How to Create a Marketing Strategy (video)
Wednesday, December 31, 1969
Why choosing the right streams to promote your Gamification Campaign is vital
When you construct a new Gamification Campaign, your goals would include customer and brand interaction. In the digital age, everyone in marketing world is fighting for the prize-being consumer attention and not only attention- but engagement. But how are your potential users meant to engage with a campaign they don’t even know exists?
As mentioned previously in “The 8 Pillars of Successful Marketing Campaigns” we discussed the need for In-store Gamification and promotion, and while these are recommended ways of marketing your game, in this video we will be discussing digital promotions across Social Media platforms and EDMs- also known as Electronic Direct Mail. They are the best way to reach your intended audience and should be your primary source of providing users a direct link to your campaign.
Like In-store Gamification, EDMs are a direct way of promoting to your preexisting customer base. While Social Media platforms can fluctuate in relevance to your campaign and its intended audience, EDMs are a consistent audience that should always be tapped into for any and all Marketing Campaigns.
Social Media platforms have a way of reaching audiences that emails cannot, offering more of a community context, a social environment in which users feel less defensive and more inclined to engage with a game link.
Facebook, having a Search Engine like structure is still the leading Social Media titan. It's widely said that the amount of facebook users outnumber the largest country in the world. Most businesses have a Facebook business page, and this makes the platform a great space to reach out to followers and inform them of a live campaign. Engaged followers tend to share their results and get their friends playing as well- a great way to promote.
Due to Facebook’s ownership, the same goes for Instagram, businesses are tapping in to reaching customers through their love of visual based bite-sized content.
Twitter, while still having its own market is the smallest of these platforms- however don’t underestimate its value. You can Still format your promotional posts into 140 characters, and encourage your followers to play and retweet.
That being said, we trust that you know where your target market is- and it is also good to experiment. For example, Gamify has had previous campaigns based in Japan where Twitter was by far the superior form of promotional reach.
Now we will breakdown each of the mentioned platforms in their promotional forms and pricing, starting with EDMs.
EDM/ Client Website
How much does email marketing cost?
On average, a mid-size business can expect to spend $9 - $1,000 per month on email marketing if they self-manage their campaigns (depending on the platform and number of subscribers) or $300 - $500 per month if they work with an agency.
A well-designed and well-executed marketing email reminds prior and existing customers, as well as potential new customers, to visit your website and your game will give them the incentive to do so. At the heart of any successful email marketing campaign is customer retention and relationship building, and we recommend that you configure every email marketing campaign with that end goal in mind.
By staying at the forefront of your customers' minds, you significantly increase the likelihood that when it comes time for your email recipients to make a purchase, they will choose you over your competitors.
Reports show that 82% of marketers spend between 0% and 20% of their marketing budgets on email. However, it’s recommended that you dedicate 16% of your total marketing budget to email marketing.
The exact amount you allocate to email marketing will depend on a number of factors including:
Annual revenue
Percentage of overall revenue generated online
Your industry
The product/service you sell
Your overall digital marketing goals
Ultimately, you will need to choose an email marketing budget that works for your company and goals. That being said, email marketing is an extremely cost effective strategy, and it can earn you an incredibly high ROI — $44 for every $1 you spend.
So if you’re looking for a way to reach more customers for less money, email marketing is a great option.
First, we’ll chat through CPMs- or Cost per Impressions
This tells you how many people your ad gets displayed in front of. It is ideal for businesses who want to create brand awareness and want the most eyes on their ad as possible.
Cost per Click (CPC) means you’ll only pay for conversions, which is or when a user clicks the link on your ad. This is ideal for businesses who want to drive more traffic to their website- or in our case- a video game. Many small business struggle to get website traffic- and placing a “play game” button on the website guarantees new website visitors.
Next, is CPA, or cost per action. This means you get charged only for specific actions users take after seeing your ad— such as liking, claiming an offer, or installing an app. This model is more expensive than the other options, but yields a higher return on investment.
Relevance and Engagement Scores
These are two useful metrics Facebook provides to gauge how well your ad is performing. This is calculated by how many people interact with your ad (clicking on it) as opposed to how many react negatively to it (clicking on a button indicating they don’t want to see the ad in the future). The higher your relevance score, the less you’ll pay for your ad space.
Seasonal Trends
Also consider that the time of year has an impact on how successful, and pricey, your Facebook advertising is. The holidays can be an expensive time to advertise on any social media platform. A good Facebook advertising tip: If every store in the country will be having a sale (Black Friday, Labour Day, Memorial Day) you’re going to pay a premium to get your ad seen.
When carried out properly, Facebook advertising has the potential to bring new leads and customers to your business at a low cost. Take a look at your budget, audience, and what you have to offer on Facebook, to see if you should add Facebook advertising to your marketing toolbox.
Now, lets talk about Instagram advertising.
What Makes Instagram Advertising Worth the Price? Most business hesitate spending money on instagram ads, There are a quite few benefits of paying for ad space on Instagram rather than simply running campaigns and promotions organically from your business account.
The 1st, is Advanced Targeting
Since Facebook owns Instagram, Instagram advertising utilises the same comprehensive demographic and geographic data. This advanced targeting is what makes Facebook advertising work so well, as you can be incredibly detailed when targeting your ideal audience. Get your game in front of your ideal customers!
The 2nd is Better Click-Through Rates
The click-through rates on Instagram are usually very impressive. Users click on Instagram ads roughly 2.5 times more often than on ads for other social media sites (Source: Fortune).
The 3rd advantage is including Outside Links
Instagram does not currently allow clickable links in posts or direct messages. You can include a link in your caption or message, but the recipient has to copy and paste it into their browser. With Instagram advertising, you can include outside links, which enables you to use landing pages and promote product pages. You will only be one click away from your game, or website.
Advertising on Instagram and other social media platforms can be well worth it if you strategise. It may take a few attempts to gather the information needed to figure out what’s working for you, but this is the case with any type of marketing campaign. Give it a shot! Social media is a powerful tool and enables thousands of people to view your content, and engage like never before.
Twitter advertising is slightly different from Facebook advertising in terms of pricing models and types of ads. The three types of advertisements to choose from on Twitter are:
Promoted Tweets
• Promoted Accounts
• Promoted Trends
How Much Does it Cost to Promote a Tweet?
With Promoted Tweets, you’ll pay only when a user favourites, retweets, clicks or replies to your promoted Tweet. You do not have the option of paying per impression as with Facebook Advertising costs. The average cost for a Promoted tweet is around $1.35 per engagement.
Twitter Promoted Accounts Cost
The Twitter Promoted Accounts cost is simple: you have a cost per follower (CPF). The average cost per confirmed follower is $2.50-$4.00.
The Cost of Twitter Promoted Trends
If want to be placed in the Trends section of Twitter, and be guaranteed to receive a large amount of exposure, you’ll could be looking to pay up to $200,000 per day. While this type of advertising will absolutely get you front and centre on Twitter, it’s incredibly important that the strategy behind your ad and campaign is well curated to make this a dollar well spent! That said, Promoted Trends is typically used by larger businesses.
If Twitter is a popular platform among your target audience, and if the cost to advertise on Twitter fits within your budget, it may be something to consider.
Once you’ve lined up the digital marketing platforms you wish to promote your campaign through, the next step is to create a Marketing Calendar which we will cover in the following video. Click on the “Marketing Calendar” video link to learn more.