We’ve already talked about mobile game marketing so now you know what actions you should take to market your game. In What is game development? we also briefly mentioned marketing actions during game pre-release & release. So today we’ll talk a little more about mobile game release plan – what to do and when. We’ll tell you about our experiences and what methods we use for increasing the chances of being featured.
Let’s plan a mobile game release!
What are the key steps for a successful game release?
PRE-RELEASE
Set a release date
First of all: you need to set a release date. You need a deadline that will help you organize all your release activities. Unless you want to postpone the release several times make sure that the date you’ve set is realistic!
Make some noise!
Got a release date? Great! Now, it’s time to start making some noise about the game. Here’s a shortcut of what you can find in the Mobile Game Maketing post:
- create eye-catching visual assets & a landing page (which you’ll need for later)
- build a strong online presence by posting on social media, forums, groups, etc.
- be active in gamedev communities on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc.
- build an active community around your game
Create presskit
Before the next steps, you need to create a presskit. You’ll need it for feature forms, emails, etc. Don’t forget to include essential parts like game description, screenshots, gameplay videos/trailers, links, etc.
App Store Feature Form
4-8 weeks before release fill & send App Store Contact Form to get a chance of being featured. You can send an updated contact form when the game will be ready for release. Or send just one, but no later than 2 weeks before release.
Play Store Feature Form
No later than 4 weeks before release send Play Store Form.
Dive into various parts of mobile games marketing, create your own marketing strategy and make your game as successful as it can be. 📈🤩
Contact media & influencers
Another important step, both during pre-launch & launch, is to contact the press and influencers. It’s hard to say when you should send first mails because it highly depends on what you want to achieve. We did this a few times around 2-4 weeks before the release and we focused on getting reviews. Your goal should be to get your game covered in as many places as possible. But be prepared that it’s not easy to achieve, especially when you’re asking for a free review. Keep your message short and specific & include all important dates, links, promo codes, presskit, etc.
RELEASE
Now it’s time to let the whole world know that your game is out! On release day:
- Announce it everywhere you can – social media channels, forums, groups, etc.
- Send followup emails to media & influencers.
- If you’ve got a campaign budget – now it’s the perfect time to use it!
Ok, that’s it. Or at least these are the things that we’re doing. 🙂 It worked well for three of our games to date, but we are still trying and learning new things with each new project.
MOBILE GAME RELEASE PLAN SHEET
To help you with that even more we’ve prepared a GAME RELEASE PLAN SHEET. It will help you organize all the specific actions you need for release of your game. Fill it with everything you need to for a successful release and stop worrying that you’ll forget about something important 🙂 Dig in!
Hope it will be helpful for you and from now on you won’t get lost in all marketing activities 😉 Happy planning!
All graphics designed by stories / Freepik
