Most businesses need creative marketing to get a message across to their target markets, but how can gamification assist in reaching more consumers through connected devices nowadays? We look at gamification and why it’s an effective marketing tool.
Gamified marketing has become a well-known technique to build brand awareness, increase engagement, attract customers and increase revenue. From running competitions to launching micro-moments and using tactics like leaderboards, gamification in marketing creates a fun and interactive environment for your audience.
Cleverly placed ads within popular games is another great way to leverage the popularity of these games to increase awareness around your product or service. Just think of playing a simple Candy Crush game and getting served an HTML ad. Feels natural, right?
About four years ago, people were wandering around trying to look for “pocket monsters” and catch, train and battle with them. The more you catch, the more power you receive to level up. The game, if you haven’t guessed it yet, is Pokémon Go and quickly took the world by storm. It’s a free, location-based, augmented-reality online mobile game that uses the real world to help you inform your game experience. Players are different ages and backgrounds from all around the world.
According to Recurrence, “When players are playing Pokémon Go, they are really killing three birds with one stone: they are playing a game that they enjoy, they’re engaging more with their environment and with other players, and, as a happy side effect, they are also improving their health and fitness by walking around for hours on end looking for Pokémon.” The success of this game was a big boost for gamification as more businesses started using games to monitor employee behaviour and provide them with rewards and incentives.
Gamification has become increasingly popular and more brands are taking advantage of using game elements in their marketing.
People are looking for ways to escape daily life by looking for new, fun things to do in the comfort of their own homes - especially in the age of social distancing. Even Pokémon Go had to adapt their gamification strategy as users can no longer leave their homes as frequently to catch critters during a pandemic.
An excellent example of a brand that embraced this change is the augmented reality game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
According to Wizarding World, the official home of Harry Potter, “As you step outside and explore the world, the Map will reveal Traces of magic that indicate the location of Foundables. These Traces are found at various real-world locations and trigger richly detailed 3D encounters in full 360-degree advanced AR. You’ll need to cast a variety of spells to defeat the confounding magic surrounding the Foundables in order to safely return them to the wizarding world. Keep an eye out for other things that will aid you on your journey including Inns that replenish Spell Energy, ingredients that can be used to brew potions, and even Portkeys that can whisk you away to iconic wizarding world locations.”
The game is trendy as geocaching is central to its gameplay and the developers have successfully created a virtual world to engage different age groups from the comfort of their own homes. Leadfamly, a marketing gamification technology website says, “By combining an interactive buyer’s journey with marketing campaigns, marketers have the chance to create several touch points and positive experiences for the customer as they move through the buyer’s journey. Marketers will also have the opportunity to achieve certain marketing objectives, such as adding new permissions to their mailing list with the intention of sending them targeted communications.”
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A few years ago, Penquin implemented a gamification incentive, to test the theory and drive higher performance. And, the results spoke for themselves. Even in weeks where the sales were lower, team interaction increased and company spirit soared.
Taking the principles of gaming engagement and applying them to your business can help you in several ways. We take a look at these benefits below.
Do you think that gamification is a waste of your resources? Mordorintelligence, a leading market research company states, “The global gamification market was valued at USD 7.98 billion in 2019, and it is estimated to witness a CAGR of 25.1% over the forecast period (2020-2025). The exponential growth in the number of smartphones and mobile devices has directly created a vast base for the gamification market. This growth is also supported by the increasing recognition of gamification systems as a method to architecture human behavior, in order to induce innovation, productivity, or engagement.”
These are hard facts to ignore if you’re in the gaming industry. If you’re not? Even harder to ignore, because if these statistics show us one thing, it’s that games = engagement. Massive, worldwide engagement, that changes behaviours, thinking patterns and responses.
All humans, no matter how big or small, love games and the idea of getting rewarded, and it’s something everyone finds appealing. Here are some tips from Everyone Social, an employee advocacy and social selling platform, to include gamification in your business strategy:
Implementing a gamification incentive in your business can give fantastic, long-term results. Try it out to boost your productivity and progress tracking.
Thinking of hosting a virtual event? Consider including gamification as a way to engage your audience and create a memorable experience. You’ll find more helpful online events tips in our handy downloadable guide below.
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