Effective Tools for Successful Mobile Game Promotion

If you are a developer of mobile games, we are sure you know one thing: There is a huge amount of games out there! Anyways, in order to be successful you have to do a solid job at mobile game promotion.

Firstly, you need to know exactly how much money you can spend on marketing tools. The best way to calculate your budget for your mobile game promotion is to have a look at

• Cost per Active User (CPAU),
• Average Revenue per User (ARPU) and
• Lifetime Value of your User (CLTV).

With these three numbers in mind, it will be easier for you to plan a marketing campaign that suits your budget.

Key Figures for Your Mobile Game Promotion Budget

In the following, we will explain some of the numbers that you need to be aware of to calculate your mobile game promotion budget.

Cost Per Active User

The Cost per Active User measures the cost to acquire an active user for brands who market their apps. In this case, every company needs to define for themselves what active means.

For example, some companies might say that an active users is a customer who returns to the app at least once a month. In this case, you might also hear the term ‘retention rate’.

You will find more information abour retention rates in this article.

Average Revenue Per User

The Average Revenue per User is the amount of revenue each of your active customers (on average) contributes. It can be used to calculate the budget for your mobile game promotion (together with the Cost per Active User).

Lifetime Value

The Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) indicates the user’s worth. With this information in mind, you can calculate how much you can spend for one customer in order to make a profit.

The CLTV depends on three factors:

• Monetization (how much do customers contribute to your mobile revenue),
• Retention (level of engagement a customers has with your app) and
• Virality (sum value of additional users, which a customer will refer to your app)

Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is the value that measures the monetization:

Paid Mobile Game Promotion

Now that you know your numbers and how to spend your ad budget most efficiently, you should know more about different types of paid mobile game promotion.

Incentivized vs Non-Incentivized Mobile Game Promotion

There is a great difference between incentivized and non-incentivized app marketing, but both can be used to promote your mobile game.

Incentivized app marketing consists of rewarding users with something in exchange for downloading and trying an game or engaging with an app.

Non-incentivized app marketing, on the other hand, is marketing that convinces the user to download and try the game without any reward for it.

Basic information about incent and non-incent installs for your app promotion can be found here.

Incentivized Mobile Game Promotion

Typical rewards of your mobile game promotion would be upgrades on the game, discount codes, virtual currency within the game, coupons or other giveaways. This kind of marketing will deliver many downloads for a very small investment.

On the other hand, as a marketer, it is very important to analyse the exact costs to acquire an active user. You can expect retention rates to be much lower compared to non-incentivized campaigns. So make sure to take that into account when calculating your CPAU.

Non-Incentivized Mobile Game Promotion

With non-incentivized mobile game promotion, users decide to download the app out of interest. Non-incentive app marketing could be banner ads through ad networks, advertisements on social media platforms like Facebook, an app review on a blog or even offline promotion.

With this kind of marketing you can reach a particular group of users that is naturally interested in your product.

Pricing for that kind of mobile game promotion is much higher than for incentivized mobile game promotion. Even though you can expect high quality traffic and a higher retention than for incentivized campaigns, please make sure to calculate the CPAU.

In the end, higher prices and higher retention can amount to the same CPAU or even be worse than for incentivized campaigns.

To reach a humongous amount of users and to have a high-quality user base a mixture of both ways of marketing could be the key.

No matter which tools you use for your mobile game promotion: authenticity is essential. After all, your marketing measures should fit your game in order to contribute to a successful marketing campaign.

10 Effective Tools for Successful Mobile Game Promotion

Now that you have set up your marketing budget, it is time to think about different ways to promote your mobile game. We have gathered 10 tools that might strengthen your mobile game promotion strategy.

1. 1. Create a Landing Page
      To inform the user in the most optimal way, it is essential to create a landing page with the game’s essential information. In addition, you should include a download link of the game so that the user does not have to leave the website to download the app. This could lead to a potential loss of users. Furthermore, you should make it easy for your user to tell friends about the game by including a sharing option on different social media channels.
   2. Optimize Your Presence in the App Store
      A cost effective way of getting more downloads is to optimize the game’s appearance in the different app stores. You can start by creating an eye-catching app icon and by giving the app a short and creative title. Furthermore, you need to add an informative description. (For Android, it must contain your keywords; but be careful: If you use too many keywords it might appear as spam, which you definitely want to avoid. The App Store offers a separate keyword field to put yours into.) Finally, to show users what they can expect from the game, you should include great screenshots that show all features of the game.
      

      Mobiles Games are the Most Popular App Category by Impressions © ayeT-Studios

   3. Use feedback
      A great way of constantly improving your game is to ask for feedback from users in the app store or on your social media channels. By using users’ experience with the game, you will be able to adjust your game and think about factors you have never noticed before. It is also important that you respond to user feedback so that they will feel valued. Another way of using feedback for your mobile game promotion is to present your app through startup communities or app review sites and ask for opinions.
      
   4. Be social
      In order to get people to talk about your game, you need to give them a space to talk. You could either create a forum for users to discuss the game or open a game-related group in different social media channels. There, users can share their experience, their achievements, and some tips and tricks to enhance their performance. If possible, also integrate social media within your game so that your customers can share their achievements directly through the app on social media.
   5. Be visual
      Users like to consume videos rather than plain text. Consequently, introducing your game with a video is always a good idea. A video offers various ways of presenting your game, for example as a preview or a short demonstration – there are no limits. You can share the video on numerous social media channels, for example YouTube, Facebook or Instagram.
   6. Include Influencers
      Influencer Marketing is a great way to make your game more visible in the internet and to attract many potential users. You can let a YouTuber play your game in a video that will be published on his channel, or you could let a blogger test the app and review it on his/her blog. Either way, many users will become aware of your game due to influencer marketing. We at ayeT-Studios can help you find the right social media influencer -> click here!
   7. Make Potential Users Interested
      Offer users an incentive in order to make them interested in your game. You can do that by offering giveaways or coupons – everyone likes goods for free.
      

      Minutes spent per session by games (Android & iOS) © Adjust

   8. Promote Your App Offline
      Next to promoting your game online, it is also crucial to do so offline. You could, for instance, collaborate with game stores. By placing a QR code, stickers or posters on windows traffic light posts, you’re raising awareness for your game.
   9. Prepare a Media Kit
      Public relations is also a part of mobile game promotion. Of course you want to be prepared for the press, in case they take an interest in your game. Hence, you should arrange a media kit that includes all the relevant information about your game. For example, an app summary guide, a press release, great screenshots of your game, a design collateral, great videos, founder bios and some nice pictures.
   10. Apply for Awards
       A mobile game promotion tool that will make your game interesting not only for users, but also for the press is to participate in app awards. The coverage of the award, as well as reviews of the different apps will also raise awareness for your game, which will lead to an increase in app downloads.

ayeT-Studios is an ad agency specialized in mobile ad solutions and offers customized mobile app promotion for both Android and iOS.