What is Mobile Game Guerrilla Marketing and How to Do It?
Published: 2019-12-30 16:44:41

<figure class="wp-block-image"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-19316" src="https://www.blog.udonis.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/1-1.png" alt="what is guerilla marketing" /><figcaption>Apple's Guerilla Marketing ad</figcaption></figure>
Did you know that there are more than 4.2 million apps out there? More than a third, about 1.4 million, are mobile games. What does that tell you?

The market is crowded, and the competition is fierce. Basic <a href="https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/mobile-games/mobile-game-marketing">mobile game marketing</a> methods are no longer enough to make your game a success.

You need to step up your game and think of unconventional marketing <a href="https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-strategies-2019">strategies for mobile games</a>. Something that will make people stop and listen. A memorable campaign people will share on social media and talk about for days. An advertisement that will make people download your game straight away.

Wondering how to achieve that?

<strong>Mobile game guerrilla marketing. </strong>
<h2>What is Guerilla Marketing?</h2>
When you hear the term ‘guerrilla’, it sounds kind of forceful and scary. Everyone’s mind goes to images of armed forces, confrontation, and violence. Luckily, guerrilla <em>marketing</em> is something much different. It is a marketing campaign that uses <strong>unconventional methods</strong> and attention-grabbing techniques. It’s famous for the use of public space and outdoor installations to capture the attention of people walking by.

Guerrilla marketing has a long history. We can trace it back to 1984, and it has been used ever since. In fact, guerrilla campaigns saw a rise in popularity during recent years because of their viral potential.
<h3>Guerilla Marketing for Mobile Games</h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">There are several reasons why guerrilla marketing is very appealing to mobile game developers and marketers.</span> One of the biggest ones is the <strong>low budget</strong> nature of guerrilla marketing campaigns. If you’re an indie developer with no marketing budget, these inexpensive and oftentimes free advertisements might be ideal for you.

The amount of attention and engagement a guerrilla marketing campaign can achieve is also quite appealing to marketers. It is a creative and memorable way to <a href="https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/mobile-games/mobile-game-promotion">promote a mobile game</a>. It might be just the thing you need to <strong>stand out from the crowd</strong> and get noticed.
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-19319" src="https://www.blog.udonis.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/5-Unconventional-and-Effective-Guerilla-Marketing-Ideas.jpg.jpg" alt="benefits of guerilla marketing for mobile games" /><figcaption>McDonald's Guerrilla Marketing Example</figcaption></figure>
<h2>What are the Benefits of Guerrilla Marketing for Mobile Games?</h2>
<ul>
 	<li>Attention-grabbing</li>
 	<li>Very cheap</li>
 	<li>Engaging</li>
 	<li>Unconventional</li>
 	<li>Unique</li>
 	<li>Interactive</li>
 	<li>Effective</li>
 	<li>Huge viral potential</li>
 	<li>Memorable</li>
</ul>
Finally, another big benefit of using guerrilla marketing to promote your mobile game is the fact that it’s not used often in the gaming industry. When it comes to promoting mobile games, guerrilla marketing is still an <strong>underutilized</strong> method. That gives you an even greater opportunity to stand out and do something different.
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-19320" src="https://www.blog.udonis.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dr-kims-plastic-surgery-office.jpg" alt="guerilla marketing example" /><figcaption>Dr. Kim's plastic surgery office guerilla marketing ad</figcaption></figure>
<h2>How to do Mobile Game Guerrilla Marketing?</h2>
If you’re thinking about using guerrilla marketing techniques to promote your mobile game, read these tips first. It will point you in the right direction.
<h3>Know Who You Want to Target</h3>
As with any campaign, you need to know who you want to target with mobile game guerrilla marketing.

Although it might seem simple and effortless, <strong>guerrilla marketing requires a lot of planning</strong> beforehand. Otherwise, it will be a total miss. So think about who your <a href="https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/determine-target-audience-for-a-successful-mobile-marketing-strategy">target audience</a> is and how you can get their attention. For example, you want to target female gamers from the US, aged 25-35 with an interest in puzzle games. The more specific you get, the more effective the campaign will be.

The next step is determining the goals you want to achieve. Do you want people to download your mobile game? Increase brand awareness? Whatever it is, it should be a starting point for creating a guerrilla marketing campaign.
<h3>Be Creative and Original</h3>
The main characteristic of guerrilla marketing is that it’s unconventional and catches people by surprise. It’s about using ad space in a very creative way, but still delivering the message, sometimes even without using words.

When coming up with a mobile game guerrilla marketing strategy, think outside the box. Consider the features that make your games unique and exciting. Then try to translate that into unconventional and bold advertisements that <strong>get reactions</strong>.

Here are some <strong>common guerrilla marketing types and techniques</strong> to inspire you:

<strong>Outdoors Marketing</strong> is what guerrilla marketing is famous for. It refers to the smart use of public space and different type of advertisements placed outdoors.

<strong>Ambient Marketing </strong>is a guerrilla marketing technique that grabs people’s attention by placing ads in unusual and unsuspected places.

<strong>Event Ambush Marketing </strong>is when you use the audience of another event to your advantage. <span style="font-weight: 400;">Keep in mind, this might get you in trouble so try it at your own risk.</span>

<strong>Experiential Marketing</strong> refers to involving the audience in the event. It produces great results because it creates a happening that’s immersive and interactive.

However, you don’t have to go in the direction of installations or events in public space like most other guerilla marketing campaigns. Why not transfer guerilla marketing techniques into the digital space? Social media is a great place for that. Plus, your mobile game campaign could easily go viral.
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-19332" src="https://www.blog.udonis.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/guerilla-campaign-example.jpg" alt="guerilla marketing campaign ad example" /><figcaption>Frontline guerilla marketing campaign example</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Make Your Guerrilla Marketing Campaign Interactive</h3>
The most effective guerrilla marketing campaigns are the ones that are interactive and require the <strong>participation of the audience</strong>. When you get the audience involved, it creates a memorable experience. Something people will talk about. It would fall into the category of the aforementioned experiential marketing.

You might even create an advertisement that people become a part of. Frontline’s clever campaign is a great example of that. They have placed a giant photo of a dog on the first floor. If you look at it from above, when people walk over the photo, an illusion of a dog being covered in insects is created. Not only is that a very clever idea, but also a great and unconventional use of ad space. And of course, it wouldn’t be as effective without the (in this case unknowing) participation of people passing by.
<h3>Track the Performance of Your Mobile Game Guerrilla Marketing Campaign</h3>
Measuring the results of a guerrilla marketing campaign is often very tricky. Especially if you’re using traditional marketing mediums like billboards and interventions in public space. In that case, it’s hard to know exactly how many people saw your advertisement and how many installed your mobile game as a result of it.

However, if you go for digital guerrilla marketing, you’ll have access to all data and be able to track the performance of the campaign in a detailed way. The numbers will tell you whether your guerrilla marketing stunt was a hit or miss.
<h2>3 Inspiring Examples of Guerrilla Marketing</h2>
Enough with the theory, let’s go through some examples that showcase the effectiveness of guerrilla marketing.
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-19322" src="https://www.blog.udonis.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/guerillamarketing2.jpg" alt="example of mobile game guerilla marketing" /><figcaption>Zombie Match: An Example of Mobile Game Guerilla Marketing</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Zombie Match Mobile Game Guerrilla Marketing Campaign</h3>
When Jake Sones, developer of Zombie Match, was rejected to showcase his game at IndieCade, he knew he had to take the matter into his own hands. Instead of giving up and not going to the festival, he went. But here’s the twist – <strong>he dressed up as his mobile game. </strong>

Wait, what?

That’s right. Jake created a <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zombie-match-gameclub/id952938642" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Zombie Match</a> arcade cabinet costume that had an iPad as a screen. That way people could play his game on the spot. As he walked around in the costume, Jake was getting a lot of attention. People were not only playing his mobile game, but many downloaded it right then and there.

Jake also handed out a ton of flyers and took pictures with people. It resulted in a lot of <strong>free exposure</strong> on social media and an increase in brand awareness. Even some gaming sites like TouchArcade mentioned Jake’s stunt.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-19324" src="https://www.blog.udonis.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/guerillamarketing1.png" alt="mobile game guerilla marketing example" />
<h3>Hipster CEO Mobile Game Guerrilla Marketing</h3>
Before the Hipster CEO mobile game was even launched, its creator Gerard Kelly wanted to create some buzz around it. He had a small mailing list and he was trying to get people interested in the launch by sending news and updates.

Then Gerard got an ingenious idea. He sent out an email to his mailing list saying, “Walt dies.” Here’s the interesting part – that email was sent right before the final episode of Breaking Bad.

People freaked out because they thought it was a huge spoiler. Gerard even had to apologize and say he was only kidding and had no idea how the series ends.

However, his guerrilla marketing stunt worked. Almost everyone who got that email shared it and it ended up on social media where <strong>it went viral</strong>.

The results?

Gerard got <strong>more than 10,000 new subscribers!</strong> That made it a lot easier to market his upcoming Hipster CEO mobile game.

That, my friends, is how you do smart and effective mobile game guerrilla marketing in the digital age.
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-19325" src="https://www.blog.udonis.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/bounty-guerilla-marketing-campagin-scaled.jpg" alt="example of guerilla marketing campaign" /><figcaption>Bounty guerilla marketing example</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Bounty Guerrilla Marketing Campaign</h3>
This example is not from the gaming world, but it’s incredibly creative and effective which makes it worth mentioning.

Bounty, a paper towel company, created a huge ‘mess’ on the busy streets of New York and Los Angeles. One was a huge spilled coffee cup (including real coffee aroma and steam) and the other was a giant ice-cream melting on the LA promenade. Next to the ‘messes’, was a billboard saying, “Makes small work of big spills – Bounty”.

Do I even have to tell you that <strong>Bounty’s public stunt was a huge hit</strong>?

It was impossible to ignore this campaign. Everyone who passed it on the streets had to look and many stopped to take photos with it. That’s why guerrilla marketing is so effective and memorable. It creates a huge buzz and gets people talking. There’s no way the same results would come from traditional billboards or TV ads.
<h2>Final Thoughts on Mobile Game Guerrilla Marketing</h2>
Uniqueness and creativity always win in the end. That’s the key takeaway of guerrilla marketing for mobile games. People are tired of basic billboards and same old social ads. They want to see something different. Something that disrupts the usual flow of things. That’s what grabs their attention.

Be daring and unconventional when marketing your mobile game. It doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money. You saw in the examples that it’s possible to execute a successful mobile game guerrilla marketing campaign for free.

This time, money can’t be an excuse. All you need to create a kick-ass guerrilla marketing campaign for your game is creativity.
<h2>Read More About Mobile Game Marketing</h2>
<ul>
 	<li><a href="https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/mobile-games/mobile-gaming-statistics">45+ Mobile Gaming Statistics for 2020 That Will Blow Your Mind</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/mobile-games/indie-mobile-game-marketing">Indie Mobile Game Marketing: Best Strategies for 2020</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/mobile-games/modern-mobile-gamer">Who is a modern mobile gamer? (shifts of the ‘gamer’ demographics)</a></li>
 	<li><a href="https://www.blog.udonis.co/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-companies">Top 15 Mobile Marketing Companies in 2020</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>About <a href="https://udonis.co/">Udonis</a>:</h2>
In 2018 &amp; 2019, Udonis Inc. served over 14.1 billion ads &amp; acquired over 50 million users for mobile apps &amp; games. We’re recognized as <a href="https://udonis.co/about?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=post">a leading mobile marketing agency</a> by 5 major marketing review firms. We helped over 20 mobile apps &amp; games reach the top charts. Want to know how we make it look so effortless? <a href="https://udonis.co/contact?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=post">Meet us</a> to find out.

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