How to solve the problem of promoting two-dimensional games? "Sword of Glory" made a successful demonstration

When it comes to the promotion of two-dimensional games , in addition to traditional channels and buying traffic, people usually think of using KOLs such as up-masters and fan artists for brand marketing . However, under the baptism of a large number of similar promotion routines, users continue to feel fatigued and it is difficult to effectively acquire users.

In addition, the attributes of two-dimensional game users are quite different from those of general games, and it is difficult to acquire accurate users through traditional channels and buying volume methods. Therefore, many two-dimensional games on the market face a dilemma between " brand marketing " and "effect promotion".

Is it true that you can only choose one when promoting two-dimensional games? The answer is of course no, because as long as we understand the user attributes and market rules, the two can be organically combined, which will significantly reduce the cost of two-dimensional games in market promotion .

The popularity of 1.2D games remains high, but promotion is still a pain point for many manufacturers

Even though ACG culture is becoming more and more popular, it is still considered a subculture in the overall environment. Compared with other mainstream game types, the promotion of two-dimensional games faces greater difficulties.

From the perspective of promotion channels , if two-dimensional games want to do volume-buying promotion like ordinary games, it is often easy to result in a "twice the effort for half the result" effect. For two-dimensional games, there are too few core users in conventional channels, and the cost-effectiveness of crudely buying traffic is not high, making it difficult to reach core users. If you specialize in a niche field, you will face the problems of limited resources and fierce competition.

From the perspective of the game itself, whether the game has its own IP is also an important factor affecting the promotion effect. Two-dimensional game users attach great importance to the quality of the game’s plot, which also means IP and character settings. On the one hand, for two-dimensional games that come with their own IP, the IP itself can bring a certain amount of attention and seed users to the game. However, the IP economy is actually a fan economy . After the IP users of a game are washed out, it is easy to face the problem of a sharp drop in traffic . On the other hand, for two-dimensional games without IP, the games naturally lack content materials that users are familiar with, and there are greater difficulties in advertising and promotion .

2. Review of the promotion of "Sword of Glory": Four tricks to win over the "picky" 2D core fans

"Sword of Glory" is a "two-dimensional + MMO" game launched by Jiufang Interactive in early 2018 and published by Shanghai Jiexun. It was once recommended by the App Store's Banner. As an MMORPG with no profession and no lock-in, it is one of the few MMO games that can be recommended by Apple.

The fact that it has been favored by Apple shows, to a certain extent, that this is an excellent game. But if you look closely at the information about "Sword of Glory", you will find that it is neither produced by a traditional big company nor by a well-known production team. However, "Sword of Glory" has a good following on TapTap, with more than 4k reviews.

In addition, as a two-dimensional game, "Sword of Glory" does not have the IP that two-dimensional games usually rely on, and lacks materials that users are familiar with in terms of promotion. So how does this "small factory masterpiece" attract users? Moyicheng, the mobile marketing team responsible for the overall promotion of "Sword of Glory", told Mobile Games about its marketing process.

1. What to do if there is no IP? “Borrow” an IP

How can original works without IP attract users? The answer is to "borrow" an IP.

"Sword of Glory" is a two-dimensional MMO mobile game with excellent quality, but it lacks the IP that is easiest to increase popularity and acquire seed users. Therefore, in the selection of promotional content, "Sword of Glory" chose to cooperate with "The King's Avatar", a very popular IP in recent years, and used the influence of "The King's Avatar" itself as a breakthrough for game promotion.

In terms of specific cooperation methods, "Sword of Glory" is different from the usual full IP cooperation, but adopts the method of character implantation. In "Sword of Glory", popular characters from "The King's Avatar" such as Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng not only appear as NPCs, but also allow players to restore the character image in their minds in the form of appearance costumes.

Through IP character implantation, "Sword of Glory" has seen a significant improvement in both advertising traffic and the retention and payment rates of users after entering the game. According to Moyicheng, compared with conventional materials, the improvement effect brought by IP materials is very obvious: in information flow advertising , the advertising click-through rate ( CTR ) of IP materials is 2%-5%, while that of conventional materials is only 1%-2%; the advertising conversion rate (C VR ) of IP materials is 7%-10%, while that of conventional materials is only 5%-8%.

In terms of user performance, the quality of users brought by IP materials is generally high. For users brought by IP-based materials, the next-day retention rate is 7 points higher than that of conventional materials, the novice completion rate is 5 points higher, and the payment rate is 1.5 points higher.

The practice of IP character implantation in "Sword of Glory" can be said to have achieved the effect of "a little effort to achieve a great result". Compared with full IP cooperation, the cost of implanting partial IP characters is undoubtedly much lower. As long as the game and IP content are properly combined, very good exposure effects can be achieved while retaining the characteristics of the game itself to the greatest extent.

2. Anime apps assist and form the backbone of the promotion of two-dimensional games

While rolling out conventional channels to acquire pan-two-dimensional users, "Sword of Glory" also made targeted deployments in the two-dimensional field. The user matching degree of segmented resources is much higher than that of conventional channels, and it is an important way to acquire core users.

In response to the problems of limited resources and fierce competition in the niche fields, "Sword of Glory" not only promotes itself on existing two-dimensional platforms, but also expands promotional resources in the niche fields based on its own needs. In this regard, the approach of "Sword of Glory" is also very clever.

"Sword of Glory" did not look for mature commercial apps or platforms, but instead used 10 anime apps that were almost commercialized for the first time to promote it at the same time. Since most of these 10 anime apps are commercializing for the first time, users’ attention is relatively concentrated and they will not feel fatigued by too many advertisements. On the other hand, compared with conventional channels, the delivery costs of these 10 animation apps are lower, but the delivery effects are better. The iOS delivery cost of animation apps is 20-23 yuan, while the iOS cost of conventional channels is 30-40 yuan; judging from the effect achieved by the delivery, the user LTV obtained from animation apps is 50% or even 100% higher than that of ordinary information flow ads.

3. Three rounds of testing and hundreds of materials were prepared to ensure the best results

2D users are a group that is both extremely tolerant and extremely picky. If there are parts of the game that do not match the user's tone, they will strongly resist; on the contrary, if the core content of the game can touch them, then they are willing to forgive other imperfections of the game.

When it comes to promoting two-dimensional games, we naturally also cater to the user's characteristics. Before the promotion, "Sword of Glory" organized three rounds of advertising tests and accumulated more than 10 different directions based on the different attributes of 2D users and pan-2D users, thereby developing hundreds of sets of exquisite materials.

Rich and targeted materials can reach different user groups more comprehensively, maximizing advertising effects. According to Mo Yicheng, "Sword of Glory" quickly reached the expected level in a short period of time after its launch.

4. Leverage the “Apple Recommendation” to ignite the promotion phase

After comprehensive promotion through conventional channels and segmented resources, and after generating a certain level of popularity among players, it is necessary to use or artificially create an explosion point to make the product truly “explode”. Obtaining the App Store’s Banner recommendation is a key point in the entire promotion period of “Sword of Glory”.

During the App Store's Banner recommendation period, "Sword of Glory" took advantage of the opportunity to place advertisements , and the game's popularity increased significantly due to the exposure brought by the App Store recommendation . Judging from the promotion data, during the recommended period, the click-through rate of advertising materials increased by 60%, and the conversion rate also increased significantly. The combination of App Store recommendations and well-planned advertising has enabled "Sword of Glory" to achieve good results on the Chinese App Store free list simply by relying on advertising.

Conclusion:

The more subdivided the categories are, the more targeted they can be. On the surface, the launch of "Sword of Glory" seems to be a crude purchase of traffic, but in fact, comprehensive and detailed preparations were made before the promotion, which enabled the product to gain strong traffic in the early stage of launch and gradually gain popularity among the user circle. On the other hand, Moyicheng, which is responsible for the overall promotion of the game, has a clear management mechanism when placing advertisements to effectively avoid out-of-control placements.

Judging from the marketing process of "Sword of Glory", the promotion of two-dimensional games is not limited to brand marketing. As long as the user attributes and the effect requirements of different promotion stages are properly grasped, brand marketing + buying volume can better boost the popularity of the product.

The author of this article @虹彤手游那点事 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

Product promotion services: APP promotion services, advertising platform, Longyou Games