First it was the launch of iPhone in 2007 and then the birth of Android subsequently, both of these events disrupted the technology space as we know it. There are close to 5 million apps in all the stores combined and the number of app downloads is about to reach 200 billion. These numbers give you a fair idea about what exactly is happening in the mobile app world today.

Let’s check out this interesting pie graph that tells us 5 most popular app store categories as of December 2015:

It is crystal clear that games are the way to go. Ever since the success of Flappy Bird, most of the developers including indie, small and large scale developers have dreamed of developing a game as cool and simple as Flappy Bird. Well, if some indie developer sitting in Vietnam could rake in $50,000 per day, anybody can do it, right?

The biggest problem a game developer WILL face is that the game will have a very high chance of getting lost in the plethora of games being launched every day. Unless you have someone doing aggressive marketing and promotional campaigns for your game, it is still a very long shot that your game will start getting attention. Even if you read hundreds of articles on how to market your game, the fact is that marketing takes time to show results and by the time you would find out about the success or failure of your strategy, it would be too late. Someone else would launch their game and work 24×7 to take your dream away from you.

So what’s the solution? Well, if basics are in place and motive is clear, a game developer can do a lot to attract maximum exposure to their game soon after the launch. The icing on the cake is all these are either free solutions or require nominal investments:

• Write blogs. And engage with game developer communities: Blogging is must. It gives you an open platform to write about your game, highlight the features, include screenshots, provide offers, flaunt testimonials and much more. These posts that you will write will spread awareness in gamers and the download game link you provide will tempt the readers to download your game as soon as they like something that you show. If you are a serial blogger, you can create a separate page for each game and on each page you can add the links to the pages to other games. Either way you win. Also, there are hundreds of gaming and game development forums out there, it is a good idea to join them, to engage with fellow developers and gamers, to promote their games on your blog in exchange of your game promotion on theirs and attract traffic from these groups by posting your blog links. There are other benefits to blogging and posting as well, like, SEO and visibility of your game in other pages plus the social sharing gives you unprecedented access to gamers on various social media.
• Boost presence on social media: Continuing the above point, there are many ways to market your product on social media. The benefit with you is that, the product you are going to market is your game. There are millions of gamers across the globe and getting access to their peer group on social media is something you will need to crack. Here is what I suggest you do to conquer your game’s presence on social media—create a page for your game, especially on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit, these are the three places gamers like to spend time on. Second thing you would need to do is insert relevant content wherever necessary, you certainly don’t want people to come to your page and not find anything relevant there. Use attractive pictures, screenshots, download buttons, links to your blog and etc. To close this, you would need to start doing activities on other pages’ posts from your page to draw attention and generate traffic. Always be careful with the timing, though, you don’t want to keep posting at a time when half of the world is asleep.

Also Read: 4 Hacks to Boost User Engagement in Games

• Get inspired by referral programs: Be smart. A smart developer is one that growth hacks user acquisition without spending an iota of their marketing budget. Come on, you must know the strategy used by Uber and many other companies to increase users by now. What exactly is that? It is a very simple way to let current users become marketers and get their friends on your app in exchange of some sort of benefit. App42 Virality powers you to create referral programs with which you can provide additional levels or features of your game to users only if they invite friends to download and play your game. You get users addicted to your game and you induce them to promote your app. This is you being smart.
• Analyze and engage: Know your players. The more you know them, the better you become at development and promoting your app. Try App42 MA, integrating it in your game’s first release, you would be able to track each and every activity of your players, upon segmentation of users based on their behavior you can launch campaigns accordingly and engage them.
• Be creative. Create a game trailer: Well, this is tough, but not that tough. Let your imagination run wild—use your laptop, a few basic video editing tools, screenshots of your game and a good music. You will be surprised with what you can do with these things. Let’s be honest, you have nothing to lose here but if you succeed in making a good trailer then who’s to say you cannot achieve what you have always dreamed of? If you create a trailer not longer than 90 seconds and include a very attractive clip from your game, there is nothing like it. Try.

Also Read: 3 Trusted Ways to Increase Revenue in Strategy Games

If you build it, they will not come. You will need to target, catch, attract and almost bully them into trying your game. Rest will depend on the caliber of your game. Contact us at support@shephertz.com if you need personalized marketing solutions. We will love to help you.