The Secrets Of Video Game Marketing (And Some Great Marketing Tips For YOU)
The video game industry took in about 9.5 billion in 2007, so obviously the people doing video game marketing know what they’re doing.
I literally just spent the past 30-40 minutes getting completely sucked into a Playstation 3 game I’d previously never even looked at, and will be buying it when it comes out later in the month.
So while I was sitting here, getting completely off-task and unproductive, I figured I’d tell you about it and give you a marketing lesson.
I know this is for video game marketing and you most likely don’t sell video games, but stay with me because there are some golden nuggets in this one.
Ok so first of all, the game I fell in love with is “Fallout 3″ for Playstation 3.
I heard about it while shopping at Amazon for a different game (I like to play Playstation 3 during my down-time to relax and have a little fun while I listen to educational audio’s).
So I checked out YouTube and typed in “fallout 3″ and up came a list of videos about the game from the owners of it.
I watched a short video talking about the game, how they made it, etc. and thought the concept was cool, so I checked out a related video. In that one I saw the people actually playing the game, showing proof of how awesome it really was.
While they were playing, I noticed they talked about how it was different from other games. There’s a game very similar to it called “Oblivion” and they mentioned how it was different and better than that game (which was a best-seller).
As I watched a few more videos, I was hooked very quickly. I got suckered into the storyline and the uniqueness of the game - and now I’m going to buy it when it comes out.
Now, what kind of marketing lessons can you learn from how they set up their video game marketing?
Before you launch a product (or relaunch), you need to show PROOF of whatever benefit you’re trying to display.
In these videos, they showed proof of the uniqueness of the game. They showed proof of how fun it was to play - which is why people buy games in the first place.
They also had the videos to make you fall in love with the storyline, which is very important in today’s video game marketing world.
In any product launch, you want to hook your prospects on an emotional level. In one video, the creator talked about how you could be “evil” and live out your dark fantasies like blowing off somebody’s head who pissed you off.
Now think about that. We’ve all had that “thought” of killing somebody but we don’t do it because of the consequences (going to jail, having a bad conscious, possibly going to hell, etc.).
Killing someone is a very strong emotion for virtually everybody on Earth. We just don’t do it for obvious reasons.
However, in a video game there are no morals. You can do whatever you’d like with no consequences, and the owner took full advantage of that emotion within us.
Does that sound like smart video game marketing to you?
It definitely does to me.
When these companies start video game marketing, they do it in sequences. Although I saw them all at the same time (since it’s coming out in a week), they usually make you look forward to upcoming videos and actually show you the game.
The next time you’re doing a product launch, think about how video game marketing is done and “swipe” their marketing ideas.
The main points to take home are that there are other ways to show proof than simply showing testimonials. Videos work great, even with digital products, so start using them.
Also, make sure you understand the psychology of your buyer like the people who did the video game marketing for Fallout 3 understood the dominant residant “killing” emotion that all of us savages have inside us 
Post your comments and let me know what you think. I’m gonna go watch the last video.
Jeremy
How To Make A “Too Good To Be True” Offer Sound Believable
I can’t count how many times I’ve heard people say that the more you can offer customers, the more they’re going to buy from you.
But is there a point where too much is a bad thing?
Let’s take 2 offers and break them down from the point of view of your customer. The product will be a traffic package you can buy online to give you massive amounts of traffic.
Offer #1 - For $97 you can buy 5 rotations on PPC ads for 2 weeks of traffic (using a company that delivers traffic via PPC), a free ebook on traffic building from a well-known author, and a 2 month subscription to a traffic-building newsletter.
Offer #2 - For just $47 you can get 100,000 visitors to your website within 1 week as well as 15 free reports on traffic building and a lifetime supply of customers from an FFA network.
Do you see the difference in these 2 offers?
Offer #1 actually sounds believable. For anyone who has used rotations before from a credible company, that’s a pretty good deal by itself. Plus the free ebook from a well-known author and 2 months free subscription to a newsletter makes it that much better. But it’s still believable.
On the other hand, offer #2 doesn’t even sound remotely believable. It sends up red flags ALL over the place.
Can You Put These 2 Offers Together To Make It Believable?
Now, if you have an incredible offer that you can give to your customers, I’m not saying to purposely give less in order for it to sound believable.
There’s just one psychological trick you have to use in order to persuade them. It’s one I learned from John Carlton and it works like gangbusters.
And here it is…
Give them a “reason why”.
For example, say you own a furniture store and your average sofa sells for $900 by itself.
If you then offer a sale selling it for $300, people will probably think it’s broken and won’t even show up to buy it.
But what if you have a “water damaged” sale and sell it for $300? That gives you a great “reason why” you’re selling it so for so cheap.
But then people are still going to think it’s damaged too much aren’t they?
That’s why you’d also mention in your ad that some have more damage than others - some might not even at all.That way the skepticism shield comes down and they might go check it out to see if they could get in there early and maybe get lucky.
One smart business owner with a furniture store found this so profitable he actually climbed on his roof, poked a few holes in it, and waited for it to rain.
Right after it rained, he ran an ad and within a few days made a heap of money!
Now obviously you don’t have to have a furniture business to do this.
You can do it for any kind of business really. All it takes is a little creativity.
Set aside a good 20-30 minutes tonight and see if you could apply this to your business and make a heap of money for yourself. Don’t let the other business owners reap all the rewards!
Jeremy
Why T-Rex Was A Great Marketer…
T-Rex… the big, bad “king” of the dinosaurs that eats anything and everything.
When people talk about dinosaurs, the T-Rex is by far the most famous.
It’s talked about the most, has movies made about it, and, lets face it…is simply an awesome dinosaur.
But…was the T-Rex really the big, bad dinosaur that everyone thinks?
No, it wasn’t!
The Bigger, Badder Dinosaur
If you’ve ever watched Jurassic Park 3, you know the dinosaur I’m talking about. It’s the “monster” predator that keeps popping up every once in awhile and actually kills the T-Rex.
It’s called a Spinosaur.
The spinosaur was faster, stronger and more agile than the T-Rex. And, including it’s tail and height…it was actually bigger!
Oh, and one more thing before we get onto the marketing lesson…
*Warning* This next sentence may ruin your image of the T-Rex.
The T-Rex may very well have just been some giant over-sized wuss. Their are many experts that believe it was nothing more than a scavenger!
What Does This Having To Do With Marketing?
There is a certain image that your clients or customers have of you. The great thing is - you have the ability to GIVE them that image with a great USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
A unique selling proposition is simply what you do that’s different from your competitors.
In the case of these dinosaurs, they don’t exactly have a USP per se (after all - they aren’t selling anything!), but somewhere along the lines the T-Rex got labeled as a ferocious man eater.
He got all the fame and fortune while the bigger and badder spinosaur got nothing.
Is this happening to your business?
Take a look at how you’re marketing yourself…
- Are you doing something different than your competitors?
- Is there a reason your prospects should go to you instead of some other guy?
- Are you a victim of the “me-too” syndrome?
Chances are, you probably aren’t the best at whatever you’re doing. There’s almost always somebody who can do the job better.
But the person who does the best job at displaying the image of being the best (even if they aren’t, like the T-Rex) is going to get the gold.
Take 30 minutes or an hour at the end of today and figure out how you can make yourself stand out as being the best in your field. If not the best, think of the best offer you can give your clients.
And then start marketing that offer to your clients and prospects immediately.
To the life you’ve always dreamed,
Jeremy
P.S. Did you take a look at my video yet showing how to get hundreds of direct marketing leads (copywriting leads) in under 20 minutes? If not, head over to http://www.GetClientsIn20.com