Mobile Game Marketing: Strategies That Work in 2024

The mobile game industry is an evolving beast. And, as with any other business, the key to success is marketing. According to Statista mobile gaming app revenue is expected to grow with a CAGR of 7.77%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$221.70bn by 2027.

In light of these figures, it shows how marketing your mobile game can be significant with a plethora of popular mobile games available.

There are so many different tactics you can use to promote your game and drive adoption. And that’s why it’s so important for mobile game developers to understand the ins and outs of mobile game marketing. Let’s take a look at some of the more crucial topics, ideas, and mobile game marketing strategies.

What is Mobile Game Marketing?

At its core, mobile game marketing is all about increasing awareness and adoption of your game app. It’s about getting your gaming app in front of as many people as possible and making sure those people understand why your game is worth downloading.

In some instances, marketing your mobile game can help you increase your revenue. However, this is often the case after your app’s been released and has an existing user base.

With that in mind, marketing one’s app is a long-term process. It’s something that you need to be constantly and consistently engaged with. And, because you’re marketing a digital product, you’ll need to think beyond the standard definition of marketing.

Mobile game marketing includes things like building a marketing strategy, creating a marketing plan, and finding new ways to get the word out. It’s also about engaging with your existing customers and community. You want to make sure that people are not only aware of your mobile game, but that they’re also engaged with it. You might be interested to learn about mobile game development process.

Why is Marketing Important for Mobile Games?

Marketing your game is important for a few key reasons. The first is that it’s an opportunity to get your gaming app in front of a wider audience. And, there are tons of people out there who haven’t heard of your game. There are also tons of people who might not understand the value of your mobile game ideas.

Marketing is one of the best ways to address both of these issues. Marketing is also a chance to get critical feedback on your game app. And, while some of the feedback you get might not be what you’re hoping for, it’s still incredibly important.

You need to understand the problems that your app’s customers are facing. You need to understand why people aren’t downloading or aren’t engaging with your app.

The Importance of User Acquisition for Mobile Games

User acquisition is an important part of any plays mobile game marketing campaign. User acquisition is the process of acquiring new users for your game app.

It’s typically done through various marketing channels. And, it’s important to understand that there are two different types of user acquisition: organic and paid.

• Organic User Acquisition- Organic user acquisition is all about growing your user base by using various in-app features. You can incentivize users to invite their friends, share their progress via social media platforms, etc. You can also incentivize users to sign up by offering discounts or in-game rewards.
• Paid User Acquisition- Paid user acquisition is essentially you paying other companies to bring new users to your mobile game. This could include things like paid advertisements, influencer marketing, etc.

Types of Mobile Game Marketing Campaigns

Mobile game Marketing often involve three types of campaigns to promote their app: push, pull, or paid. Let’s take a look at each one of these types of campaigns in more detail.

• Push Campaigns – A push campaign is all about pushing information out to your audience. Think about a TV commercial or an online advertisement. This type of campaign is typically best for a new product launch or when you’re trying to introduce a new brand or product line.
• Pull Campaigns – A pull campaign is focused on pulling people in and bringing them to you. This could be an app that includes a social-sharing feature that lets users invite their friends. Or, it could be an app that includes an incentive to sign up.
• Paid Campaigns – A paid campaign is one that you pay for. This could be anything from sponsored posts to ads for social media marketing.

Where You Can Run a Marketing Campaign for Free?

There are a few different ways that you can run a marketing campaign for free. Let’s take a look at a few of the more important ones below.

1. Content Marketing

You can create valuable content that’s focused on your target audience. You can share that content across your social media channels and website. You can also partner with influencers who have a large following and run a contest where users have to engage with the content to enter.

2. User Engagement

You can also try to increase user engagement across your games by adding in-app incentives. This can include leaderboards, social sharing, etc. You can also try to engage with your existing customers and see what their pain points are.

3. Partnering with Existing Campaigns

Finally, you can partner with other companies who are running a marketing campaign. You can offer to do equity for services or do a joint partnership to leverage their campaign and drive more users to your app.

Tips to Make the Most Out of your Game Marketing Campaign

There are a few key things to keep in mind when running a marketing campaign for your mobile game. These are important to remember whether you’re running a paid, push, or pull the campaign.

Let’s take a look at some of these tips in more detail below-

1. Have a Clear Goal

Before you even begin your mobile game marketing campaign, you need to have a clear goal in mind. What are you trying to accomplish? What problem are you trying to solve? What does success look like?

2. Don’t Overlook Other Platforms

While paid advertising is an important part of your game marketing campaign, you don’t want to overlook other platforms. You want to make sure that you’re leveraging every possible opportunity to get the word out about your app.

3. Be Consistent

You want to ensure that you’re engaging with your customers on a consistent basis. This means that you should be sending out regular emails to your mailing list. You should also be posting updates on your social media channels.

How do Mobile Games Advertise?

The mobile gaming industry continues to grow in popularity, with the number of monthly active users growing manifolds every year. With this level of user adoption, game developers are exploring new options for mobile game monetization and advertising techniques.

To remain competitive in the mobile gaming space, advertisers need to be strategic in their approach to advertising gaming apps on mobile devices. With so many new advertising options for mobile games emerging, it’s difficult to know which one is best for your brand or game.

10 Best Mobile Game Marketing Strategies

This section will explore 10 strategies for advertising your mobile game in 2022 and how an AR ad campaign could help you achieve your marketing goals.

1. Bring Life to Your Game with Augmented Reality Ads

AR ads superimpose digital objects and visuals on top of the real world. This effortless integration with real-world environments makes AR ads a great option for bringing the in-game experience to life. AR ads have the power to drive engagement and deliver a memorable experience for your players.

The seamless and natural way in which AR ads are displayed will help them feel less intrusive, increasing their appeal to users. For example, a brand could create an AR ad that lets users try on a VR headset and experience a game in a virtual world.

2. Optimize Organic Channels

Laying the foundation for growth is one of the most important mobile game marketing techniques. Even if the majority of techniques are intended to draw in and recruit new users, it won’t matter how many people find your mobile game if they don’t end up playing it.

Your need for app store optimization and even your website demands particular attention since they function as the deciding factors for potential customers.

Additionally, word-of-mouth growth is built on those digital touch points, so marketers should prioritize optimizing those free channels first.

3. Promote Your Game with Display Ads

If your game is already generating revenue and you’re looking to optimize your ad spending, display ads could be the solution for you. Display ads are images, videos, and other forms of media that are displayed on third-party websites or apps.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of display ads: contextual and rich media.

• Contextual ads are displayed based on the content of the page or app on which they are hosted. For example, a game that is about dinosaurs could be advertised on a webpage about dinosaurs.
• Rich media ads, on the other hand, show a more interactive ad experience. This could be a short video, gif, or slideshow. Some rich media ads also allow you to include a call-to-action button, giving you an additional opportunity to drive conversions.

4. Use Video Ads for Long-Term Branding

If your goal is to increase brand awareness, video ads could be a great option. This is especially true if you want to create a long-term impact with your playable ads.

While the number of video views and brand recall can vary depending on the type of video you create, advertisers can expect to pay on average $10 for 1,000 views. Video ads can help build awareness for your game before it launches, but also after it’s been released.

If you’re planning to create a video ad or come up with rewarded video ads, you’ll want to keep in mind that it’s best to focus on a single message. This will help you avoid confusing or overwhelming your audience with too much information.

5. Partner with a Mobile Gaming Platform

As the mobile gaming industry continues to grow, brands will find an increasing number of new ways to advertise their casual games. One option is to partner with a mobile gaming platform.

Mobile gaming platforms are websites or apps designed to help you publish with the help of mobile game publishers and promote your mobile game. Mobile game ads on a platform that hosts a variety of different games can help you reach new audiences.

The most popular mobile gaming platforms such as Google Play Store, Apple’s App Store, or the Amazon App store allow advertisers to create a variety of different campaigns on their app store pages for app store optimization.

6. Utilize Ad-Only Games for Testing New Audiences

If you’re unsure of which type of game your audience prefers, you might want to consider creating a free ad-only game. This type of game allows you to test different ad campaigns to learn which works best for your audience.

Ad-only games are games that are entirely driven by ads. They often use a combination of the most popular types of ads, such as in-app purchases, rewarded ads, and banner ads, to try and drive the most profit for the game developer.

Ad-only games are a great way to bring in revenue while you’re still testing what works best for your audience.

7. Try Out Sponsored Mobile Game Ads

Sponsored game ads are a relatively new type of ad that allows advertisers to make their ads look and feel like a game. Using this type of ad, you can take advantage of the user experience of your game and drive conversions without interrupting the gameplay.

To create a sponsored game ad, you’ll first need to decide which game you want to target. Next, choose which level of the game you want to advertise and build an ad for that level. Unfortunately, sponsored playable ads are only available on a few select mobile games, but this list is growing.

8. Leverage the Power of Freemium Games

Freemium games allow users the option to play your game for free, with certain features unlocked by making an in-app purchase. Freemium games are popular because they allow users to try the game before making a purchase.

The trick is to create a game that’s engaging enough for users to want to make a purchase. This can be challenging, but investing in advertising can help drive users to your game. Before you decide whether to invest in a freemium or premium game, you’ll want to thoroughly examine your marketing goals.

9. Bid on Ad Space During Live Events and Tournaments

If you want to reach an audience that’s actively engaged in gaming, you may want to consider advertising during live events and tournaments. For instance, you can run an ad during an esports tournament, a gaming convention, or even a live-streamed game session.

These events are especially relevant for games that have a multiplayer feature since you can target large groups of players. Advertising during live events can be costly depending on the event, but it can pay off by reaching a highly engaged audience.

10. Calculate and Refine

In order to develop and refine your strategy over time, tracking your progress is a crucial component of mobile game marketing strategies. Set measurements that are in line with your distinct objectives, and monitor those key performance indicators frequently throughout the procedure.

Return on advertising spend (ROAS): ROAS cuts through the clutter to show how successful your marketing initiatives are in generating money. It is arguably the most crucial measure for current mobile game marketers to comprehend. In contrast to cost-per-install, which may not always take user quality into account, ROAS is often a better measure of the success of mobile marketing ads or watching video ads.

Ready to Promote Mobile Game!

With the increasing number of mobile games being released every day, it’s not enough just to create a great game – you have to be able to get it in front of the right people. That’s where marketing and promotion come in.

One of the best ways to promote your mobile game is through in-game ads. You can work with a partner to place ads in other popular mobile games, putting your game in front of a wider audience.

You can also use social media to reach out to potential players. There are a number of strategies you can use to boost engagement, from running contests to offering discounts to loyal players.

Finally, don’t forget the power of word-of-mouth marketing. If your game is good, people will talk about it and recommend it to their friends. Encourage players to leave reviews and spread the word about your game.

Promoting your mobile game can be a challenge, but with the right strategies or by making it highly interactive, you can get your game in front of the right people. Get ready to make your game a hit.

Conclusion

The mobile gaming industry is massive and growing every day, making it a great place to advertise your game. There are so many different tactics you can use to promote your game app and drive adoption. And that’s why it’s so important for developers to understand the ins and outs of mobile game marketing.

The key to success is to be strategic in your approach, targeting the right audiences and using the most appropriate ad types and channels.

You can bring life to your game with Augmented Reality Ads, promote your game with interstitial ads, and increase brand awareness with video ads.

Partner with a mobile game platform, invest in a freemium game, or bid on ad space during live events and tournaments. By using these strategies for advertising your mobile game in 2024, you can maximize your investment and get a return on your investment (ROI) on mobile.

FAQs

1. What are Game Marketing Methods?

Some commonly used game marketing methods are-

• Social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and others for game promotion.
• Online publication of news regarding application launch.
• Promoting video game applications on specialized gaming portals.
• Gaming application video marketing on video-sharing websites.

2. Where can I Market my Mobile Games?

Here are some Ad Networks for mobile game marketing

• Google Ads
• Unity Ads
• Facebook
• Apple Search Ads

3. How to Market a Mobile Game?

Carefully develop, implement, and assess a successful marketing plan after defining your target market, business objectives, and USPs. Here are the basics of an effective marketing strategy.

• Create a presence online
• Reviews and forums
• Social Media
• App store optimization

4. Is In-Game Advertising Effective?

In-game advertising is proven to be an effective strategy to reach your target audience in new and creative ways. It enables advertisers to reach their audiences where they are most active and engaged owing to its interactive capabilities and flexibility.