Jeff Gurian, Kongregate's VP of Marketing and Ad Monetization, recently did a podcast with Appmasters, a mobile marketing agency specializing in growth hacking for independent developers. Jeff talks with Appmasters founder Steve Young about a wide range of topics including how to effectively market a mobile game, ad monetization tips, the rigorous marketability testing Kongregate performs, and what Kongregate looks for in both games and developers they publish titles with. The full Appmasters podcast can be found here.

Should trade shows be included in your marketing mix? Is it worth the cost? There is not an easy answer, as there are a lot of considerations to weigh. In this post we will examine some of the core “rules” we’ve identified when considering attending a trade show. We will focus primarily on business to consumer (B2C) shows such as PAX. Kongregate has taken part in PAX East in 2014 & 2016 and the GameStop Expo for 6 years, which is their version of PAX (GameStop is Kongregate’s parent company). Based on our experience, here are some of the key elements to be aware of when considering a trade show presence: Audience The audience is highly targeted & valuable. You will only reach a fraction of the total show attendees. There is no question that the right trade shows can attract a highly targeted audience. Find out what companies have attended in the past, looking for those that align with your customers. Are these companies going back year after year? If they were “one and done” then maybe

Have you been working tirelessly on your game towards a global launch, but haven’t thought about how you’re going to market it? If not, then now is the time to start thinking about that imperative marketing plan. In the past few years, the mobile games market has become increasingly saturated -- making the barrier to entry and chances for failure higher, as people are inundated with new games every day. What this means is, marketing your mobile game will be even more crucial than ever to its growth and visibility in the marketplace. So to get you started, here are some tips on how to create, implement, and evaluate an effective marketing strategy. While every game is different, these basic steps provide a great starting point to determine if your game is a candidate for scaled marketing. Build a Marketing Roadmap Start by creating a marketing plan to keep you focused and involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame. A timeline will help make your long-term objective more achievable, as well as enable you

It’s a new world, folks. Traditional gaming press is dead and teenagers making videos in their basements have taken over. Well, not EXACTLY. But it is true that Social Influencers can reach hundreds of thousands of viewers in one video while an article from a big press outlet will be read by a few thousand potential new players. And game developers have noticed. I’ve been working with Influencers to get gaming coverage for the past few years, and game developers always ask me the same question: “Can we get PewDiePie to make a video about our game?” And of course, if he likes the game, you could pay him to make a video about your game, but it’s VERY expensive. Pewds, aka Felix Kjellberg, is part of the largest and one of the most expensive MCNs, or Multi Channel Network, a fancy name for an Agency that only represents YouTubers and Streamers. And he is the most visible YouTuber on the planet because of his 49 million subscribers & extensive press coverage. Let’s just say he’