【Game Promotion】See how the major game manufacturers do it! Marketing promotion strategy

Let’s take a look back at the last month of 2014. Every second counts. December 2014 was a bloody battle. In November, the old PC game company Snail Games ’ “Tai Chi Panda”, Changyou’s “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils 3D”, Youzu’s “King of the World”, and Youzu’s “League of Goddesses” were endorsed by Lin Chiling. The competition is even more intense in December. Let’s see how other major PC game manufacturers compete in the final round.

Perfect World was an early player in the mobile gaming industry and had two successful games. However, the mobile gaming industry had not exploded again in 2014, so it launched its final offensive at the end of 2014.

On December 4, Dark Dawn will be launched on iOS, with Fan Bingbing as the spokesperson;

On December 5, the public beta of "Swordsman 3D" was launched, with Chen Guokun as the spokesperson;

At the same time, the giant that had not yet made a name for itself in mobile gaming also launched its final offensive.

On December 2, the public beta of "Zhengtu Pocket Edition" was launched;

Xishanju's "Transformation, Lord" was launched on December 4;

Baidu Kaikai Racing will be launched in public beta on December 4;

Tencent's Dragon Heroes will be listed on December 3; Spokespersons Yuan Shanshan, Feng Shaofeng, and Du Chun

Several big guys launched the final attack at the same time. What were their results and what marketing strategies did they adopt? Let me tell you:

1. Mobile games borrow the gameplay of PC games:

1. Invite celebrities to be game spokespersons - the way the rich play

"Swordsman 3D" and "Zhengtu Pocket Edition" are relatively famous games in the era of PC games, and have already had a considerable number of followers among the vast player base. This is called a strong IP product. When the tycoons of PC games promote the mobile version of the game, they will also copy the promotion model of the PC game. For example, "Swordsman 3D" invited Chen Guokun to be its spokesperson, and "Dark Dawn" invited Fan Bingbing to be its spokesperson. During the pre-production period, there was a lot of hype surrounding the Pocket Edition of ZT, with predictions that Zhang Jie or Jacky Cheung would be its spokespersons, but it ultimately came to nothing. Youzu's "League of Goddesses" invited Lin Chiling to be its spokesperson, and Liu Yan was the spokesperson for "Dota Empire". Tencent's another top-ranking masterpiece "Dragon Heroes" invited Yuan Shanshan, Feng Shaofeng and Du Chun to be its spokespersons.

Amid the hefty promotional expenses, the cost of inviting celebrities to endorse products varies greatly depending on the star's level, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. The spokesperson fees account for 15%-25% of the total promotion costs. You may not know that a spokesperson is just a small part of a big expense, and it is also the first step.

It is also a big expense to prepare advertisements for spokespersons.

For example, if you want to let the industry and players know your spokesperson, you need to hold a high-profile press conference, use a five-star hotel as the venue, invite various media reporters to attend and entertain them. The press conference that Xiaoqi has experienced cost about 1 million.

Secondly, the spokesperson must be exposed in various public places, such as subway advertisements, outdoor advertisements, building advertisements, television, movie patch advertisements, etc. These can be counted as offline promotion costs.

In short, the way the rich play is to cover every point that can reach the players' eyes.

2. Online promotion costs:

（1）Search：

In the promotion of online games , the proportion of online promotion costs is no less than that of offline promotion costs.

First of all, we need to work hard on search. Currently, most manufacturers tend to purchase Baidu's brand area. After all, Baidu's position in the search industry is currently unmatched by 360 Search, Sogou Search, etc. It costs 300,000 or even more to purchase a Baidu brand zone. Since the tycoons of PC gaming have so many game products, they usually sign annual framework contracts with Baidu, with the costs being in the tens of millions.

(2) Video Advertising:

Youku, Tudou, iQiyi, Ku6, PPTV, 56 Video, Tencent Video, Sohu Video, and even Barrage A Station, B Station, etc., according to the target population of the game, will carry out patch advertising , viral video dissemination, or soft implantation, such as the popular "Never Expected" and "Dapeng Dabo Dabo" in recent years, and carry out corresponding promotion according to the specific situation of each factory. Among video media, PC game tycoons also tend to sign annual frameworks with Youku and iQiyi. The cost of a single cooperation varies for simple patch ads and soft implants. For example, for an implant in an episode of "Never Expected That", the author has seen a cooperation fee of 800,000.

(3) Media cooperation: website advertising + special zone + APP strategy + PR soft

How big a role does gaming media play among mobile game users and how many users can it bring? The tycoons of PC games would rather believe it, and the players in the gaming media are all veteran target paying players and cannot be ignored. For example, Perfect World's "Swordsman" invested heavily and adopted the rich approach of wrapping the website's back panel advertising frames on media such as 17173, Duowan, Renwantang, Pocket Bus, Youxiduo, and 18183.

Depending on the relationship between the rich and the media, media spending varies greatly. For example, Pocket Bus and Tiger Games were both acquired by Perfect World, and internal resource coordination can make internal deductions. However, if advertisements for Renwantang and 17173 are purchased separately, it will be related to whether they have signed an annual framework. Generally speaking, media area + website advertising + soft advertising will cost at least 150,000 yuan.

Currently, the promotion of mobile games is slightly different from that of PC games. The costs of promoting PC games in the gaming media’s APP area and strategy guide, making a separate game strategy APP, and washing users in the media’s famous game APP strategy guide vary.

Weibo marketing using celebrity effects, such as the use of Yang Mi and Liu Kaiwei in Weibo reposts for the ZT Pocket Edition. Weibo marketing is expensive, and some celebrities have asked for a price of 100,000 or even more reposts for a Weibo post.

(4) Others:

Other promotion methods for PC games that are also applicable to mobile games include guilds, forums, media activities, event marketing , etc.

2. New elements for mobile game promotion :

The download sites in the PC game era have become the current channels when applied to mobile games. The industry's debate on whether channels are king or game quality is king has come to an end: mutual benefit can lead to a win-win situation.

1. IOS channel

Apple is the only dominant player in IOS, and all efforts made in IOS are for the final list - free list + best-selling list. It appears on the list for a few days and then disappears. Whether it retains users and whether the manufacturer makes money must be summarized and presented in the monthly and quarterly inventory. There are no more than 10 games like "Dota Legend" that dominate the charts for a long time, have a monthly turnover of over 100 million (now the popular monthly turnover is over 200 million), and are widely praised and learned by the industry. Currently, there are no more than 10 games in China's mobile game market each year.

In order to get on the IOS charts , various manufacturers have tried their best, and it is not easy to get on the list. From the initial ranking manipulation , to the later points wall , and then to the current multi-party trials, advertising alliances , popular apps, wherever there is volume, there will be advertisements from the rich.

2. Android channel:

There are many Android channels at present, including 360, 91, UC, Xiaomi, Dang Le, mobile application store , etc. You see, there was once an article entitled "XX Channel SDK Access Guide" popular in the circle of friends, which provided a lot of convenience for the business doors of the majority of channel docking. Manufacturers choose 10 mainstream channels or 40 channels to launch simultaneously based on their own games and negotiations with channels, depending on the strategies of each company. However, the powerful Tencent generally has no cooperation with 360 and Baidu. When distributing products through Android channels, we will also choose channels such as Wandoujia . Relying on its own strong distribution capabilities and with the promotion of WeChat and App Store , it is more than enough to dominate the charts.

3. Other ways to promote mobile games:

Mobile games are products of the mobile Internet , so their promotion methods naturally cannot be separated from the mobile Internet . Currently in China, interpersonal communication through WeChat Moments and forwarding by big accounts are popular (the same routine as communication on Weibo). Of course, manufacturers are also aware of the importance of operating their own WeChat public accounts. For example, the perfect "Dark Dawn" first promoted the WeChat public account in the PR manuscript on the day of the public beta.

Of course, the latest word-of-mouth communication method that the rich like to use now is to give a big cake to the editors and chief editors of the media during the important nodes of the game. "Zhengtu Pocket Edition" is very innovative in that it gives away condoms printed with the "Zhengtu" logo, which has also caused a lot of discussion in the industry.

In short, whether it is marketing through the Internet or marketing through mobile Internet, creativity is always No. 1.

4. Promotion cases of local tyrants:

Giant's "Zhengtu Pocket Edition" has achieved good promotion results recently, ranking at the top of the IOS best-selling list, and its performance on the Android channel is also quite good. According to official data, on the day of the launch, a total of 200 Internet media, 120 mobile game media, 42 mainstream channels, 59 WeChat public accounts, and 853 guilds jointly recommended the game. Not only that, bigwigs such as Lei Jun and Shi Yuzhu helped, and posted pictures to recommend the game in their Moments, and Yang Mi and Liu Kaiwei recommended it on Weibo. In terms of operational activities, during the "1 yuan paid download" stage of the App Store, 10 yuan of phone bills will be given away; after the entire platform is opened, the "Recharge 100 and Get 100" activity will be launched, and the recharge will be fully refunded with phone bills or JD cards. In terms of advertising, we purchased splash screen ads for mainstream first-tier mobile apps such as NetEase News, QQ News, and Sina Weather, creating a dense bombardment effect that cannot be avoided as soon as you open your phone. In addition, it has also carried out cross-border cooperation with Didi Chuxing.

The app had a turnover of nearly 10 million in the first 24 hours after its launch, ranking in the top two of the Apple Store's paid list, the top three of the free list, and the seventh on the best-selling list. It is said that it is currently aiming for a monthly turnover of 200 million.

In general, judging from the star products throughout the year, "Zhengtu Pocket Edition", "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils 3D" and "Swordsman 3D" are relatively successful cases of porting PC games to mobile games in 2014.

3. Exploration:

So, if you have enough money, can you just use the marketing method of PC games + mobile games, spend a lot of money, and apply all methods to make a product successful?

The answer is of course no. Even if all the points are met, whether the overall marketing strategy can leave a deep impression on the audience, whether the operational activities can stimulate the enthusiasm of users, and whether the product quality is strong are all important factors affecting the success of a product. If these aspects are not done well, no matter how well the market is done, and no matter how many players are tricked into downloading the game on the first day of the charts , if the retention rate on the next day is low , then all methods will be in vain.