5 More Critical Strategies for Video Game Marketing (Part 2)

1.    Use Behavioral Re-Targeting In Your Media Plan.

Media re-targeting recognizes a user from a dropped cookie.  When the user visits a site, they see Ad #1 (Here’s Our Game, We Exist, Check Us Out).  As the user continues to surf the web and there’s no conversion or visit, the user could enter another site on the same media network.  Then Ad #2 comes up (Our Game Has Features!! Play Online w/ Friends).  Now it’s time to bring out the big guns.  When the user visits another site in the same network for the third time after a few days, Ad #3 shows up.  You know that the interest is not high because of the lack of interaction with the other two ads, so you sweeten the deal, (Sign up now and get a code for a Free In-Game Item!).  If after 3 tries and there’s no interest, the cookie tells the network not to show that ad anymore.  This does a few things, it creates a more compelling experience for the user while at the same time informs them of increasing value of the video game, and if the ads aren’t working for a particular set of users, they self-select themselves out of the network, further focusing your marketing efforts while not wasting good impressions on unlikely candidates.

2.    Create Marketing Events and Plans Based on Existing Behaviors.

You know that gamers will find a way to take your video game marketing media and do strange and wonderful things to it.  Incorporate those tools and focus their efforts into a channel where you can control it.  If I download a demo on my PC, allow me to take a video of the game, where I can then upload it to either YouTube or your microsite.  If you host it, you can screen it for any violations and subject it to your terms of service.  However, be cautious, overzealous screening and censorship can create a backlash, causing gamers to run from your site with stories of draconian censorship practices.

3.    Go Mobile Dammit.

Movies are creating mobile applications that force the user to pay for the privilege of seeing their marketing.  To me, that’s like forcing me to pay to watch commercials.  Develop applications for mobile devices that are free, interactive and integrated with social networks.  The Idea is that there will be peaks of interest at certain PR points.  You’ll see traffic spike when a new game is announced or at other planned points of the development process.  There will also be inevitable valleys after those peaks where there’s no new content coming out and users have consumed all that there is.  Mobile apps can lessen those valleys and create mini-peaks between major peaks that will create interactivity between the user and the game.  Develop the mobile app to have regular updates, regular content expansions so that as people download them, they have a reason to interact with it over and over.  I’ve been talking to some of the brilliant people at Spark Plug Games who are experts in the mobile gaming & app development market. 

4.    Create Marketing Campaigns That Give Users a Story.

Word of mouth is still the biggest influencer of purchasing behavior.  Interactive video game marketing should mirror the effect of the video game itself.  When I played Portal, I couldn’t stop talking about it to my friends.  As a result, I’ve recommended that game to dozens, if not hundreds, of people who may not have otherwise heard it.  Marketing video games online should be much more than clicking.  When Lord of the Rings Online was developing the Mines of Moria, their microsite had mini-games on it where you could unlock items, screenshots as well as other things, at the same time, you could play online with your friends in those minigames.  They became a topic of conversation.  When we knew that new information was coming out for the Mines of Moria, it was not uncommon to see hundreds of people online, chatting, speculating and playing games.  That marketing campaign became an experience for their users. 

5.    Include Gamers Who Aren’t at E-3, PAX, GDC or The Triangle Games Conference.

You want to reward your fans who come out to visit you during the enthusiast gaming events.  You want to thank them for their effort & you want to give them an experience with you, your company and your game that they won’t forget.  I’ve been unable to attend E-3 a few times, and each time I’ve wanted to be a part of the action, other than watching the media blitz that the gaming media enjoys putting together.  With services like BriteKite, you can create Geohashing campaigns during the time of E-3 and execute those campaigns in other cities while the event is going on.  For everyone at the event, there are thousands of people who aren’t there, who’d love to be there.  By creatively using GPS games, and satellite parties or events, you can not only give those who cant come a story to tell, but you’ve maximized your buzz using technology better.

 

Read the First 5 Critical Video Game Marketing Strategies…

5 More Critical Strategies for Video Game Marketing (Part 2)