You may be having a group of skilled developers working on your brand. However, advertising game apps require a whole other skill set, increasing the need for mobile gaming marketing agencies.
By creating innovative marketing campaigns for your app, game marketing agencies can turn your business goals into reality, without you having to lift a finger.
Top Mobile Game Marketing Agencies
Mobile gaming is growing into a multi-billion dollar industry, making game marketing essential to boost visibility and brand presence in the sea full of gaming apps. Several agencies now widely specialize in game advertising, offering valuable services to mobile game developers.
The video game market revenue is expected to surpass 125 billion U.S. dollars by 2027. So, in this highly competitive market of gaming, it is crucial to have an effective advertising campaign in place that will secure the longevity and lifespan of your mobile game.
But how to choose the best gaming agency for your brand? We have put together a list of the top game marketing agencies to narrow down your choices and to make sure you select your agency from a pool of top level platforms.
This article also lays out the pros of partnering with gaming marketing companies, what they do, and what to look for when choosing one.
So, let’s dive in.
What is mobile game marketing?
Mobile game marketing describes the process of creating brand presence and promoting mobile games by implementing well-researched and tested strategies. The goal of mobile game advertising is to make your product more noticeable to target audiences, and to subsequently get more users to download your mobile app.
Developing a mobile game app is a complex task of its own. But mobile game marketing requires specialized knowledge in its field. However, the concept still includes common marketing practices that are used in general advertising campaigns as well.
You want to master the technique of not only marketing a random mobile app, but a game app that targets a very specific audience group, which calls for precise market research and marketing tactics.
Featured Mobile Game Marketing Agencies
To understand the complex landscape of marketing as a whole as well as where to start, let us dissect the common marketing practices that are found in game marketing too:
- App store optimization (ASO): optimizing your profile in the app store to increase organic downloads and installs for your mobile game application
- Influencer marketing: collaborating with social media influencers with the same niche to widen your brand presence and reach
- Paid advertising: using paid advertising campaigns to market your game on a wider scale
- Content marketing: exploring various content formats that will communicate your gaming services and features accurately
Marketing your mobile game app is a long process that starts even before launching your app, when you start building your marketing strategy. It entails engaging your existing as well as potential customers and target audiences, so that they engage with your product beforehand, starting the consumer journey earlier on.
Creating an effective marketing plan for game apps requires detailed research and strategies that are tailored to the game industry specifically. The gaming market is a complex realm of its own, with dedicated and loyal customers that know their genres and products.
So, it is good to understand this niche market when building a strong game marketing campaign with top agencies to maximize reach and acquisition.
Today’s gaming market
The growing number of games that are appearing in the market evokes a continuous competition amongst app marketers. And not only are several mobile gaming apps being released on a regular basis, but the apps are becoming more innovative and advanced over time.
Worldwide mobile game spend per country (bn)
Source: GetSocial
Mobile games currently make up 50% of the total market volume, with the most downloaded games being Subway Surfers, Garena Free Fire, Stubble Guys, Ludo King, and Rablox. And players made the most purchases for Honor of Kings, PUBG Mobile, and Genshin Impact.
In terms of financial stats, the initial download total of games increased by 8% to 90 billion. However, users are becoming more mindful of their purchases, which means mobile games apps should invest in advanced technology to make their services more appealing to their audiences.
Despite casual and simple game apps being the preferred choice in the app store, mobile games like Genshin Impact have received $25.5 billion from downloads, with casino game apps following as a major genre too. So, sufficient app funding and effective marketing campaigns are absolutely crucial to reach further heights with a sophisticated game app.
To develop a truly innovative game app that will turn heads in the game market, developers and marketers should keep track of current modern trends in the mobile gaming industry. With the rise of 5G networks, gaming experiences have become even more complex.
Featured Mobile Game Marketing Agencies
For example, cloud gaming is turning into a more mainstream phenomenon in upcoming years. Players gaining access to high-quality games on the go is making games more powerful and affordable at the same time.
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have grown in popularity in recent years too, with immersive gaming experiences that combine real life and virtual worlds seamlessly becoming the ultimate trend soon.
While sophisticated games like Genshin Impact and Pokemon Go are grabbing the attention of many passionate mobile gamers, hyper-casual games are still owning the gaming market, as they are quick, simpler, and therefore addictive as well. So, while game apps with complex functionalities are great to compete with, do not forget about the classics, like Candy Crush Saga.
Understanding temporary gaming market trends are crucial to know what kind of game marketing campaign will most likely lead to successful results for your app. And with the constant-evolving gaming space, you want to adapt your marketing tactics to fit the current needs and demands of your target audiences.
Let us now look into game marketing agencies, and how they can help you create the ultimate marketing strategy for optimal results, and high download and engagement rates.
What do gaming marketing agencies do?
Hiring a gaming marketing agency will not only help you ace your game marketing efforts, but also allow you to stay focused on developing the next big game app. Not every team can be experts in the entire process of building a game app. So, to maximize success, working with a mobile gaming agency can really be a great help.
Let’s face it – even if you develop the most sophisticated, innovative game in the world, if nobody knows about it, it won’t be a success. Hence, advertising your mobile game app will draw more attention to your product and also create a brand presence in the market that may even go beyond your targeted audiences.
And while top gaming marketing agencies are not free, it can be worth investing in experts that can ensure a wider reach and, ultimately, a huge boost in the number of downloads.
So, what do gaming marketing agencies do for mobile apps?
Market research
If you are developing a game app from scratch, your market research will need to be a brand new one too. In this case, game agencies will have a good understanding of the target audiences game genres usually have.
Agencies will also ‘calculate’ your mobile app by estimating how many installs a typical app like yours usually gets, and how many downloads you want to receive, including the cost of each install (CPI) in order to understand your advertising budget.
KPIs are also gathered to predict the efficiency of your game app once your marketing campaign begins. Typical indicators involve the following:
Mobile game marketing KPIs
Content creation
Producing valuable content that is focused on your target audience is crucial to attract them to your mobile gaming app. Therefore, gaming marketing agencies help developers with creating consistent and accurate content that will drive profitable action from users.
Mobile gaming agencies will also ensure the content is shared in effective ways as part of your campaign, which will usually include email, social media, influencer and video marketing.
Optimization
In order to increase user acquisition, gaming agencies will dedicate a great portion of the marketing campaign to optimizing app store profiles as well as other advertising formats that will enhance user experience.
In-app incentives will also be added to boost user retention and re-engagement, as they keep grabbing the attention of active users, making it highly likely for them to be interested in the offers that are presented to them.
Data analytics
Last but not least, data analytics is a huge component when it comes to really any marketing campaign, hence, top gaming agencies offer advanced analytic tools to monitor and track the performance of your campaign.
Data analytics will provide important insights in efforts to further develop, optimize and grow your game app. So, calculating and tracking key metrics, such as CPIs, sessions, ranking positions on the app store and traffic as well as performance indicators, such as daily active users and retention rates can significantly improve your campaign performance overall.
How do you market your mobile game app?
When you build a top level mobile game app, no matter how unique and complex it may be, the way you market your product is the thing that will make or break your mobile game. So, advertising it correctly is crucial.
However, before looking for a mobile game agency, it is good to understand how exactly to promote and market your mobile game.
Once you have a thorough understanding of the usual process, you will know how to pick and choose your agency that offers the right level of expertise and skill set to help you create the ultimate and most effective marketing campaign for your unique product.
There are several ways to market your mobile game. And while many of these methods can bring results eventually, it takes time, dedication and a solid know-how to really make the most of these strategies.
You start by doing your market research and identify the target audience for your gaming app. The next step will then be to think of ways in which potential customers can find and download your product.
This is where you start to create the ultimate mobile game marketing campaign.
Marketing campaigns should be tailored to your unique business objectives as well as to the special features and services your app has to offer. The strategies that your campaign implements can range anywhere from pre-launch monetization plans to setting up Google app campaigns or referral programs for acquired users.
So, let us take a look at the best practices you can use when promoting your own gaming app.
What are the best game marketing strategies?
To make the most out of your game marketing campaign it is best to focus on getting to the top of the search results on app stores as quickly as possible. Therefore, allocating your budget accordingly is key to maximize your downloads efficiently in a shorter amount of time to get the cashflow rolling.
Before getting all crafty with ideas for your mobile game marketing campaign, however, be sure to understand your strengths and weaknesses in order to manage time and costs wisely, and ensure the success of your campaign.
Test your game app
Once the beta version of your gaming app is ready, make sure to test the game, allowing only certain types of users to participate. These can include dedicated testers or bloggers, for example. You can consider their reviews and feedback when making any edits or tweaks so that the game is fully ready to enter the market.
It is a good idea to do a soft launch first, and show the game to a smaller audience before scaling it up and widening your reach. This way you can correct any errors within the game as well as improve the overall marketing strategy, say if your mobile app did not get enough engagement from the smaller market.
Remember, it is always worth testing your mobile game app whilst under development to fix software and hardware failures, and just before the final launch to run any bug fixes. And of course, keeping track of audience activity post-launch is a must too, comparing key metrics with market averages.
Optimize your app
Even if your main marketing strategy involves paid promotions, it is important to give as much attention to optimizing and marketing your mobile game organically too. The main factor that determines the growth of your app is the number of downloads and new users.
You should definitely look to integrate app store optimization (ASO) practices into your marketing campaign, as it will allow you to rank higher than your competitors. Moreover, this will reduce your user acquisition costs significantly too.
Market your game through videos
Promotional videos are a great way to reach your gaming audience, because you allow your potential customers to visualize the game better, especially if it is a casual game. Mobile games evoke emotions in players as it grabs their attention, fascinating their minds instantly and leaving them an even greater urge to start a new game promptly.
There are different formats of video promotions:
- Video ads: they present the gameplay, telling your game’s story in a short amount of time, ideally not longer than 30 seconds. The player in the video makes an obvious mistake and loses, which will encourage users to want to download the game themselves and ‘play it better’.
- Playable ads: a highly effective online ad format, giving users the opportunity to ‘play before they buy’, which will reduce bounce rates and also attract more potential customers, especially when the ad is catchy and highly interactive.
- Rewarded video ads: this gamified type of ad format involves users receiving game rewards when they view your ad. So, a user could get in-game currency for watching a video ad for the first time. A motive behind an ad is always a great way to attract more users.
Partner with a gaming marketing agency
Knowing the best practices and strategies when looking to market your mobile gaming app is crucial. This way you will not only become an expert yourself, but you can reach out to skilled game marketers, being able to identify which agency would be most suitable for you.
As the mobile gaming industry booms, so must your strategies and efforts in getting to the top of the market.
Enter mobile game marketing agencies.
What are the top game marketing agencies?
Whether you want to invest in a freemium game or bid on ad space in the gaming field, working with a game marketing agency can help you maximize your investment and increase ROI on mobile significantly.
Some agencies specialize in video-gaming, which is fitting for most game apps that focus on this kind of niche. And other ones are more general-purpose agencies and platforms that also service gaming clients as well as those in other industries too.
With the gaming industry turning into a multi-billion dollar market, your mobile game app could easily get lost in the crowd. Therefore, gaming marketing agencies can offer invaluable services that will not make your efforts, and hours of development go to waste.
