Marketing Your Game

Marketing your app involves exposing your product to the greatest number of people. If you’ve created a decent game, then people will buy it if they get the chance to see it. The first issue is how to make your app stand out. Unlike in the App Store for iPads and iPhones, Android programs can be downloaded from any web site, not just the official Google Market. This means developers with web sites of their own have a much easier time selling their products, because they aren’t confused with the plethora of similar apps in the Market. Users can come directly to their site and see videos, graphics, and explanations of programs that aren’t possible in the short description displayed at the Android Market.

Take advantage of this fact by creating your own web site and funneling potential buyers to it. Making a Facebook page or Twitter account can also generate increased attention. Instead of pointing readers to your page on the Android App Market, send them to a page on your own web site where there is less confusion.

If you’ve done online marketing, you know how useful a mailing list can be. On your site, offer visitors the opportunity to sign up for updates about yours apps and free extras. This way, you can continue to engage them and convince them to buy your offerings even if they don’t purchase immediately. Check out the site AWeber (www.aweber.com/), which offers a fantastic mailing system you can use to distribute newsletters to your users. It charges per month, but many marketers find that the customers gained from the newsletter more than cover the cost.

Finally, approach the issue of marketing by putting your company or game into more traditional or trusted media. Ask magazines that focus on technology to review it, or send information about it to online news sources. When you do this, make sure your game offers something very unique. Maybe the input controls are totally innovative, or the game takes place inside a zero-gravity chamber. Make the app newsworthy. This can also be done by your company as a whole. If, for example, the art in all your games comes from a famous painter, that’s definitely be a unique story for a site to talk about.

All these techniques go back to a basic funnel approach used in advertising. It’s illustrated in a variety of beginning marketing and public relations books, but it also needs to be included here. The more users you can engage and the longer you engage them, the more sales you make. Figure 10-7 shows how this works.

Figure 10-7. Funneling your visitors into purchasers

That is it for marketing tips. With some trial and error, you’ll find the ways that work best for you. I have found that success in the App Market is rarely achieved on your first or even second game. You must stick with it and build anticipation and excitement about your offerings before striking gold.