Strategies for Marketing Success in the Gaming Industry

Unlike before when hardcore gamers from Portugal were the only feasible market for gaming companies, casual gamers today spend more on gaming than any other demographic. To meet this rising demand, Portuguese game development companies are sprouting up with bigger and better games while online casinos are always striving to market better and stay ahead of the competition

Guest author Martim Nabeiro (more about the author) takes a look at top marketing strategies being used by gaming operators in their ever competitive gaming industry.
Strategies for Marketing Success

While it is great to see the Portuguese iGaming market grow exponentially, gaming operators and developers have to face stiff competition and this puts them under a lot of pressure. For developers, not only must they create a great game, but they must also ensure that their game stands out enough to garner a dedicated fan base.

For casino operators, they have to ensure that players are aware of their offering and differentiate it successfully from the rest of the competition. All of the casinos online that cater to players in Portugal are always experimenting with different marketing strategies to see which one sets right with their set of players.

We take a look at some of the most effective video game marketing strategies and tools you can use in the gaming industry.

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Involve Yourself with Gaming Podcasts

Portuguese podcasts are long-form audio programs that have become mainstream during the pandemic. Perfect for game creators who want to reach a more refined or serious player base, podcasts generally cater to audiences older than typical gamers.

If your game’s appeal lies in its complexity, storytelling, or originality, podcast audiences from Portugal should help in reaching this demographic. Indie games will definitely benefit from a podcast-dominant marketing strategy, as it gives game creators space to layout their design philosophies in detail to hook similarly-minded gamers.

Maintain a Strong YouTube Presence

If you want your game to gain traction among a large cross-section of gamers, you really should set up your own YouTube channel.

A YouTube presence for game creators is, quite simply, indispensable in this day and age. Most gamers from Portugal are enticed by great graphics – where better to showcase your game’s qualities than in a medium that is almost synonymous with video?

Casual Portuguese gamers enjoy watching YouTube videos for entertainment, while more serious gamers use YouTube to get an idea on the graphics as well as the smoothness of the game’s performance in a real-world setting.

A bonus of having a strong YouTube presence is that you can use Google’s advertising services to reach gamers who are already primed to look for upcoming games. You can easily loop back these viewers to your channel, where they can learn more about your titles.

Send Review Packs to Reviewers and Review Websites

With an overwhelming number of options available, most gamers from Portugal today rely on reviews to sort out the games they might be interested to try. Individual Portuguese reviewers or review websites often have an existing fan base that you can reach by ensuring that your product is reviewed.

Of course, a positive Portuguese review is always better than a negative one, but what’s really important is that the review is perceived to be genuine. Creating an objectively great game certainly helps – past that, you will have to prepare a “promo kit” of sorts to help reviewers see your game the way you do.

Since reviewers typically review more than one game at a time, you can help them by sending a great game marketing proposal that highlights the best aspects of your title. You can also send them a special promo code to offer their readers. Similar to how a casino promotion works, video game promo codes entice players to try out a game at a discount.

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Compliance

 No matter what marketing strategies you use in Portugal or which marketing company you hire, you need to ensure that all of your marketing campaigns comply with Portuguese gaming regulations in the market that you are servicing.

Countries like the UK, Spain and Portugal, for example, have imposed stringent regulations on the online casino industry in recent months. This is to protect players from being exploited by iGaming operators during the COVID-19 pandemic. The last thing you want to do is ignore all of these restrictions and launch a marketing campaign that is successful but short-lived. You will also end up being hit with a heavy fine.

If you take Portugal, where the online gaming scene is still young, politicians have enacted broad limits on ads for online gambling games. We suggest not mentioning the pandemic at all while marketing your game online to avoid pitfalls associated with online gambling marketing tactics.

Conclusion

Just make sure that you or the marketing team you hire are fully aware of the advertising and marketing regulations before you launch any campaign.