Hi everyone, I am a game developer and my game is in BETA at the moment, meaning that the game is still under development and I don't pay for any marketing yet. The game is soon ready to be heavily marketed though, and I need to know about all possibilities by then. Also, i'm currently writing my major education thesis about online marketing which includes a marketing plan for my own project. The game is a text-based fantasy browser game played realtime and it will be fully available as "free first fix". After this we will make some premium features only available for paying customers. I do have some money to use on advertising, but it's definitely not hundreds of thousands. At least not before I have found the exact ROI. Right now, im thinking of these options: Free marketing: Inclusion of game in various toplists, game databases, game directories etc. and subtly "spamming" relevant discussion boards with description/link. SEM - AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing SEO - all related disciplines Banner campaigns - on relevant game sites, for an example through GAO (Games Advertising Online), cpmstar or selected topsite listings. Viral marketing - creating an incentive point system, where users gain points by referring new users, spreading referral links, voting on the toplists etc. Viral marketing - creating a small playable application for our game for distribution via clearspring to community sites like facebook, myspace etc. Any other ideas? What pays off and what doesn't? Thanks in advance! Pelle, Glorious Games
Well if I where you id submit to some big game directories... also maybe buy some ad spots on other games in your game genre.
How about providing your players with banners that show off their in-game stats, that they can use in their forum signatures to show off?
Why don't you give some free copy to some kids. Then run a contest for them. Make sure you get it on media; may be via press release or paid.
Thanks, that's already part of the plan. Regarding ad spots, then thats what Games Advertising Online is for. GAO have game owners as publishers and advertisers and it works on a CPC basis which in turn becomes very expensive very fast because banners are clicked all the time and it's very hard to segment without too much text in a banner ad. I'd rather try to find some sort of CPA service. Does anyone know any good possibilities for CPA banner services or perhaps any related sites with nice traffic and monthly cost (4-5$ max) banner spots (primarily 468x60)? Am I dreaming here?
It's played in a browser, so there is no off the shelve product to give away. Regarding press release service, are there any cheap and effective services out there?
I am very interested in this thread. I am commisioning a MMORPG that is ready in 6 months. Any advice for marketing this will come in helpful.
All I can provide is a link to a promotional site under development (but live in it's basic form): webmasters.webgamefavorites.com (see the public version on webgamefavorites.com)