What promotions have worked best?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Rainier, Sep 18, 2012.

  1. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    From what you've seen here at Touch Arcade and elsewhere, what promotions have worked best in your opinion?

    The two primary promotions I've seen are 1) iTunes gift card giveaways and 2) promo codes. Are there others that have gotten your attention or would definitely grab your attention?

    What do you think of hardware giveaways like an iPod Touch or a Kindle E-Reader? Would you participate in those?

    And lastly, would such promotions be even cost-effective, vs. say, doing an ad campaign or hiring a PR marketing team?
     
  2. oily_chi

    oily_chi Well-Known Member

    Sep 18, 2012
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    game dev
    I think hardware giveaways feel suspicious: How many times have we been offered to click something, or answer a question for a new "ipad"?

    Has anyone ever tried giving away concept art or paper design docs?
    That seems like something fun and exclusive to get.
     
  3. obscenemedia.com

    obscenemedia.com Active Member

    I'm going to be doing a promo via Facebook for a new iPad in the very near future. Feel free to keep in touch and I will bring you in on the process and outcome.
     
  4. windrider07

    windrider07 Well-Known Member

    May 8, 2012
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    If it involves getting free stuff, it will get anybody's attention. The thing bout free gadgets is that everyone knows if you are offered a survey, it's crap but if it's on facebook and the person doing the contest has an official website and has rules and stuff then hey it won't hurt to participate. Things that don't require to answer questions or make you put a lot of effort into it. As for giving away concept art and info about a game, it depends on the game. If Rovio did a contest to promote a new game using concept art, I wouldn't be interested....concept art bores me. Cool contests + free stuff = will get most people's attention.
     
  5. Eoghann

    Eoghann Well-Known Member

    May 29, 2012
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    IT Guy/Graphic Designer/Gamer
    New York
    I ignore and avoid the ones with a more narrow chance of winning. When it's a single item, usually I'm late for it; as some devs from other countries post while I'm asleep. So the prize has been taken way before I get a chance to post.

    I tend to go for the promo code. Or a nice and fun challenge to earn that code.

    Today for instance, Infinite Warrior devs have a "Design Your Own Shield" contest. And the selections get their design included in the game as well as a promo code. I think that's a pretty welcome challenge and a sweet deal if you ask me.
     
  6. Braceface

    Braceface New Member

    Sep 17, 2012
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    As a consumer I would definitely be interested in free stuff, but of course you would have to be credible. Going to a FB fanpage and seeing nothing there, no profile pics, nothing in information and no website, would totally turn me off.

    I like the idea of getting concept art, if devs personalized the artwork before sending it to me, I would be a happy cubicle worker.
     
  7. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    Good suggestions everyone, thank you.

    @oily_chi: I share the same suspicion. Now that I'm on the other side, I still find that I don't need all those nosy questions. I just want to give people the incentive to either download the app or at least get some likes on FB so their friends can know about it.

    @obscenemedia: thanks very much for sharing the information you find. I'll be very interested to see what you find out.

    @windrider07: yeah, I'm not into the surveys either, especially from websites that look hastily put together. I'll be sure to keep the promotion simple; it's in my best interest to get participation rates up, and the simpler it is, the more responses I should get.

    @Eoghann: I never considered the aspect of the other devs being from other countries before. I like the challenge idea. My game is a word game, so thanks to you I'll probably ask entrants to give word suggestions to play.

    @Braceface: I agree, credibility is a big part of all this. I hired a professional marketing company to help out with the FB and Twitter accounts, and got a good web designer for the web page. Concept art would be cool had my game been more graphically inclined.
     
  8. blot-blaqksheep

    blot-blaqksheep Active Member

    Sep 19, 2012
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    Programmer
    Buffalo NY
    Our game Deadstorm (iOS only) has been out for less than 2 weeks and we have had a great influx of business come from Twitter and Facebook. No real advertising $ has been spent.

    Our Facebook page and Twitter page for Deadstorm picked up a lot of traffic on their own.

    One thing that did help was to get info of some local disk jockey's and find out their Twitter accounts. I asked for an RT and they did.

    Our game is a zombie game so I also got RTs or Facebook Likes by leveraging the Zombie craze. We got Halloween around the corner, new season of The Walking Dead and all these zombie walks so all that is giving us a lot of momentum for the time being... After all that then who knows lol.

    We are trying to be as helpful with indie game devs as we can and on Twitter joined the #IDRTG (Indie Developer ReTweet Group) and a lot of people will follow you if you follow them in that group...

    I just had decent 11x17" posters for our game made and we will be venturing to all the local game shops like Game Stop and whatnot to see if we can post posters there. It will have a bit.ly short URL and QR code on there for quick downloads on the fly from people checking it out.

    We will also be riding the Halloween craze and will post the posters around the Halloween and costume stores and Haunted houses wherever they are.

    Lastly, we will be doing contests (have to be a Facebook fan) and the winner will get signed posters, merch and ,maybe iTunes gift cards.

    All this has worked out really well so far. Good reviews of your game help as well. Lol.
     
  9. blot-blaqksheep

    blot-blaqksheep Active Member

    Sep 19, 2012
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    Programmer
    Buffalo NY
    Quick update...

    I did those low budget 10,000 impressions for a couple gaming sites using BuySellAds.com and have been getting some success from a couple sites more than others... I'll make my money back from the advertising using the one site alone...
    The others are probably a wash and I am not getting the clicks. Next month I will keep the one site and drop the others and maybe try one new one.

    On the plus side, it looks like our game is being pirated at a rate of 3-4 pirated copies to 1 sale! So happy. ;(
     
  10. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    That's the first time I've heard of advertising having a positive payoff. Most of the stories I hear are about how the cost/benefit has been way too low.

    RE: pirating, how can you tell the amount that's been pirated? (You just check actual sales vs downloads?)

    And I'm wondering if an ad-supported/IAP-supported free version would be any better from a net revenue standpoint?
     
  11. blot-blaqksheep

    blot-blaqksheep Active Member

    Sep 19, 2012
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    Programmer
    Buffalo NY
    Let me rephrase about ads. 1 advertiser will pay off if sales and click through ratios maintain the trend they are on track for now. The other 2 ads will maybe break even. Maybe!

    I feel that we have a strong image for Deadstorm and the ad uses that so I think that plus it being vague and mysterious helps people at least click on it. Hopefully the game then sells itself.

    I am comparing how many sales we have achieved vs number of Game Center Leaderboard accounts. It is over 3 to 1. Meaning that every single person who gets our game on their iPhone and iPod touch either then shares their device and let's two other peoe play the game after they first log in with their unique Game Center account. Now that may account for a couple people, I am not sold that everyone does this. That is a little far fetched but is what Apple is claiming. I have not used Game Center until we made our game and i definitely don't go sharing my iPhone with people or even family and have them play under their own Game Center account.

    Seems fishy but I don't have all the facts.
     
  12. oily_chi

    oily_chi Well-Known Member

    Sep 18, 2012
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    game dev
    @bloq-blaqksheep: keep the info coming :) really curious about the site that's paying off for you.
    Loved your marketing efforts, sounds like you all are on the right track.
    Good luck!
     
  13. alanappromoter

    alanappromoter Well-Known Member

    Sep 25, 2012
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    app promoter
    London
    I believe it really depends on the type of app you're looking to promote as to how well certain campaigns work.

    A good combo approach to getting some exposure is doing a promo code give-away via the media. It's good for reviewers and their publications if they've got something to give their readers so both you and the publication benefit:)

    Getting your press release distributed well is pretty essential and can tie in with the above as well...
     
  14. blot-blaqksheep

    blot-blaqksheep Active Member

    Sep 19, 2012
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    Programmer
    Buffalo NY
    Not sure how beneficial these press releases are. I had an SEO business that I dabbled in a couple years ago and that just seemed like a way to quickly build up your link backs and also as a way for companies to sell you publications of press releases to sites that could care less about anything other than money.

    Can anyone share what media outlets worked for them? Who does articles on mobile games and apps easily without having us need to jump through too many hoops?
     
  15. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    I had press releases sent out through prmac, gamespress, and mobileprwire. Most of the responses I got were automated that asked for payments for reviews, some were "I'll get back to you" and a few genuine ones were real gems, with real people on the other side that took a real interest in our game. Sending out a press release gave me about a handful of contacts (about 5) that said they would like a promo code once the game gets approved, and one of those even welcomed an interview.

    So of the 100 or so sites it got sent to, it resulted in 5 promising leads, 2 of which showed high interest. That's probably how it works out in the real world too in terms of conversion rates.
     
  16. obscenemedia.com

    obscenemedia.com Active Member

    Has anyone used PRWeb.com? I've written press releases before but not for anything important to me. I don't know if I could do my PR justice and thought about using them to write mine.
     
  17. blot-blaqksheep

    blot-blaqksheep Active Member

    Sep 19, 2012
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    Programmer
    Buffalo NY
    PRWeb.com I believe was one of those people who was in that whole Press Release pay for it to get published by many boat... Give it a try and let us know how it goes if they have something for free.

    I hear you about the PR stuff getting only a couple leads out of it. Better than none but still....
     
  18. blot-blaqksheep

    blot-blaqksheep Active Member

    Sep 19, 2012
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    Programmer
    Buffalo NY
    BTW. I just wanted to fill you guys in on something I found out early on. There is a way for you to recoup SOME of of Apple's 30% fee.

    If you sign up with LinkShare then you can get an Apple iTunes, App and iBooks, etc affiliate program. They give you 5% back on all sales and I believe they put a 3 day cookie on the device where you get 5% of all purchases.

    They have a link builder tool where you can find your app, it generates a link and then you can work it when advertising your game online...

    It definitely helps. You don't make a fortune but it does recoup some cost for us game devs where every penny we make matters. Hope this helps.
     
  19. TapGenMan

    TapGenMan Member

    Oct 18, 2011
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    #19 TapGenMan, Sep 28, 2012
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2012
    If you are looking for free to enter contests to win gift cards or plain cash (via paypal), they are offered in FreeAppWin

    For promotion of apps on the other hand there is a new booking system in FreeAppWin for devs to try that allows you to have your app sponsor a contest here
     
  20. windrider07

    windrider07 Well-Known Member

    May 8, 2012
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    The problem with PR agencies such as PRWeb is that PRWeb is a general PR distribution service. It doesn't target any specific topic. Most iOS review sites will post up relevant iOS news from PR agencies that cater towards iOS games. This is why I recommend using appromoter or PRMac, mostly the latter one. Use a PR agency that caters and specializes in your niche. Maximize your resources in a way that best benefits your products.
     

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