As we step into 2024, the gaming industry’s landscape is evolving rapidly, presenting both unprecedented challenges and opportunities in event marketing. Whether it’s leveraging emerging technologies or tapping into the vibrant gaming community, understanding these dynamics is crucial for standing out at gaming events.
At ÜberStrategist, we know that a solid event marketing strategy is crucial for achieving your event goals. We’ve spent years honing our skills in event marketing and have helped gaming clients make a big splash at industry events with comprehensive and multichannel marketing that leaves a lasting impression. Our strategies are designed not just to navigate but to excel in this exciting environment.
If you want to maximize your impact at events in 2024 and beyond, read on to learn how to generate buzz, capture media attention, and make the most out of attending or exhibiting at an event.
The Importance of a Comprehensive Multichannel Event Marketing Strategy
In the gaming world, where innovation and engagement are keys to success, a multifaceted event marketing strategy is your golden ticket.
For instance, a recent study by EventMB found that event marketers who adopt a comprehensive approach see a 35% higher attendee satisfaction rate and a 50% increase in event ROI. This underscores the critical role of a diverse multichannel event marketing strategy in making a lasting impression on the gaming community.
What is a comprehensive approach? It’s leveraging many different types of marketing to create greater impact. For example, it’s using PR to generate buzz and build credibility. Influencer marketing to tap into authentic voices. Content marketing to share valuable information and establish your brand as an authority. Social media to connect with your audience. And paid media to amplify your reach and impact.
Additional research showed that 95% of marketers know how crucial multichannel marketing is for targeting, but only 73% say they have a multichannel strategy, and only 30% say they are highly confident in their ability to carry out multichannel marketing.
Here at ÜberStrategist, we look at a multichannel event marketing strategy as having five main components:
- PR
- Influencer Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing/Community
- Paid Media/Sponsored Content
In the list below, we share some of our favorite multichannel event marketing strategies that we know work for developers and publishers. These strategies allow you to unleash your creativity and tap into the power of storytelling to promote your presence at events and generate more buzz around your brand.
It’s time to make some noise, get noticed, and leave a lasting impression at your next tradeshow.
PR Event Strategies: Making Headlines and Gaining Traction
Public relations (PR) is pivotal in an event marketing strategy for gaming businesses. Solid PR event strategies help you generate buzz around your event attendance/exhibition, build credibility, and get meetings with high-profile media outlets.
Develop a Compelling Narrative
Craft a story around your event attendance that captures the imagination and resonates with your target audience. Tie your narrative to a broader trend, issue, or human-interest angle related to the gaming industry to increase its news value. Then, pitch your story to relevant journalists, bloggers, and podcasters, emphasizing its timeliness and relevance to their audience.
Build Relationships with the Media
Identify key industry journalists, bloggers, and podcasters and establish meaningful connections with them. Offer exclusive stories, interviews, or previews to help them create engaging content about your brand and your presence at the upcoming event.
During the event, set up meetings with the press to strengthen relationships and secure post-event coverage.
Deliver the Best ‘You’ with Media Training
There are nuances with media and press that might not otherwise be known by a first-timer or teams with limited experience during these face-to-face encounters.
Media training ensures you know what to watch out for and protect yourself and your brand. It also helps you identify the tactics you can and should deploy to make a good impression with the press that results in a positive piece of coverage about you and your game.
Many PR agencies offer media training, and here at ÜberStrategist, we have media training programs specifically for gaming companies.
Offer Exclusive Opportunities
Provide attendees exclusive opportunities, such as gaming demos, sneak peeks of your latest game, or behind-the-scenes access to your leadership team. Use press releases and pitch journalists ahead of time to let people know that your booth will be the place to be at the event.
You can create a sense of urgency and excitement by offering exclusive opportunities to draw attendees to your space. It also draws in higher-tier press and media when they have something exclusive on their site or channel.
Create a Press Kit
Make it easy for journalists to cover you at the event by providing a comprehensive press kit. Include high-quality images, videos, infographics, ready-to-use quotes, facts, and figures that showcase your game’s unique aspects.
A critical component in your press kit is a fact sheet, sometimes called a “one-pager,” where media can quickly learn everything about your game, including price, ratings, platforms, launch date information, and boilerplate information about the game itself. Unlike a press release, a fact sheet doesn’t have a specific call-to-action but instead serves to inform all of the key information and metadata relating to your game.
A well-crafted press kit can streamline the coverage process for journalists and increase the likelihood of your brand being featured in prominent publications and platforms.
Become an Event Sponsor
Consider sponsoring an event or activity at the event to increase your brand’s visibility and generate positive PR. This can include sponsoring a networking event, keynote speaker, or after-party.
Enhance Your Thought-Leadership Through Speaking
Secure speaking opportunities or panel spots for your brand’s executives or representatives at the event. Not only does this help position your brand as a thought leader, but it will also help to generate media coverage. This typically needs to be coordinated well before an event or trade show, and it’s critical to find out who is organizing the specific panel or talk and establish that relationship with a solid pitch.
Influencer Marketing Event Strategies: Harnessing the Power of Authentic Voices
Another critical component of your 2024 event marketing strategy should be influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is ideal for gaming companies because it helps you leverage the reach and trustworthiness of influencers to promote your brand, game, and presence at an event.
Choose the Right Influencers
Identify influencers in your industry who align with your brand values and genuinely connect with your target audience. Include micro-influencers, niche experts, and industry thought leaders who can deliver targeted and credible messages.
Conduct thorough research and reach out to influencers who can best represent your brand and help you achieve your objectives at the upcoming event. To further build relationships, personally invite the selected influencers to your booth if they attend.
Involve Influencers in Content Creation
Partner with influencers to create sponsored content or to stream live on your booth. Influencer content can help showcase your games, increase brand awareness, and attract more attendees to the booth. By tapping into their audience and credibility, you can make a more significant impact and stand out at the event. Providing space for influencers to create content at your booth is another huge driver to building relationships with influencers and their audiences.
Offer Exclusive Experiences
By providing influencers exclusive access to your games at the event (such as early access to your upcoming release), they can create content that showcases your brand and generates excitement among their followers. After the event, influencers can continue covering your brand by sharing their exclusive experiences and content with their audience, increasing your brand’s visibility and impact.
Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)
Influencers can generate buzz and boost engagement at your booth during the event by creating and sharing user-generated content (i.e., photos, videos, reviews, a branded hashtag, etc.).
By tapping into influencers’ audiences, user-generated content can help create a sense of community and excitement around your game and drive overall event engagement, resulting in a bigger impact.
Content Marketing Event Strategies: Crafting Compelling Stories to Drive Results
Content marketing is another excellent tool for promoting your brand’s attendance or exhibition at an event. Creating and sharing engaging content helps gaming businesses generate interest and encourage attendees to connect with your brand at the event.
Blogging
Publish blog posts highlighting your brand’s presence at the event. This can include blogs about the games that will be revealed at the event, a preview of what attendees can expect at your booth, a recap afterward, and behind-the-scenes stories.
Share these articles on social media and in email newsletters to drive attendees to your booth and increase engagement with your brand.
Email Marketing
If you have an email list, you can use it to promote your presence at the event or trade show. This helps to build excitement and encourages your followers to stop by your booth. Some emails you could send include the following:
- A ‘save the date’ email to announce that you’re attending or exhibiting at the event
- A ‘pre-event reminder’ email so attendees know exactly where to find you at the event
- A ‘thank you’ email afterward to thank your community for supporting you at the event
- An ‘event recap’ email that recaps the highlights, successes, and achievements of the event
Video Content
Video content can be used before, during, and after an event.
Before the event, you can create video content that showcases what attendees can expect from your brand’s presence, highlighting your latest game or showcasing your booth or presentation.
During the event, you can use video content to capture the excitement and energy, sharing it on social media with the event hashtag to generate buzz and attract more attendees to your booth.
After the event, you could use video to share a recap or thank your community.
Social Media & Community Event Strategies: Engaging Your Audience Like Never Before
Social media is an effective event marketing strategy that allows you to engage with attendees, showcase your games, and generate buzz around your brand’s presence before, during, and after the event.
Promote Your Attendance
Identify the social media channels where your target audience is most active and engaged, then use those channels to promote your brand’s attendance at the event before it starts. Share important information like booth number, schedule, and what to expect, along with related blog posts, videos, and images you created in your content marketing. Remember to share teasers for any new game releases you’ll showcase at the event to intrigue people and make them want to stop by your booth.
Use Hashtags to Amplify Reach
Hashtags allow your social content to be more easily discovered by users interested in the event, the gaming industry, or related topics. Research popular and trending hashtags in gaming and insert them strategically into your posts. Also, use any event-specific hashtags consistently across all your social media platforms and tag the event social media pages. Finally, consider creating your own branded hashtag too.
Engage with Your Audience
Encourage conversation and interaction related to the event by asking questions, soliciting feedback, and responding to comments. Monitor social media platforms for mentions of your brand during the event and respond to them promptly.
Engaging with attendees and addressing their questions or concerns helps build relationships and increase engagement. With the gaming industry having such a passionate fan base, engagement can spark lively discussions and foster a strong community around your brand.
Use Livestreaming During the Event
Livestreaming has become an indispensable tool in the gaming industry. To use livestreaming effectively, plan ahead and promote your livestream in advance on your social media channels.
During the livestream, showcase your booth or presentation, highlight your games, and engage with attendees in real-time by answering their questions or responding to their comments. By providing a virtual experience for those unable to attend the event in person, you can expand your reach and increase engagement with your audience.
Be sure to save the livestream from resharing on your social media and YouTube channels after the event or to use it in your post-event blog post or email recap.
Paid Media/Sponsored Content Event Strategies: Amplifying Your Event’s Reach and Impact
Paid media can help increase visibility and reach among your target audience, driving more traffic to your booth or presentation and ultimately making a bigger impact at the event.
Sponsored Content
Partnering with gaming industry publications to create sponsored content can effectively promote your brand’s attendance or exhibition at an event. By leveraging the influence of trusted industry sources, you can generate buzz and increase visibility among your target audience.
When creating sponsored content, highlight your brand’s unique value and how attendees can benefit from visiting your booth or presentation.
Display Ads
Display ads can be a great way to promote your brand’s attendance at an event. They allow you to target your ideal audience and increase visibility among relevant industry publications and websites. For gaming businesses, this could include showcasing gameplay, images, or teasers for your upcoming game.
When creating display ads, ensure your messaging is clear and attention-grabbing and that your visuals are eye-catching and on-brand. Use a strong call-to-action that encourages attendees to visit your booth or website for more information.
Display ads are also a great way to measure the interest in your brand by using tracking links that lead to a destination related to the event or your game. Whether it’s an early sign-up sheet, afterparty invitation, or newsletter funnel, display ads give you the power to measure impressions and click-through to your “home base” — whatever you decide that will be.
Social Media Advertising
Social media ads are also a highly effective way to target your ideal audience and promote your brand’s attendance or exhibition at an event. Use social media ads to highlight your unique value proposition and how attendees can benefit from visiting your booth or presentation.
Target your ideal audience based on their interest, location, and behavior. Use compelling visuals and messaging that align with your brand’s personality and values. Highlighting the unique gaming experiences attendees will find at your booth can increase the engagement and reach of your ad.
Need Help With Your Event Marketing Strategy?
You need more than just one or two marketing channels for promotion if you want to make an impact at a gaming event. You must take a comprehensive approach to achieve your event goals, whether getting media coverage, generating leads, or making industry connections.
It’s important to note that taking a comprehensive, multichannel approach doesn’t mean spreading yourself too thin or using every single marketing channel available. Instead, it means carefully selecting the channels that will be most effective for promoting your presence at the event and using them strategically and cohesively. Doing so can create a stand-out event presence that leaves a lasting impression on attendees.
At ÜberStrategist, we understand that event planning can be overwhelming, and marketing can be even more challenging. However, with our proven track record and expertise in event marketing for gaming clients, we are confident we can help you stand out at your next event.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us for help! Whether you’re launching a new game, promoting old titles, or building awareness for your studio, our team has the knowledge, tools, and connections to ensure your event marketing strategy is successful. Contact ÜberStrategist today and let us help you take your event marketing to the next level in 2024.
