Exposure is everything, and why is everybody so shallow?
It’s rather interesting how marketing plays out. The means to which normal people find your game seems to be one of the most vital aspects of doing well. One must analyze not just how to get onto the golden street, but also how to wow a person into picking your game up.
Recently we’ve been having a bit of grief on how one would side step the conventional mechanism, such as the App Store’s top 100 lists. It has been said all over that the key to success is to get on that list. While it is probably the case that many Apps are in fact crap, cheaply produced and cheaply put together, the reality is that all those add up. When it comes down to it, every spot out there is a spot one must compete with, and how does one really know what to do to get ahead?
Well, the algorithm of the App Store isn’t published, and while it is obvious there are a few variables that are going into play concerning “popularity”, it looks as though gaming the system has been nailing itself shut. The reality anymore is that one must do some honest marketing and highly polished presentation to attract the sales.
Some players already have it made, though, thanks to their name branding. Other players, particularly Indies who can’t afford to get into the technological warfare game, have no name branding to go by nor for that matter high polish and, in that case, it is vital that we use every means possible to increase exposure to our target audience.
So where does the target audience hang out at? Through what places would they be moved to take a look at our stuff without it costing us an arm and a leg? Truly, the amount of money slapped on advertising needs to really make up in end sales. Although not everything will require money to advertise with, there are a few key positions that will mean everything. The target audience has to be told, somehow.
Without survey and market data available to show the alternate means to which potential buyers would see our game, we really are almost blind and in the dark. The only potential to come through is to make an educated guess.
The guess work, though, shouldn’t need be too conservative, since there really should be a bit of overlap, but the guess work needs to be based on a few statistical factors, such as unique visits and click through rate. Based on those numbers, coupled with price tag, an idea can be built up as to just how potentially valuable the various advertising routes are.
Probably more difficult to guessimate though is the few other routes that don’t come with a price tag or featured position, such as online forums, Twitter, YouTube videos, etc. While there will be views, followers, discussions, etc. it is hard to know just will work, but in those cases it only takes a few hours of work to create a large number of online bases to provide exposure.
But of course, the most important aspect is, if anything, that a game has the points nailed down that make it stand out. Particularly, gamers are horribly shallow, and everything revolves around first looks and appearances. While the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” has a lot of truth to it, the reality is that the cover, the presentation, and the polish is absolutely critical to nailing a sale.
Other forms of marketing, such as annoying everybody who walks by you on the street, is also valid, but is notoriously akin to shaddy marketing that helps create backlash effects that may make exposure inadvertingly be counter productive. Of course, even negative PR is good for marketing, it shouldn’t necessarily be a focus, especially for Indie developers.
Other mechanisms also exist, such as banding together of Indie artists under a name branding, such as App Treasures is trying to accomplish, but even then the problem exists with consumer image. While App Treasures makes every attempt to keep their titles top notch, there are plenty of games lacking polish that are well worth the buy, but of course probably wouldn’t make it far in an approval process for that branding. Other branding that is more open ended and larger in inclusion would be better, but with such a shallow market that may make things worse.
Either rate, you gotta stand out to get the sales. Do your business homework or fail, end of story.
Best of luck.
