Android based smartphones are very common. Everybody is owning an android smartphone. More than half of the total smartphone have android operating system. So, making app for the Android smartphone can be the safe bet.
With more that 3.1 billion active users, you can see just how big the market can be. Developers like Unity, Unreal Engine, Cocos2D, Corona SDK, Lumberyard or Build box are very famous for android based games.
As you know that android market is quite vast and so is the competition. To survive in this vast environment, you need to have a solid plan of work. You cannot just build an app and home for people download it.
Before starting the coding for the game, I would like to recommend to make some time for the to discuss about the project’s cost, production cost and marketing cost.
Without right marketing strategies you gaming app will never get the exposure. Due to over crowded game market, your app will never stand out for people to see it. For this purpose, only promoting of android game is very importance.
Tips to promote your android games
Before promoting android games, you need to have a thorough research of the market. There are many developers who want to develop their dream game. But if you see from marketing perspective, it is wrong choice.
Before developing a game, you need to have exhaustive market research to find out what kind of games your competitors are developing and what kind of game you can that can beat the competitors.
Then comes the promotion part. This must be done before the launching date of the game. This is to make sure that the audiences have a good idea of the game and know the launching date. This way you can have downloads from the get go.
- Send your game to several publishers
It is a very difficult decision to send your android games to other publishers. They can be very polemic and asking for their help can be tricky some times. As they can charge up to 50% of all your income.
But if you are a new developer and need exposure to the world and want to make your android game reach all over the world. 50% of your income can not be a big deal. Once you get the exposure you need you can stand on your own.
- Beta ready and soft launch
Before launching your game officially, it is advisable to do a beta launch of the game. The beta version of the game is not the complete version of the game but it’s a protype model of the game.
This way you can find these things in one go:
- How many people are actually looking forward for your game?
- What are the problems that need to be improved before the official launch?
- You can even get publics opinion regarding the game, which can further help you to perfect the game.
- Improved ASO
ASO stands for App store optimization or App store SEO. It is the organic way to rank your apps and games on the app store.
You also know and I also know, that high ranking apps are most likely to get the greatest number of downloads.
This can help you to have an upper hand over your competitors. So, it is very important to work on the game title, meta description, name of the game etc.
For example, if you are searching for a role-playing game, then the name of the game needs to have RPG (role playing game).
- Link your game with the several stores
There are many app stores other than android play store. You must use those platforms as well to launch your games. This will increase the reach of your game among the people.
Platforms other than the android play store:
- Amazon store
- AppBrain
- Get jar
- Run rapid social campaign
If you want get something viral, post it on the social media or share it on the social media. So why do we leave social media platform for the promotion of the android games.
You can run ads, paid social media campaign to create awareness of the newly launched gaming app.
You can also give download link in the post; this can really help you to boost the number of downloads.
- Cross promotion with other games
If you already have many games on the market. And those games have enough user. You can use those games to cross promote your new games. This can be very impactful, because the other games users are already loyal to you and they will at least try once.
You can even ask other developer to do cross promotion. There are many communities all over the world that cross promote each other’s game.
- Promotion through reviews
Reviews can be a great way to both engage with the audience and promote your games. Though it is very hard to do it all by yourself. There are several apps and software which can really be helpful for you.
Some of the apps are:
- Pcworld
- AppBrain
Conclusion
As you know that android market is quite vast and so is the competition. To survive in this vast environment, you need to have a solid plan of work. You cannot just build an app and home for people download it.
The best way to promote your android games is to have excellent ASO. This way you can increase the number of downloads in an organic way.
Keep in mind that no matter if is android games or application, promotion starts before the start of the development.
A solid groundwork is planned, a proper framework is done. Every step is segregated and then production start.
Before the production a thorough market research is made to see all the happenings the market. This is all to gain every information on what to make, why to make, how to make, who are the targeted audiences.
This article deals with the ways which can be really helpful in promoting the android apps.
