Four Essential Marketing Tips That Have Nothing to Do With Buying Traffic or Placing Ads (White Nights Conference Prague 2017) The official conference website — http://wnconf.com

1. 4 ESSENTIAL MARKETING TIPS
THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH BUYING TRAFFIC
Reach  Engage  Earn
MIKE HINES
DEVELOPER EVANGELIST, AMAZON
@MikeFHines mikehines45
mihines@amazon.com

2. A B O U T
Mike Hin e s
Amazon Appstore
@MikeFHines
Founder @ 2 Financial Services Startups
Founder @ 2 Software Startups
QA Engineer @ Now Software
QA Manager, Product Manager @ Microsoft
Evangelist @ Amazon.com
Mentor @ GameFounders, Dev Bootcamp
Games Judge @Casual Connect Indie Prize, White
Nights, and Pocket Gamer Very Big Indie Pitch
Speaker @ GDC, GDCE, Casual Connect, Pocket
Gamer Connects, AnDevCon, White Nights, CES,
PAX Dev, etc…

3. CREDIBLY INNOVATE PHOTO
HERE
Amazon Appstore
TODAY’S AGENDA
Life without 4 Tips (it’s hard)
4 Tips:
Marketing to Advocates
Marketing to Professionals
Marketing to Content Creators
Get Paid to Market Your App

4. Basic Monetization Landscape
Premium In-App Purchase Ads
There’s room for improvement
• “The biggest problem with freemium app models is that 97% of consumers don’t
convert, instead sticking to the free features.”1
• Cost of $2.10 and $1.51 per download for iOS and Google Play respectively in
the US often eclipses user lifetime value (LTV)3
• Free apps attract more users that premium apps
1 WSJ http://www.wsj.com/articles/mobile-game-makers-try-to-catch-more-whales-who-pay-for-free-games-1431306115
3 Chartboost: https://www.chartboost.com/insights/ 2015

5. OPTIMIZE THE GAME
Most of us will
IAP
Retention
Engagement
… and then we buy ads and traffic.
But you know this.

6. Think outside the app
Reach new customers
Retain existing customers
New revenue opportunities
Target customers
OUTSIDE YOUR GAME

7. BUILD A NETWORK
4 marketing tips will help
Influencers
• Advocates
• Professionals
Content Creators
• Education
• Entertainment
• Downloadable Content
Revenue Opportunities

8. A HEALTHY NETWORK HAS INFLUENCERS
Influence: The ability to cause or contribute to a change in opinion or behavior.
Influencers Mainstream
Willingness to adopt
#ofpeople
Two kinds of influencers:
• Advocates
• Professionals

9. ADVOCATES
Players that influence peer groups

10. TIP 1: BUILDING ADVOCATE FANS
Example of streaming during development
A PATH TO ENGAGE
Give your fans a
Chat with Developers
Share fan art/photos
Participate in events
Show their loyalty

11. PROFESSIONALS
Influencer with huge reach
Google search trends
For Flappy bird spikes
Pewdiepie Plays Flappy Bird on Jan
27

12. TIP 2: BUILDING PROFESSIONAL FANS
Example of streaming during development
• Show them why their fans/readers care
• Include video of amazing parts of your
game
• Include headline-suitable screen-shots
• Include a link to download the game
• Make sure they can play your game
• iOS, Android, Console, PC, etc.
When you contact a professional, always:

13. ENDLESS CONTENT
If you enable it, fans will extend the in game experience
Minecraft Trivia Crack

14. A FAN BASE INCLUDES CONTENT CREATORS
“what is this game, is it worth getting”
“how do I get better at this game”

15. TIP 3: BUILDING CONTENT CREATORS
Example of streaming during development
ACHIEVE SUCCESS
Help your content creators
• Make it easy for them to share their
content
• Promote their content
• Thank them…
• …Publically (badges, boards, etc.)

16. TIP 4: GET PAID TO MARKET YOUR APP
Subscription revenue can be material at scale
YouTube

17. SELL BRANDED PRODUCTS
Support advocates, contributors, and commemorate milestones

18. BRANDED SHIRTS MADE EASY
Sell your stuff.
YOUR OWN BRANDED PRODUCT
Earn royalties on:
• T-Shirts you design
• No up-front expense
• No warehouse fees
• No selling expense
• Your own page on Amazon.com
Amazon helps you sell

19. 4 MARKETING TIPS
Recap
Build Advocates to get additional players
• Help them reach their audiences
• Give them ways to express their excitement
Build Media Contacts to increase scale
• Help them satisfy their audience
• Make their job easy
Sell Outside your Game to make money and support fans
• Subscription revenue from related content (YouTube/Twitch)
• Offer branded merchandise (T-Shirts)
Build Content Creators to increase retention
• Help them be successful
• Showcase their content

20. Learn more:
http://developer.amazon.com
Contact us:
forums.developer.amazon.com
Follow us:
/MobileDevMikeHines
@AmazonAppDev @MikeFHines
developer.amazon.com/blog