Advertising Survey Results for the Small Game Publisher
About two weeks ago I asked the people on my mailing list for some feedback in a short, two-question survey. (It is also linked from the Hexographer and Dungeonographer websites.) I felt the first question’s results may be useful for other “small publishers” (and those who want to be) so I would like to share the information. Note: I also have some banner ad specific information near the end of the page.
Here is the question: How do you think you respond to the following advertising techniques/methods?
- 0 = Does not apply. Examples: don’t buy this type of magazine; turn off banner ads; don’t go to cons.
- 1 = Very rarely makes me check out a new product/update.
- 6 = Frequently makes me check out a new product/update.
| Ad Method | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Website Banner Ads | 27% | 33% | 20% | 13% | 5% | 2% | 0% |
| Message Board Ad Post by Company Rep. | 22% | 15% | 9% | 24% | 22% | 6% | 2% |
| Message Board Post by an Independent Person | 17% | 9% | 4% | 20% | 26% | 17% | 7% |
| Blog Post on a Blog you Respect/Follow | 11% | 4% | 4% | 7% | 20% | 30% | 24% |
| Forum/Blog/Podcast Contest | 15% | 15% | 15% | 29% | 16% | 5% | 5% |
| Established Magazine Ads | 33% | 13% | 19% | 30% | 2% | 4% | 0% |
| Small Press Magazine Ads | 31% | 9% | 24% | 22% | 9% | 5% | 0% |
| Booth at Small/Medium Convention | 52% | 4% | 8% | 6% | 12% | 15% | 4% |
| Booth at Large Convention | 51% | 5% | 5% | 2% | 15% | 11% | 11% |
Caveats
- It is essentially a self-selecting survey, meaning people choose to answer it (or not).
- I advertise in one magazine, do banner ads, post about the product in advertisement areas of forums, and exhibited at one con (GenCon). So I’ve done some of all of these methods, and I’ve likely gotten people on my mailing list from each approach.
- I wish I could have avoided “respect” in the “Blog Post on a Blog you Respect/Follow.” That likely skewed that question. But the idea that that would be the highest rated way to reach people does have high “face validity.” (Seems like it is valid.) It just might be a little lower if I had rephrased the question.
- The survey has had 55 responses to date. Not as many as I hoped, but I think it is worthwhile.
So to me, this mostly validates what I’d expect. I did have a comment from a respondent noting that they pay more attention to banners ads on game-specific sites than other sites. The key points to me are:
- Spend more time trying to partner/make friends with other blog writers and podcasts.
- Cons have a role. I’m not sure a booth is justified until one reaches a certain size, but there are booth sharing options, and group booths like the Game Publisher’s Association and this year’s OSR GenCon booth. Small cons are another way to get your feet in the water. Sales potential isn’t as high, but the costs are easier to risk.
- Posting in the advertisement sections of game related message boards is more effective than many other methods and is generally free.
- While banner ads are largely ignored, there is that 7% who seem to be more than lukewarm to them.
More on Banner Ads
For a long while, I had been keeping my banner ad budget and settings the same. But in September I wanted to test what might happen if I increased my banner ad budget. So I more than tripled what I spend for September vs. each of the previous few months. I was able to get double the number of clicks. (That implies the click cost went up… you must pay a higher rate per click if you want your ads to be more frequently in the ad networks’ rotation.)
But even with all this extra advertising, sales in September were relatively flat compared to August (excluding sales at GenCon) and July. In fact, they dropped slightly. September’s sales were above most other months in 2011, but “flat” they were average for the year. (For comparison September 2010 was also average compared to the the rest of that year.)
If you do plan to run banner ads, here are some tips:
- For Google’s Adsense, you may need to start with a higher click rate price and run them on the full network to get your ads seeded. (I believe the algorithm to determine the ad to show looks at how often the ad has been clicked and if it hasn’t been clicked yet, your ad is just shown once in a while.)
- It can take several days for image ads to be approved. This just depends on how busy they are. Read their policy and if they don’t approve it on time (or you’ve already waited a week–because that’s unreasonable regardless of their policy) contact them about it. If I’ve followed up with them they always get approved within the next business day.
- Monitor your Adsense account every day, especially until you do this next step: Your ads will likely get their first click on one of many flash game sites. These are likely fraudulent. (I don’t know if they have some automated way to click the ads or if they implore their users to do so somehow, but I can’t believe that I got all of my first 20 clicks from 2-3 ad sites that are just Mario knock-offs.) Once you get your first few clicks, switch from running on the full network to just sites you select. (Managed Placements).
- There are many other ad networks. If you know of one worth trying, please post a comment.
And if you’ve got any advice to share on the topic, please post!