4 Marketing Lessons From The Video Game Industry You Should Know

According to Statista, by 2022, the video game industry in the US will have a revenue of $97 billion, and the market is expected to continue to grow. Small businesses can learn a lot from the gaming industry. Below we look at four successful gaming industry strategies that SMBs can use.

Marketing lessons from the video game industry

Consider incorporating one or more of the following methods into your company's marketing mix to increase brand awareness, increase sales, and build customer loyalty.

Create a story.

Video games are immersive and highly interactive, engaging users visually and audibly. The viewer is drawn into the story from the very beginning.

Just like in the gaming industry, companies can use stories to get consumers interested in the story of their product. This is not new to the market; A common practice is to use stories to sell products that might get lost in a sea of ​​competition.

For example, in Dove's narrative, moisturizing soap is more than just a generic beauty product. The well-received and sensational design of the Real Beauty campaign has helped Dove become a high-profile brand that challenges traditional standards of women's beauty.

Stories have the power to engage and educate people. When creating your story, put yourself in your customers' shoes and think about the role your product or service plays in their lives. [Read Related : A Guide to Creating a Customer Journey Map for Your Brand ]

Create a story that touches people's emotions, embodies their values ​​and creates an emotional connection. That doesn't mean your story is still difficult; Funny, touching or funny stories work well. Think of the Red Bull Stratos commercials featuring Felix Baumgartner plummeting to earth from 125,000 feet, or the old Spice commercials for "The Man Who Can Smell."

Storytelling helps you come up with creative advertising concepts while communicating information. You can use these stories to bring your brand to life from the customer's perspective.

You know that the About Us page is one of the most important parts of your website. This is where people get to know your brand story, which helps build trust in your business.

Update content and marketing strategies.

Many great video games take years to develop and perfect. However, crashes and other issues are common and expected. The developers are listening to the feedback from the gaming community and working to improve the games by adapting them.

This is a good example for companies for several reasons. First, it's important to keep testing and looking for bugs. You should also listen to audience feedback by using social media listening tools and submitting surveys and feedback forms.

Then make sure your content is up-to-date to reflect changes in technology, trends and legislation. For example, when the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in 2018, companies had to immediately change their privacy policies and add pop-up forms to obtain explicit consent to collect data from websites.

Another example is when WordPress updated its core software by creating the Gutenberg block editor. This change affected millions of sites and businesses, and users had to make sure everything worked as usual. WordPress Helper Pages had to go back and change hundreds of pages or create new ones.

Your marketing strategies, especially for content marketing, must be consistent. Be sure to keep track of your old blog posts and pages and update and reuse existing content and images.

Information: If your company does business with EU countries or citizens, you must comply with the GDPR, which governs what data you can store, how you use it and where you store it.

Foster conversation and community.

While the games themselves are at the heart of the gaming industry, there is another element that makes games incredibly compelling: the community.

Games can be fun and challenging to naturally lead to online conversations. Gaming platforms support chatting and sharing of images, videos and text through the platforms. This sense of community is another reason why the game works so well; It helps connect millions of people around the world.

Companies can benefit from building communities around their brands. Large corporations like Lego, Starbucks, Nike and others have enthusiastic product communities that the companies actively engage with.

Here are some benefits of building an online community

• Free customer service and technical support: People often post specific questions in the community forums, which other members can answer. These questions and related answers often appear on the first page of search results, driving traffic to the brand's website.
• A place for people who know your brand. An online brand community can foster a sense of intimacy and identification with your brand. Your target audience is more likely to share your content, attend events and get more exposure to your content on social media.

There are many ways to start building your brand's community. It can be a long process, so it helps to start early. Here are some practical ways to create a prosperous society

• Create groups and social media pages that your audience can join or follow.
• Create a membership page just for your audience and provide personalized content and forums for those dedicated fans. This creates a sense of team that creates value for its members.
• Get involved in forums like Reddit and Discord and any other arena that makes sense for your business. Create a group in these places so you can start the discussion from the beginning.

Remember that whether you actively build a community or not, your online business will be discussed. Instead, be active, get involved and drive the growth of your community by interacting with people.

Add gamification.

At the heart of video game marketing is the system of goals and rewards. This creates a feedback loop where users return to the game to relieve stress and feel the dopamine release that comes with achieving a game goal.

This system is called gamification, and it's a way to reward users for actions you want them to take, such as following your blog, sharing content on social media, or buying your product. Customer loyalty programs are a common example of gamification. Brands like Sephora, Starbucks and others offer consumers points, badges and other rewards for their purchases.

You can give the same by generating points for future purchases. Another easy way to add gamification is to add a pop-up form where users can "spin" an online wheel that lowers to a price. By adding their email address, they can receive offers such as discounts or free trials.

Gamification is a proven and effective way to achieve your marketing goals. Take inspiration from video games to improve audience engagement with your brand.

Did you know that many companies are using gamification to improve employee productivity? For example, in our review of the Five9 call center software, we saw how users can choose their own avatar to compete for prizes while watching the progress of other team members.

Learn about the video game industry and grow your business

The gaming industry offers many lessons that companies in all industries can apply to their marketing efforts. By engaging your customers with interactive stories, building an active community, developing customer loyalty programs, and keeping your brand and content relevant, you take steps to improve your marketing and ultimately grow your business.

Mark Fairley contributed to this article.

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