How To Start Your Mobile Casual Game Marketing

What makes a game casual?

Casual games are a type of mobile game designed for everyone with simple rules, short game play time and low barriers to entry. Casual games employ a variety of monetization strategies, but they tend to rely on a freemium model that is monetized through in-app purchases and in-game advertising.

There are many subcategories of casual games, including: trivial, endless runner, educational, trivia, puzzle, hidden object, adventure, word games, board games, card games, and more. You would say that most people play casual games, but what is the reason for their popularity?

Simplicity

With casual games, the mechanics are very basic. You just have to look at the game and you will understand how to play it. Casual players like that comfort. Casual games don't have many rules and can be played with one hand. It is understandable why this genre has conquered so many devices.

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Freedom

Usually, casual mobile games are free. This is mainly because no one will spend their money on these so-called small casual mobile games. Without any cost, many people agree to try them. If they like them, they will keep playing. If they don't, it won't be a monetary risk.

Fun

When you're bored, you want to have fun, not become more bored or sad after reading some news (except for our weekly overviews, which are great!). So you will play a little game while waiting for your business partner to arrive or while commuting to work.

Accessibility

Casual games can be played by all types of people, from children to adults. Casual games don't require any deep knowledge or the latest version of a smartphone, unlike hardcore games where you need to be a very experienced gamer. All you need to do is open the app store and browse to see what new and exciting things have been recently released. You will see that all devices are compatible with your device.

Short

Being able to complete the game in a short time will encourage users to keep playing it. Without too many contests, it removes the frustration of casual gamers who lose even in simple games. Clever technology can even entice casual gamers to play more games.

Market research before marketing

In terms of categories, puzzle and matchmaking remain the biggest pillars of casual games, accounting for 41% and 35% respectively. m3 meta-games are dominated by simulation games, ranking in the top 1 of m3 meta-games, which are becoming increasingly mainstream, followed by m3 meta-games, bubble shooters. Among puzzle games, words are the most popular genre in mobile games, followed by coloring, puzzles, find the difference and Sudoku.

Define your audience

Casual gaming has been one of the most compelling marketing trends of the last 20 years. While hardcore gamers play games regularly (and often spend more money to play premium games), casual gamers tend to play games to pass the time. Coupled with the rapid spread of smartphones that support gaming apps, the number of casual gamers has increased dramatically.

Forty-five percent of the U.S. population are casual gamers (2-5 hours per week) or occasional gamers (up to 2 hours per week), with hardcore gamers and casual gamers making up the other 20% of the population.

Casual games are an important part of the gaming industry. These games support instant play and use simple mechanics to play, such as timing, agility, stacking and turning. A recent study found that 56.6% of gamers consider themselves casual gamers.

Casual gamers are not your typical gamers. In fact, they are completely different. Unlike hardcore or mid-core gamers, casual gamers play games to pass the time and have fun.

Know someone who plays games while waiting at the dentist's office or in the bathroom? They would fall into the casual gamer category. This type of gamer enjoys highly engaging and easy to play mobile games from the start.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a large number of casual gamers are female, and many are over the age of 30. (Almost 60% of Candy Crush Saga players are women.)

In order to successfully advertise a casual game, you need to consider all of these factors. The success of any advertising campaign depends on knowing who the target audience is.

Conduct competitor analysis

Look at your competitors and see what they are doing to promote their games. Evaluate their games to determine what makes them different. Since ultra-casual games are so easy to make and their market is so crowded, your game needs to be different to stand out. By analyzing your competitors, you will know how to make your game stand out and get people's attention.

Game localization

This is also a matter of customer centricity. If the game is available in multiple countries/regions, the languages must match. The availability of games in multiple languages will decently broaden the horizon.

To learn more about app localization, you can check "The Complete Guide to App Localization" of our previous articles.

Start to promote your casual game

Contextual advertising

Ads in the app store are highly dependent on the keywords in the title, the title of the game itself and its description, and the rating. Google can promote this through AdWords, creating so-called "universal ad campaigns". Artificial Intelligence places ads on Google Play itself as well as on YouTube, Gmail, Google Display Network and Google Search. Remember, casual gamers want to play for free. But they don't mind watching ads in exchange for in-game rewards.

Cross promote

If you have multiple games, cross-promotion is a smart idea.

Here's the thing. If players like one of your games, they're likely to like another one of your games as well - especially if they're both in the casual category. However, cross-promotion can also include promoting casual games in other apps/games.

One technique for advertising mobile games is to find other new mobile games that are starting to build a user base similar to your own.

You can then cross-promote each other's mobile games on each game's home screen, giving you the opportunity to reach a new audience that is likely to download your game because you know they have already downloaded and are using another mobile game with a similar game.

ASO

Unlike advertising, app store optimization is a free way to promote your casual handheld games. It can help you increase the visibility of your casual game in the app store and gain new users. App store ratings have a direct impact on conversions.

The best technique to promote casual mobile games is through ASO and making them free. The main reason is that 90% of mobile game users want to play free games. This is where casual mobile games come in handy - it doesn't require any set time to play, you can play it anytime, anywhere.

With ASO, you can promote your game to a wider audience of interested users and increase downloads. Although this takes time and effort to accomplish, it is not an impossible task. The important thing is to keep users interested in playing the game.

This is how you do it:

Keyword research

The first step to successful app store optimization is to provide relevant keywords for your casual game. Ask yourself, which keywords best describe your casual game?

Once you have identified the keywords to use, it's time to implement them.

Here the keywords should be placed:

• Game title
• Game subtitles (iOS only)
• Keyword field (iOS only)
• Promotional text (iOS only)
• Description (Google Play)

To learn more about keyword research, you can check "How To Get Start Your Keyword Research For Your App To Maximize Mobile Traffic?" of our previous articles.

Creative assets

The next step is to upload an eye-catching icon. This step may not seem important, but did you know that a good icon can increase downloads by 560%?

To learn more about creative optimization, you can check "ASO Hack: What Kind of Icons and Screenshots Are More Attractive to Users?" of our previous articles.

You'll also need great screenshots and promotional videos - these can also increase conversions and are crucial for casual mobile game ads.