Strategies to promote your game

Creating a game is only the first step in your journey to world domination. It’s high time to start planning clever strategies to distribute and promote your game. But wait! To craft the ideal marketing / promotion / distribution strategy, here is a simple checklist for you to go through before you begin writing it down:

Target Audience: Revisit who the game was designed for. Who are they? How old are they? More importantly, where are they? The location of your target will likely be the deciding factor for the marketing medium that you will eventually choose, because it etermines factors such as the nature of the rewards, the type of content, and whether or not your players are expected to play the game at the same time.
Duration of campaign: How long do players have to complete
the game? This may range from a few hours or a day, to months at a time. Depending on the type of game, the whole game experience might only just take minutes to complete. But are players expected (or encouraged) to return to the game and continuethe game experience (either by completing more challenges, repeat existing ones, or maybe just socialising with other players)?
Expected number of players: How many players are expected to complete the game? Is this a fixed number or a number that will change (increase/decr
ease) over time? This number will likely affect your strategy, especially when you are aiming for high engagement and low attrition rate.
Budget: Do you have a budget for marketing? If you do, you can consider advertising platforms like Facebook Ads, Google Ads and perhaps, even traditional marketing channels (depending on where your target audience is at). If you don’t have a budget at all, consider promoting via your company’s Facebook page, Twitter feed, or LinkedIn Company page. It may be worth exploring the referral challenge feature and see if you can incorporate that into your game (and incentivise your players to spread the word).
Overall objective: What’s the overall objective for your game? To have as many players as possible? To ensure players are able to learn the necessary skills / information? The objective will determine the set of actions your players will need to go through to meet your objective.
Type of game: Finally, what type of game is this? Is it competitive, collaborative or just a solo game? This will likely play a big role in how you are going to recruit players.

Essentially, this article focuses on how you can attract people to play the game, a.k.a. recruit players. Check out this list for the various mediums/platforms that you can utilise to promote your game:

#1: Via social media

Social media is, and always has been (since its inception), a popular medium for promotional content. If you aren’t living under a rock, you might have accounts to some of the more successful social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Well, in that case, go ahead and promote the link to your game via the various social media platforms! It’s that simple, right? Not quite. Each social media platform has its quirk and unique target audience.

Facebook: The mother of all social media platforms. It’s a good platform for social games or games which aren’t too serious in nature. If your target audience falls within the 20-50 years old range, Facebook is a good bet. You may not want to use Facebook for the younger generation, though. Here’s why.
Twitter: A less popular platform, especially in Singapore, consider this if your target audience is global or US-based. Due to the the sheer amount of tweets users go through, be sure to increase the frequency of your Twitter promotion.
Instagram: A more visual platform than the others, this would be a good avenue if you are looking to promote post-game or during-game time, where you have user content (their pictures and challenge answers) to share and promote. Not so much for pre-game promotion though, due to the link limitations.
LinkedIn: If your game reaches out to a more mature audience, and it is meant to meet business objectives, consider promoting your game on LinkedIn instead. You can either promote on your personal profile or on the company page, depending on which one would give you a better reach.

#2: Via blogs / articles

Another way to promote your game, would be to leverage on your existing reader base on your company/individual blog. Content is still king these days and an updated blog can do wonders for your readers who are hungry to find out more about your company, your services or simply your opinions and thoughts about various happenings within your industry. If you’re keen to learn more about blogging trends in 2017, check this out.

So how do you actually go about promoting your game in a blog post? There are a few ways you can do so:

Link it up! If your game is to be played on a web browser, share the love by pasting the link to the game into your blog post. It’s that simple. But you might want to ensure that the game is open to the public (and perhaps allow for guests to play it without logging in to Gametize).
Direct them to the mobile app! It may be the Gametize app or a customised app (that we have created specially) for your company. Be sure to include links to both the iOS and Android versions of the app for people to download from.

#3: Via main website

If you do have a Gametize game that’s meant for the public eye, how about placing the link to the game at the most visible location in the digital sphere that’s owned by your company: the main website?

Within your main website, have an app icon or a similarly-illustrated image to attract users to click on the link and play the game. Have a catchy yet snappy introduction to your game to accompany the visual and pair this with good digital marketing strategies to drive visitors to your site.

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Although a good game can mean a world of difference for players, it will mean nothing without employing the right strategy to bring visitors to the game. So do spend some time planning marketing strategies to help your game be recognised and well-played within your community. All the best!

Got any other strategies that worked well for you and your organisation? Share with us here by commenting below! We’d love to hear from you. 🙂