream, so don’t neglect to add this to your marketing plan.
Referrals work magic
Have you ever had a buddy encourage you to join a mobile game so that they could earn some additional lives and you could receive some advantages as well? That's the power of word-of-mouth advertising!
This technique, which is often perceived as an invite on a messaging system or social networking site, is fantastic at converting new members for three reasons:
The importance of word-of-mouth marketing cannot be overstated. We're sure you've trusted a friend or family member's advice before, whether it was for a mobile game or anything else. This isn't unusual! That is why referral marketing is such a popular and effective marketing strategy.
“OptiKPI” is the software that we mentioned earlier in the article, it is a complete marketing solution software for your mobile gaming application. It will aid you with referral marketing in the most efficient way. You can attach the referral links along with the messages that you send to your audience, via - Email, SMS, or Push notifications. All the processes right from start to end can be automated in the software. The campaigns can be custom created to suit your particular requirements. OptiKPI will also track whether the player has opened the message and used the link. It will further take the responsibility of follow-ups, audiences who have failed to use the referral bonus are automatically sent a reminder message about the offer. This and much more, are only in OptiKPI.
Good reviews help you stand out
According to Search Engine Journal: 91 percent of young buyers trust internet reviews, and because reviews will be displayed on your mobile game's listing on app stores, you'll want to make sure you have a few to work in your favor. These, like a referral, have weight similar to personal recommendations from friends and family and will be examined by the bulk of your audience before they decide to download your game.
However, they do not all have to be positive! Good businesses take advantage of every chance to encourage consumers to provide feedback, even if it is unfavorable. Negative reviews provide you with the chance to reply constructively, give solutions or compensation, and demonstrate that you care about your consumers. Furthermore, if all of your evaluations are "five out of five stars," this may give your viewers a sense of dishonesty and make them unwilling to participate. But, of course, strive to develop a terrific game that produces a lot of positive comments!
Testing and optimization
Your game is out there establishing a name for itself in the mobile gaming market, but is it performing as well as you hoped? There are several metrics that may be measured, and establishing whether or not you are receiving the desired payment is crucial - but it is not the only thing you should consider. Why? Because the actual value that your company receives is a combination of monetary income, reach, brand trust, and other factors.
Analytics is an important part of any marketing plan, and your mobile game is no exception. Understanding your data can assist you in improving the user experience in order to build a game that will ultimately generate more money.
OptiKPI is one such marketing automation platform that empowers you to understand data in the finest detail. The powerful analytics software collects data in real-time round the clock and delivers it in the most meaningful form. For instance, you can track the behaviors of your users with the help of your data. Players can be surveilled in real-time along with the amount of time and money spent on each game. The dashboard in OptiKPI displays data in various metrics (bar, line, pie, numerics, etc...). Gaming operators can use the data to analyze their performance and stay updated.
Automation platform's role in marketing your mobile gaming apps
How to market mobile games effectively? Marketing automation platforms are the solution. These are software that assists businesses to carry out marketing activities at the highest level. Once the business data is uploaded into the marketing software, it takes over the marketing and performs at the highest levels. Marketing automation software helps companies to capitalize on their resources by cutting off manual indulgences.
Traditional marketing has long been overthrown by digital marketing. Be aware, automation platforms are soon to dominate a major portion of Digital Marketing. Digital marketing has enabled brands to stay connected with their customers 24/7. Technology has evolved so much that it has paved a clear path for businesses to reach out to their customers more efficiently.
OptiKPI - The best solution for mobile gaming marketing
OptiKPI is an exclusive marketing automation platform built only for marketing online gaming products, such as your mobile gaming app. Compliance, marketing, and risk management are some of the key traits of OptiKPI. By leveraging customer data, it helps your gaming app build a brand in the long run. OptiKPI employs a sustainable approach to drastically improve customer LTV.
Once you have got all the basics covered that we discussed in the opening sessions, you can deploy OptiKPI to take care of the day-to-day marketing activities. We say OptiKPI is a complete marketing automation software since it assists you in each and every step of your mobile gaming business. It is a performance-driven platform that leverages customer data to produce the best solutions. It helps you improve your player acquisition and retention rates drastically with its AI-boosted powerful automation engines.
OptiKPI helps deliver relevant messages to the right customers at the right time by leveraging player behavior. Real-time insights and tools that are readily available in its arsenal help gaming businesses like yours to capitalize on available data. One of the key advantages of the software is that in the long run, all your marketing activities performed by OptiKPI will result in a huge snowball effect. You are able to build a brand with a data-driven sustainable approach.
OptiKPI is an all-in-one solution for the marketing of your mobile games. It is a software that is designed only for the purpose of handling the marketing of games. Designed by gaming industry experts - OptiKPI empowers gaming operators to achieve the highest standards in terms of marketing. It can be easily integrated into your mobile gaming business within a short period of time and deployed almost immediately.