How to Determine the Best Marketing Strategy for Game Industry
There are so many crucial decisions that you will have to make, which will affect the design of a game and how successful you will be in its marketing. If you are just starting on such a journey, there are two important artefacts that you must create.
They are:
1.Marketing strategy
2.Marketing plan
A Strategy is the main guide to what you intend to do and a Plan is the detailed translation of what you will do to execute your strategy. The moment you start creating your game is when you should start thinking about the strategy to adopt. This is so because some decisions in things like languages, monetization, game design and localisation will all get affected by the marketing strategy you choose.
You need to determine if you are going to self-publish the game or not. If not, then most of the strategic decisions can be made by the person publishing your game. But if you are publishing on your own, then there are various things you should understand first.
Factors to understand when self publishing a game
These factors include:
1.Gaap vs Gaas
Do you intend to launch the game as a service ora product? As a Product would be the traditionalmodel and as a Service would be the modern used in respectable games industries. However, when self-publishing, it is better to see your game as a service. This way, you can launch it immediately it is feasible and you can steadily iterate new releases while establishing aloyal audience.
2.The game’s business model
Do you intend to offer the game for free like the casumo free spins or you will charge for it?
This has a great impact on the game’s overall design. You should make this decision from the start because doing it later may not work.
3.Target audience
You should determine your audience whether it would be male, female, adults or kids. A game has to be designed with a target audience in mind.
4.Stores or platforms
Determine if your game is for PC, console, tablet, mobile or other devices. This also has to be determined early due to things like budget, bias for technology and others. Also, some platforms are more suitable for certain audiences and certain games.
5.Geography
Where will you launch your game? Will you have it tested in a trial market first? Which countries are you targeting? All these are crucial marketing questions that you should consider carefully.
6.Budget
The marketing strategy you decide to use shouldbe within your budget.
7.Marketing channels
There are so many channels you can use to market your game. Big console games for instance use TV, PR, events, online and radio. If your budget is so constrained, then you can consider channels like the web and cross-promotional network.
All the above sections must be considered carefully when you start designing your game. The analysis and conclusion to those sections is what creates your marketing strategy, which will lead to an impressive game.
