7 Steps to Build a Game Marketing Plan in the Russian Market

Game developers and publishers need to understand how and where to promote the game. Moreover, this applies not only to the choice of the market, but also to the channels for promoting the game and reaching the final audience.

Does your game need a marketing plan?

Placing ads in various channels allows a video game to win back its media space from competitors. But does only advertising promotion work when bringing the game to the Russian market? Of course not – advertising should only be part of a marketing strategy.

Today's promotion is based on content and building a community around your game. They allow you to gain competitive advantages by increasing the loyalty and interest of the audience, feeling their involvement in the creation and improvement of the game.

To link all the promotion channels together and achieve not only marketing but also business goals, the game needs a marketing plan. In this article, we will analyze the steps of creating a marketing plan to promote a video game in the Russian market.

7 steps to build a marketing plan for video game promotion

Step 1. Clear setting the marketing goal in the market in accordance with the main business goals. The goal should be specific, measurable, achievable, real, and time-limited. This can be, for example, bringing a new game to the Russian market within 2 months (attracting a new audience) or maintaining leadership in it (for example, increasing audience loyalty and the number of downloads of the game by 20% within 3 months).

Step 2. Analysis and identification of key segments of the target audience. The market segmentation stage is the second, but in fact it is a fundamental analysis that will show feasibility of bringing the game to the Russian market. You can study your target audience online through web marketing tools, social networks, surveys, or offline by researching, observing, studying reports and conclusions of experts, and attending industry events.

Step 3. Setting intermediate tasks and drawing up a time plan to achieve them. If the goal is set for a year, then intermediate tasks should be set for each quarter/month/week. In addition to the time frame for implementation, each task must specify the responsible person.

Step 4. Creating a content calendar: blog articles, posts, email newsletters, research, videos, official documents, e-books, webinars, articles in the media, and much more. The calendar must specify the date of publication of the content, its name, priority, type and name of the site where the content will be posted (blog, forums, media, social networks, etc.), author and execution status.

Step 5. Creating an integrated promotion campaign: use search engine marketing, social networks, content marketing, participation in industrial events, etc. – consider any marketing tools that you can use within your budget.

Step 6. Creating a flexible budget that can be easily moved depending on the effectiveness of the campaign and analysis data in a particular promotion channel.

Step 7. Setting KPIs and analyzing their performance. Decide the indicators you will use to evaluate your performance. Measure all indicators, analyze and be ready to adapt and adjust the plan.

The marketing plan shall mandatory contain the following:

• A view at the brand's position on the market today and prospects for the year.
• Detailed quarterly action plan: goals, tasks, deadlines, and budget for implementation.
• Detailed description of the portrait of each audience segment.
• Analysis of key queries, pains, and needs of each segment of the target audience.

Two tools will help you in this matter in the Russian market: Yandex Wordstat, which allows you to evaluate the popularity of key queries in Yandex across Russia and regions and select the keys that are relevant to your search. For this purpose, Google uses a keyword planner using competitor domains. For example, if your game is in the shooter genre, use the site of one of the most popular games on the Russian market DOOM to search for queries, set the location "Russia" and collect the key queries found on the competitor's site.

• Databases of industrial media, bloggers, and streamers.
• An internal advertising calendar that covers planned press releases, feature stories, editorial opportunities, and related events.
• List of online and offline gaming industry events.

White Paper "Guide to Online Games Promotion in the Russian Market" will help you in drawing up a portrait of the target audience of a Russian-speaking gamer and selecting channels for promoting the game in the Russian market.

Adjusting the plan

It is worth noting that the marketing plan is a dynamic system that will be developed and refined during its testing and implementation, so do not be afraid to include your most daring ideas in it. Also remember that the marketing plan must be implemented, which means that you should not set sky-high goals and objectives that you know you will not achieve within your budget or for other reasons – approach its formation as realistically as possible.

The success of the game in the Russian market depends on how thoroughly you think through each item of your marketing plan and how responsibly all members of your team will approach its implementation. RMAA Games experts will help you create and implement, or adjust an existing marketing plan that will help your game win over its audience of Russian gamers.

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