Mobile game promotion: common mistakes and how to avoid them

Quite often, really good and exciting game projects on mobile platforms do not enjoy the expected success among gamers. There are quite a few reasons for this, but most often it is an incorrectly designed advertising campaign. It should be understood that the promotion of mobile games is always a painstaking and complex task , requiring the use of all available means and tools in order to get the maximum response from the audience and ensure good conversion rates. That is why you should consider in more detail what aspects you should pay attention to in the promotion process and what banal mistakes are easy to avoid with proper planning of an advertising campaign.

Production stage

Promotion of a mobile game should start long before the actual game is ready. This allows you to “warm up” the audience and ALREADY arouse a certain level of interest among a specific category of players.

Quite often, little attention is paid to this moment, which is why the start of the project turns out to be somewhat crumpled and not entirely successful in terms of the number of downloads, purchases, and audience activity. The problem is solved in several stages, described below.

Define your target audience

Determining the target audience of a mobile game is an extremely important aspect in its development and marketing strategy. This is important, first of all, because such an analysis will make it possible to more effectively assess the needs of specific users and build correct and effective communication channels with them. Here are a few steps to help you identify your target audience:

• The genre of the game is of great importance in determining the target audience. For example, the strategy genre is often aimed at a more mature audience, while arcade titles will appeal to younger gamers.
• Research the games that already exist in your chosen genre and try to figure out who their target audience is.
• Determine which age group will be most interested. This will make it possible to more effectively make subsequent advertising emphasis on a specific layer of potential players.
• Find out where the main audience for your game will be – in which countries and regions .
• Consider what types of users might be interested in the game. According to the results, it may turn out that your target audience is gamers on mobile devices, fans of a certain genre, people who spend a lot of time on games, etc.
• Use analytics data to understand what types of users are already playing your other projects or similar ones from other developers. This can help define the characteristics of the target audience for the new game.

In general, determining the target audience for a mobile game is a process that requires a lot of analysis and research. But if you give it enough attention and time, and even better, entrust it to the pros of your business, you can create a game that will attract and retain potential players.

Consider unobtrusive monetization

Quite often, potentially successful projects lose most of their audience due to misused monetization strategy , which simply repels players. There are several ways to make money from mobile games that generally suit the audience and do not cause a fierce butthurt:

• In-App Purchases (Purchases in the application). This method allows players to purchase various in-game items, features, levels, or benefits with real money. This is the most popular way to monetize mobile games and allows players to get additional content and developers to earn money from it.
• Advertising . This method of monetization includes placing ads in the game. Ads can be placed between levels, in the game menu, or in the form of videos that players can watch to receive in-game bonuses. This method is effective especially if the game has a large number of users.
• Subscriptions . Allow players to receive additional game benefits, features and levels for a certain period of time. This method is becoming increasingly popular, especially for games that require constant content updates.
• Freemium model . Gives players free access to the game, but additional content or features require payment. This method is becoming more and more popular, not only on consoles or PCs, but also on mobile devices.
• Paymium model . This monetization method gives players access to the game for a fixed price, but additional content or features also require payment.

Depending on what type of game you are developing, some of these monetization methods may be more effective than others. However, a combination of several of them helps to maximize the income from the game . At the same time, it is important not to overdo it, since the constant donation “for everything and everything” also causes irritation to the players in the long run.

Customize your product for different markets around the world

It is a standard practice when even the most successful projects in one region of the world are simply doomed to failure in any other. This is due to many aspects, but the main one is the cultural and social differences between different peoples of the planet. The solution to the problem lies on the surface and comes down to the fact that it is necessary to understand the audience and give it what it wants.

Adapting mobile games for different countries is an important step in the globalization of the gaming industry. The following are some of the key steps that mobile game developers can take to adapt their games to different countries:

• Translate the game into the language of each target country. This will help players learn the functionality of the game, allow them to better understand and enjoy its story.
• Study the cultural differences of the region or a particular state in order to understand what promotion of mobile games can be used.
• Include content in your game that matches the cultural norms and expectations of your target audience. For example, if you’re making a game for a Japanese audience, you might want to include more of the anime style and use traditional Japan themes.
• Do your research on local laws and regulations that may restrict the content or functionality of the game. This will allow you to prevent any problems related to violation of local regulations.
• Test your game with audiences in your region to make sure it works as expected and meets the expectations of players in each country.

Adapting mobile games for different countries can take a lot of time and resources. However, it also allows you to significantly increase the number of players, income from the game on a global market scale, and in general, the promotion of mobile games will become more effective.

Project launch stage

When the game is already launched and begins to actively gain an audience , it is extremely important to monitor its actions and needs. It is necessary to respond as quickly as possible to any comments from the gaming community. This allows you to solve several problems at once – retention of the target audience, strong competition in the market, an increase in the number of players. Here it is important to pay special attention to the constant updating of the project and its adaptation to the needs of the audience. They can be easily analyzed if you actively communicate with the gaming community.

Don’t be afraid of competition

Competition in the mobile games market can be very fierce , but you need to participate in it, and as actively as possible. In this case, the principle applies: “You don’t need to find a new niche – it’s enough to become the best in an already accessible and active one.” This approach will allow you to promote mobile games with maximum efficiency and receive the corresponding profit.

There are several strategies that can help the game stand out and attract more users:

• Focus on the uniqueness and quality of the project . Creating a game with original mechanics, unique design and addictive gameplay can attract more users and give the brainchild an advantage in the market.
• Work on marketing and promotion. Advertising and promotion on social networks, app stores and other channels can help bring more attention to the game.
• Maintain an active community. Creating an active community around the project will help retain users and attract new ones. This can be done through social networks, forums, chats, contests, etc.
• Analyze data and optimize the project. Data monitoring and analysis of user behavior will help determine what works in the game and what needs to be improved. This will optimize the game and improve the user experience.
• Update the game and add new features. Constant updating and adding new features helps to attract users and keep them in the game. This list includes new content, improved graphics, new levels, characters, and more.

Learn to retain the user

Keeping users in a mobile game is an important task for developers, as this can affect the profitability of the project as a whole. Here are some tips to help you retain and even grow your audience:

• Create interesting and exciting gameplay . It should be fresh enough for users to come back to the game again and again. To do this, it is necessary to develop unique game mechanics that make gamers think and make different decisions.
• Develop unique content and new levels . Adding new levels, tasks and content is a good way to keep users in the game. Since they will always be interested in a new gaming experience, it is much easier to promote mobile games with an exciting storyline.
• Use the system of awards and achievements . Users like to receive various bonuses for their success in the game. Develop a reward system that will motivate you to play more and more.
• Make the game social . Gamers love to play with their friends. Give them the opportunity to connect to social networks and interact with other users.
• Improve user experience . Optimize the game and make sure it runs without errors. It is also important that the user interface is simple and intuitive.
• Release updates in a timely manner . Players evaluate when developers release updates and bug fixes to the game. The Internet remembers everything!
• Make the project available to a wide audience . The game should be accessible and fun for all ages and experience levels. It is rare that a project will be interesting for both “hardcore” and “casual” players, but if such an effect is achieved, then the game will simply be doomed to success.

These are just some of the ways that can help keep users engaged in a mobile game. It is important to remember that capturing the attention of the audience is a long-term process, and developers must constantly work on improving their project and user experience.

Analyze the success of the promotion process

Few people pay attention to the issue of analyzing the promotion process, although in practice this allows you to optimize the advertising campaign and make it more effective at lower financial costs . This is a classic mistake that should be avoided, because often, even with large budgets, the effectiveness of promotion leaves much to be desired. If you regularly monitor the process, it gives extremely positive results. However, there are a number of points that should be given special attention:

• Definition of key performance indicators (KPIs). You must determine the KPIs that are most important for evaluating the effectiveness of a promotion strategy. These can be indicators such as the number of installs, the income from the application, the number of active users, the level of user retention, and others.
• Audience analysis . You need to study your audience to determine who they are and what interests they have. This will help you develop a targeted mobile game promotion strategy that will be most effective for your audience.
• Research of competitors . Study competitors in your niche to understand how they market their games and what channels they use. This will help develop a more effective promotion strategy and increase the competitiveness of the project.
• Evaluation of promotion channels . Conduct an analysis of the promotion channels that you are planning or are already using to determine which ones are most effective for your audience and which ones can be improved. These include advertising on social networks, search engine optimization, advertising on mobile devices, etc.
• Identification of potential improvements . After conducting the analysis, you must identify areas that need improvement. It can be things like optimizing promotion channels, improving user experience.
• Create an action plan . Based on your analysis and identification of areas for improvement, you should create an action plan to improve your mobile game promotion strategy.
• Measuring results . Remember to measure results after making changes to your promotion strategy. This will help you understand how effective the improvements are, what else needs to be changed to make the project even better.

The analysis is not as financially costly as it might initially seem, but its effectiveness has been proven.

Post-support stage

Even after the launch of the project , regardless of its popularity, the number of users involved, it must be developed . The promotion of mobile games does not end at this stage. It needs to introduce new mechanics , offer something new and unusual. At the same time, all innovations should not go far from the original concept.

If we talk exclusively about issues of subsequent promotion, then it is most important to focus on the following things:

• interaction with players through social media;
• constant monitoring of the quality of conversion from advertising campaigns;
• maximum compliance with all possible project security protocols.

The loss of personal data of players is a tragedy that can cause an uproar from users.

Use social media as a promotion tool

Social media can be a great tool to promote a mobile game. Quite often, developers ignore this obvious fact, which is why they lose most of their potential audience. A much more effective solution is to promote the project for free using all available modern social tools. Here are the main ones:

• Create a separate mobile game page on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. On the game page, you can post news, screenshots, videos that attract the attention of users.
• Create engaging content that can grow your fan base and increase their engagement. You can post screenshots, videos, gifs, game reviews, interesting facts, etc.
• Enable the mailing feature on the game page so that users can receive updates and news.
• Holding contests and promotions . As one of the options, for example, drawing prizes for a repost or a like.
• Use social media ads . You can use targeting settings so that ads are shown only to users who are interested in the game.
• Respond to comments and messages from players. This will help increase user engagement and increase loyalty.

In general, social media can be very helpful in promoting mobile games. The main thing is that the content is interesting and attractive.

Fight Low Conversions

The concept of conversion is a long process from the moment a potential user sees an advertising video or any other material until the moment he installs the game. The higher this indicator, the better, so there are specific steps to improve this indicator:

• Create unique and engaging content . Your game should be interesting and exciting for the target audience. Create unique gameplay, entertaining characters and levels that will keep users coming back for more.
• Optimize the app store . When promoting a mobile game, it is important that it is optimized for the app store. This includes proper use of keywords, categories, eye-catching screenshots, descriptions.
• Collaborate with influential people . Try to find people in your niche who can help you spread the game. These can be bloggers, youtubers, other influential people who have a large audience in your niche.
• Create partnerships . Try to find other companies or developers who will help promote the project. For example, you can partner with other mobile game publishers and exchange ads within your projects.

Such promotion of mobile games is quite effective when the project is really interesting.

Pay due attention to safety

In app stores, there is quite a strong protection against fraud attacks , but there is always a certain risk. To secure your project, security issues should also be given due attention. If this process is left to chance, the consequences will entail serious losses . This can be both an outflow of the audience, and probable lawsuits due to the loss of personal data. Most often, personal data of credit cards, phone numbers, etc. are stolen.

There are several ways to make a mobile game safe on the marketplace and protect it from scammers:

• update the game regularlyto eliminate possible security vulnerabilities and fix bugs;
• protect data using secure connections and encryption;
• educate your users about online safety (recommend them to use strong passwords, not share personal information);
• use secure payment gateways to protect yourself from scammers using stolen credit cards to buy in-game items;
• monitor the game , detect any unusual activity (bulk purchases of in-game items, suspicious login attempts);
• Hire professional security consultants to help protect your game from scammers and hackers.

How do we see the promotion of a mobile game with maximum impact?

Our team is actively engaged in the development of game projects of varying complexity, and does it at an elite level . Therefore, each client receives a ready-made project, in which a large number of problems will be solved from the very beginning, which means that the promotion of mobile games will be less costly.

We actively monitor the market, understand its main trends, and are well versed in the needs of a specific target audience. Due to this, as well as the fact that all the data is operated by pros , we are ready to guarantee the success of your project. By the latter, we mean an increase in the number of users, popularization of the project and, of course, an increase in the client’s profit .