Getting my Games known, Marketing Suggestions

Hello Guys

My last game which I published on iOS and Android was not really a success based on downloads but on Feedback from the Players / Developers, resulted in nice boost of Motivation.

Now are are currently at work for another 3 Projects which will be released within the next couple of Months. Right now I wanna get things right with Marketing, no monetization...getting my App to know by more people.

There are a couple of Websites which offer for a certain fee, to send Reviews to over dozens of Websites to get your App known. Now based on the Forum "Made with Unity" I can see that some Developers here send a Application to certain websites to get a Review with a Score.

I am on Twitter and Facebook but first people have to know you and your Work or App to get known more..What are my Options?

There are sites like "iosappspy", "appfillip","reviewtheapps","148apps", which apparently do a "good" job. How trusted are those sites? Do you guys use it? I mean the Internet is filled with those and it is hard to actually see which is a good place and which is not.

How do you guys get your App known? Care to share? I know that some Game Apps have a succes even without any marketing but some Game Apps need however Marketing.

We are just a small Team of 2 People and our Ressources are limited as we do Game Development currently as a "Hobby" next to our Fulltime Job. So any help in that case would be really cool.

Cheers
NC

 

http://www.pixelprospector.com/the-big-list-of-indie-game-marketing/

 

Get on lots of social media websites.

 

Hey guys

Cheers for the Feedback so far. I know to get on lots of social media websites. I even tried to get in touch with a "famous" youtuber to cover my game, but never got an answer.

What is with those sites that submit reviews for ya? Does anyone have experience with such sites, are those worth it ? Like I said it is very hard for just 2 people to promote a game, considering that I can understand and speak and also write english a lot better then my friend, most of the work will be appointed to myself for marketing.

Cheers
NeverCon

 

It's crazy, because me and my friend are in the exact same place right now with our development, and we are just looking at different places we go online to get the word out. It's just hard with a mobile game, because it doesn't feel like there are a lot of Youtubers who do mobile games, and I definitely don't feel like theres any Twitch streamers who do mobile games. So we're in the same boat as you really

Good luck with yours. I'll be watching to see what people suggest and what works for you, because we might be following a similar strategy.

 

Do you go into giant crowd of people, each person screaming "HEY, EVERYBODY! LOOK AT ME!" at the top of their collective lungs? Or do you try to be different, and keep a low profile... which doesn't help your cause, but it seems cooler, at least in theory.

What do I think, you ask?

It's a conundrum. You're asking how to go swimming without getting wet... and even if there were such an answer to such a question, I doubt the wizard who possesses such magick would share it so freely.

 

I guess you got positive feedback, so try to build up your "audience" by making your next game similar (if its different gameplay have a similar art style, if its the same gameplay give it a different theme). So that a person that liked one game might also like the next game (and you got cross promotion going on between your games).

 

Yep it is not that easy. I am still trying to find a way which works the best before we release our next game within the next 2-3 Months.

I understand your POV. But the Problem I see is that most work kinda "against" each other rather then "with" each other, happens all over the world. I don't see an issue with actually pointing someone in the right direction without giving away to much of their success marketing strategies.

I mean I could go ahead and spend like 250 dollars on a site that sends reviews over to 30 or 50 reviewer sites, and maybe a lot of developers are doing it and it works for them, but they don't wanna share it with anyone.
Or I would not get the wanted result and if I post it here, people would probably go ahead and say "Told you it's not a good idea, they rip ya off!".

What is weird is that no one yet has responded about those "reviewer" sites at all. So either no one is using it or has not used it, or everyone does...there are not that many options.

I am doing that on my Twitter Account. Our next game won't be similiar to the one I published, Art Style is also different as my Friend joined me to make the graphical part of all Games. Cross-Promoting will definitely happen.

NC

 

This is not going to be mobile specific but anyway here are some tricks of the trade...

Get in the habit of testing. You can ask online for guidance and do research on various services but it will only take you so far.

These services you mentioned... narrow it down to 3 to 4 (based on some quick research, your "gut instinct", etc).

Thoroughly dig into the remaining 3. Contact them and request a sample run for a smaller spend. Like instead of $50... tell them you are comparison shopping because there are so many different options. Because of this $20 has been allocated for each one to do a test run.

The places that won't work with you well that eliminates them easily enough. The ones that do... for $40 you can test 2 of them. If you like the results you may consider purchasing the full service.

There are loads of advertising services in general. Find those that give you x $ worth of free credit and try them out. For example Google, Yahoo and Bing used to commonly have such offers of $100 worth of free advertising credits when you join. You could join spend like $10 of your own money and $100 of theirs. That is a smart investment.

So basically look for opportunities and get in the habit of testing. Test, keep the best and ditch the rest.

 

And I forgot to say after you do all of that see if you share the best things you found on a public forum. There is a reason why folks don't share the very best things they know and have found. Because maybe they tested 14 things to find 1 golden thing on the 15th test. Just an example.

After spending so much time and money testing things is there any wonder people don't say hey everyone here are great ways to market your games. I've spent the last year testing out many things. Spent lots of my time and over $1,500 of my own money just testing a lot of different things but I am going to share the best few I've found right here publicly so hundreds of thousands of people can all spam these very best methods and reduce the effectiveness of my own campaigns?

It's not about them being greedy or selfish it is that they put in all of the time and money to find out. Paid their dues so to speak.

 

Make your own website.

F*** social media platforms there all S*** anyway. I mean sure use that to reach out to more users, but don't make it the only way. Get your own site going. Build it up with your stuff, stick in a forum, ..its the grass roots way.

 

There are several threads about this - did you perform a search before posting? Your situation is not unique.

I've said it before - (my personal opinion) - paying someone to review your game - is like paying someone to tell you, your S***e dinner you pulled out of the microwave is good. Don't PAY for reviews. If your game is good - people will review it. If your game is ordinarily average - someone might review it and say it's average. But most likely nobody will review it - unless you pay - and you'll get a review saying the game is average.
Reviewers are getting payment from traffic coming to there site. If people come to there site looking for information about your game - they are getting money for that. And you are considering paying them more?

Create a press kit - and a demo build if you can (I don't know how) or soft launch - and a trailer - send it to 100 review sites that review mobile game - no - 200 sites. Small and large.
Do the same with youtubers - people always want totalbiscuit and others to review - but consider sending to smaller tubers. There are fewer who do mobile - but they are out there.
And don't pay for youtube reviews either. It's a scam - They already get paid via youtube ads.
If you have to pay - your game is probably average - and the reviewer - if creditable will say it is average. If not creditable - followers are not real people.

Put in the time to market - if you want your game to succeed. Screenshot saturday, trailer tuesday, wtf wednesday, feedback friday, - If you game is in front of people AND it is good (read great) - it will get around. People will start asking you to review your game instead of you having to ask them to review.

 

Also this is helpful and cool
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/ge...-i-am-helping-indie-devs.416845/#post-2727219

http://www.iappadapt.com/app-review-sites-170-sites-for-iphone-ipad-and-android-app-reviews/

 

Hey Guys,

Cheers for all the good Feedback I got after the past couple of hours. I will take some suggestions into account and will do research on those links and tips I got.

I do know and understand that it may took some people ages and found a big chunk of golden nuggets for marketing in which they are not willing to share how it works or how they are doing it, marketing wise. Put just maybe kinda pointing someone to some certain direction without giving away to much.

I also did some research on here but didnt really find the right thread about it, so I created one myself.

Will dive deeper into Marketing over the next couple of weeks, and hopefully I will find that golden marketing nugget too

Thanks Guys!
NC

 

Who is your game for?

 

For pretty much everyone. We will target a broad audience of people as there is no violence or sexual content.

 

Maybe try to narrow that down.

 

There's no such thing as a game for everyone because different groups of people have different expectations for the games they play.

 

With a Broad Audience I mean different age groups, from young to adults. Our game goal is to make our game's accessible, easy to understand and easy to play for everyone. In those days most people want simple, casual or easy to play games on their smartphones. Something in-between, during brakes, on the train,bus or maybe even on the Airplane or holidays. We have several Projects that cover different Gametypes, Gameplays, Themes,etc...So even if our next game targets a broad audience of age groups, it will be up to them to decide if they like it or not, if it meets their needs or not.

I play myself lot's of different games to suit my needs, depending on the situation and I haven't found a game yet that covers everything I want, so I have a great variety to choose from.

NC

 

When you say that your game is "for pretty much everyone" then you already failed at marketing.

Keywords: "segmentation", "targetting", "differentiation" and "positioning". You do that BEFORE you promote anything. Did you do it?