It is no secret that in the last couple of years Free-to-Play has become the main business model for mobile games. There is hardly a day without a new revenue-breaking record making industry headlines. By moving monetization after the install and into the game, Free-to-Play has indeed unleashed the revenue potential for each player. However, free games present clearly identified challenges for publishers when it comes to marketing and advertising. With monetization now optional and taking place after the install, it’s important to know exactly at which price you can acquire a new user in order to turn a profit. It’s a numbers game. In this new eBook by AppLift, we present the 5 steps to optimizing your mobile game’s marketing and advertising efforts, both within and outside of the app stores. Here’s a sneak peak! 1. Master App Store Marketing Learn how to make the most of these powerful distribution channels, through discoverability and conversion optimization. 2. Go For a Wise Mix of Traffic Sources Find out how to pick the right marketing and advertising channels for your game, both free and paid. 3. Plan your Launch Discover everything you need to take into account to ace your launch! 4. Get Ready for the Long Haul Get to know why mobile game advertising is a marathon, not a sprint… 5. Track Beyond the Install See how to track post-install events in order to optimize your advertising spend. Happy Mobile Game Marketing!

1. Steps to
Successfully Market Your
Free-to-Play Mobile Game

2. Free-to-Play is here to stay!
• Free-to-Play has become the leading business model in gaming
• If successful, it offers an unlimited revenue upside
• However, it comes with challenges
• Monetization takes place within the game, after the install
• Marketing and advertising a Free-to-Play game is hard
• You need to know at what price you can acquire new users in order to turn out a
profit
It’s a numbers game…
• You need to concentrate your efforts on acquiring the best users at the
right price…
…within the app stores as well as…
…outside of the app stores
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3. 5 steps to successfully market your game
Within the app stores:
1. Master App Store Marketing
Outside of the app stores:
2. Go for a Wise Mix of Traffic Source
3. Plan your Launch
4. Get Ready for the Long Haul
5. Track Beyond the Install
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4. #1
Master App Store Marketing
App Store Optimization (ASO) is essentially
about 2 things…
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5. Discoverability (getting found) …
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6. …and Conversion (getting downloaded)
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7. Discoverability: standing out from
the crowd
It’s all about search
According to Nielsen, 63% of people use the
native search function of the App Store to
discover new apps.
Title
Therefore, it’s essential to optimize all the
information that will enable your app to show up
as highly ranked as possible in search results (aka
the meta data: title, keywords, description).
Both on Google Play and the Apple AppStore, the
keywords used in the title weigh greatly in the
search algorithm. The title should be compelling
but not too long (for instance, on iOS it gets
truncated after 12 characters).
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8. Keywords: they are key for a reason…
• Apple and Google differ greatly in their ways of accounting for keywords,
and so should you optimization strategy:
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Keywords are included in a private list
Use 100 characters, including commas;
Keywords are specific to each local
AppStore, and should therefore be entirely
localized and not just translated;
Don’t repeat the keywords already present
in the title, don‘t leave spaces;
Use only single words and single forms,
avoid articles;
Focus on the long tail: tailored keywords
will make you rank higher;
Your game’s category is automatically a
keyword, no need to add it to the list.
 Keywords are included in the description
 Include your main keywords around 5 times
along your description, while keeping it
readable and cohesive;
 Use phrases, they are as important as words;
 Screen competitors’ descriptions;
 Google’s roots are in search: use AdWord’s
keyword tool as well as the auto-response
search suggestions in Google Play to assess
your keywords’ popularity;
 It can be a good strategy to be opportunistic
and include some trendy and/or seasonal
keywords (Christmas, Olympics, Gangnam
Style...).
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9. Conversion: closing the deal
Once people have reached your app page, you still need to convince
them to download it. This can be achieved through the marketing
assets present on the stores. These can be both visual (icon &
screenshots) and written (title and description).
Icon
The icon is an essential
element on all platforms,
but comes at a premium
on Google Play as it is the
only asset directly visible
from the search function.
Visual assets are coutesy of King.com Limited
Make the content elements pop out
The icon should make it obvious
what the app is about
Consider using a border so it looks
good on any background
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10. Optimizing conversion on the Apple AppStore
On the AppStore, one search result is displayed at a time, therefore conferring a strong
advantage to the first app showing up. The best way to optimize your game’s conversion
potential is to go through a funnel of click stages, concentrating most of your efforts on
the assets which are displayed first.
At each of these stages, the users can
either decide to download the app if
they are convinced by what they see,
click to find out more or leave the
page. Ideally, you want to give the best
impression as early in the process as
possible.
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11. #2
Choose a wise mix of traffic channels
The main challenge when acquiring users outside of the app stores is
the number and variety of channels available, both free and paid.
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12. Free advertising channels outside of the App Store
The most common practice to acquire users for free is to
cross promote your game with other apps according to a
barter scheme. This implies having ad offer mechanisms
implemented in your app so as to be able to push other
games. You also need to have a large-enough user base
so as to be in a position to send traffic back.
Cross-promotion can be achieved in two different
ways: either directly with other publishers, which
can turn out to be time-consuming, or through a
3rd-party solution, which will however in many
cases require you to integrate an SDK in your
game.
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13. Paid advertising channels: do’s and don’ts
Mobile advertising is a numbers game. The amount of money you can earn from a
single user on average over the time they will be using the app will govern how
much you can spend to acquire someone at a profit.
Therefore, it’s essential to keep a tight handle on the cost of acquisition
of your users, as on average your CPI (Cost Per Install) should always
remain below your ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), in order to be
eventually profitable.
Now, with the great variety of traffic suppliers, advertising formats and
billing methods, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself…
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14. Should I buy CPM, CPC or CPI?
Depending on the traffic source you can be billed on a Cost-Per-Mille (1,000 impressions),
Cost-Per-Click (CPC) or Cost-Per-Install (CPI) basis
Buying impressions and clicks tends to yield higher
volumes, because there is more inventory available
CPM
Click-Through
Rate
CPC
Conversion
Rate
CPI
However
Your resulting CPI (so-called effective CPI or eCPI)
will then be the result of the click-through rate (in
the case of CPM) as well as the conversion rate
from clicks to installs.
You’re taking on a risk
Buying on a CPI basis is the best way to eliminate the risk
associated with both the click-through rate and the
conversion rate.
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15. Should I integrate a proprietary advertising SDK?
Many mobile advertising companies will ask you to
integrate their SDK to track the installs they’re generating
for you.
This can sometimes be needed, either because you’re being
billed on a CPI basis or simply to measure the effectiveness
of the campaign based on eCPI, although you’re actually
being charged for impressions or clicks.
However tempting this turnkey solution might be, be
careful not to lock yourself in and become entirely
dependent on one company for your entire marketing
strategy.
It’s advised to keep analytics and tracking technically distinct (i.e. different SDK’s) from
advertising, so as to remain flexible and have the option to easily switch partners in case
you’re not satisfied with the results
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16. Which advertising format?
Now the next question is, how to advertise?
There are numerous mobile advertising formats
available:
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Display
Content
Emails
Search
Push Notifications
…
Display and content being the 2 most widely
advertising formats employed, let’s focus on
them.
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17. Content Advertising: it’s about intent
With content advertising, your game is brought forward in the context of a review or a
recommendation. It is a powerful advertising channel: conversion rates as well as traffic
quality are relatively high, because your app is discovered with intent.
There are several suppliers of content advertising,
such as:
• Mobile review websites
• Native discovery apps
• Promo apps
The latter will show case your game and send out
push notifications to their users.
Content advertising can sometimes generate high volumes, but generally it can’t deliver
sustained installs over a longer period of time.
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18. The galaxy of display advertising
With display advertising, your game is simply promoted through creative artwork placed
within an app or a mobile website. While conversion rates tend to be lower than with
content advertising, display remains the best way to generate a large amount of installs
over a longer period of time.
There’s a wide array of the major suppliers of
display traffic:
• Ad Networks
They can generate the largest volumes,
but don‘t offer CPI billing. However, some
will give you the option to integrate their
SDK in order to optimize towards a CPI
goal. Depending on the type of ad
network, they might or might not disclose
their publishers (blind vs. premium).
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19. Major suppliers of display advertising
• Mobile Agencies
They have access to a wide array of traffic sources, but as a general rule don’t work with
publishers directly and typically require a minimum test budget of at least $10,000. They don‘t
work on a performance basis and some will ask of you to integrate their SDK.
• Big App Publishers
They sell their traffic to advertisers directly, cutting out the middleman. It can however be
time-consuming to set up individual deals with each of them and they make it difficult to test
traffic quality.
• Affiliate Networks
They work directly with publishers, and typically charge you on a CPI basis. They have access
to a wide array of direct traffic sources (publishers, ad networks, email campaigns...)
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20. Summing up…
Limit your risks! Buy on a CPI basis as much as you can in order to reduce
the risk and internal efforts associated with campaign monitoring and
optimization.
Diversify your traffic sources, or work with a partner
who has access to them.
Avoid commitment to minimum spends, especially if your
budget is limited or if you want to test specific markets.
Don’t lock yourself in with single “turnkey” advertising SDK
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21. #3
Plan your launch
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22. Consider a soft launch
It is common practice to test your game and its
monetization mechanics in smaller test countries
before the official launch, so as to make adjustments
before the big day.
The English-speaking countries used for soft launches
are Canada and Australia, as monetization patterns
there are very similar to the US; if the metrics indicate
that it’s working in Canada, then there is a good chance
that it will work in the US as well.
In Europe, provided that your game is in
English, you can test it in smaller markets such
as the Scandinavian countries, as this doesn’t
require localization.
Be aware, however, that traffic in these
countries is much sought after and tends to be
more expensive.
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23. Focus and target
Where to launch?
You should focus your promotion resources on the countries that
are most relevant for your game’s audience.
Depending on its genre and content, you may not need to restrict
the launch to the countries for which it has been localized. For
instance, no need to localize extensively if your game is casual or if
you are launching in Scandinavian countries.
The main driver of your targeting decision should in all cases be the
price of local CPI’s and monetization potential, i.e. conducting a
geographic cost/benefit analysis.
Which platforms and devices to target?
The devices on which to launch will mainly depend on the type of gameplay you offer. If it requires a
large screen to play in good conditions, we recommend focusing your efforts on tablets. As for the
platform, if your game mainly monetizes through in-app purchase items, you should probably target
iOS devices in priority. If your game’s business model relies on ad offers, spending budget on Android
as well makes sense, as you will generally be able to acquire users at lower cost.
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24. #4
Get ready for the long haul
With Free-to-Play games, as monetization takes place within the game, it’s
essential to take the whole user lifecycle into consideration and look beyond the
install, which is merely the first step.
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25. Look beyond the burst
A question which often comes up when launching a
game on iOS is whether to buy a campaign to boost it
into the top ranks of the App Store’s free charts.
To determine your rank position, the Apple algorithm
indeed takes into account the downloads received in
the previous days, with a strong focus on the past 24
hours.
It’s important to note that your game’s appeal needs
to be broad enough to benefit from a top chart
exposure, as it does obviously not offer any targeting
options!
Provided that this condition is met, these so called
“burst campaigns” need to be considered, because
they can be a great way to gain visibility, acquire free
organic users and bring your average CPI down.
However…
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26. …however…
A burst can and should never be the end of your marketing efforts!
Indeed, many publishers resort to burst campaigns and stop all advertising spend after
their game has hit the top charts, hoping that once it has been discovered it will sustain
itself on its own through the momentum. This (almost) never happens, especially if your
game addresses a narrower audience of passionate players.
Burst only
Burst + Sustained Campaign
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27. #5
Track post-install events
With Free-to-Play, you need to keep a close eye on both the Customer
Lifetime Value (CLV) of your players and the average CPI at which you
acquire them.
Both figures will vary depending on the traffic source, which is why it is
important to track the quality of the users generated by the various
channels you’re using in order to optimize your advertising spend.
And, as it can take some time for
monetization to happen after the first
app launch, you need to define and track
events which will give you a good
indication of the quality of the traffic. In
other words: a proxy of the likelihood of
the users to monetize at some point.
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28. Which events to track?
The relevant events to track in order to optimize CLV can fall into the following three categories:
1.
Retention and Engagement
Typical KPI‘s: specific in-game achievements, 3-day retention rate
2.
Virality
Typical KPI‘s: social media sharing rate, proportion of Facebook logins
3.
Monetization
Typical KPI‘s: ad revenue per time played, amount and frequency of in-app purchases
Depending on the setup of your game, you will usually be able to assess retention,
engagement, as well as virality quite early in the user‘s lifecycle. However, monetization
might only come later as it is directly dependent on the two other KPI categories. This is why
it‘s important to track events falling in the two first categories as well in order to get a proxy
of monetization potential as early in the cycle as possible and adjust your ad spend
accordingly.
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29. How close are you to the traffic source?
In order to optimize your marketing spend, we advise
you to take into account the proximity of the source
with the final traffic supplier.
Indeed, the closer you are to your various install
sources, the more you can optimize your spend
between them. For instance, ad networks provide
aggregated traffic from many publishers, so the data
they deliver will not generally get any more granular
than their average.
There is a however a way to work around this,
provided the networks can provide you with publisher
ID‘s, which then allows you to optimize the traffic by
its exact source.
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30. Here’s your next step!
Discover how AppLift can help you acquire quality users at
scale for your Free-to-Play Game.
Talk to us!

info@applift.com
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