#DYK: Gamification Can Make Marketing Millions

What this article is about: Using gamification in marketing

You've heard this phrase, 'child's play', but what if I told you that phrase can earn you millions in marketing miles.

If you've been sitting under a rock, #gamification is a method of using engaging activities to achieve the desired goal. It's been around longer than you give it attention. You've in fact been playing such games everyday, and you might not register the activity to this.

Let's break it down.

Remember your childhood games? Perhaps it was Chess that taught you about strategy, or Monopoly that taught you about money management and strategic thinking, or it was a local game your friends made up, to take home the made up prize. Whatever it was you and I grew up playing, those games, did more than just keep us out of trouble.

It helped us grow our cerebral process, enabling our minds to think, problem solve, and deliver or fail at getting from one point in that game to another.

The concept remains the same today, in theory. Research indicates that games enable us to grasp contexts and complex process better. So, its no surprise then, that technologists and gamers alike work in tandem to develop a solution-based model to help us get the best out of both worlds.

How does #Gamification enable #Marketing?

That's a golden question and a creative opportunity packaged into one, atleast for me. Marketing techniques are evolving rapidly and while the process to keep up is today's end game, it's also equally important to know what works for your needs to gauge the marketability of your solution.

The use of this method of marketing is mostly seen in #BFSI, #education, #telecommunications, #retail, and more recently in F&B. This is not to say that gamification isn't relevant in other industries, but given cost and implementation, industries can be slow to adopt this option.

Gamification takes problem statements and delivers it through a creative and strategic solution process of a game. By taking the player/user through a series of activities, the company/business gauges the extent of engagement, awareness, and ROI from the user in few minutes.

Let's admit this, we are competitive. We all want to be first. We all want to succeed. So, gamification aides that process of winner takes all.

Here are three ways gamification knocks it out of the park for #marketingstrategy.

Way 1: Gamification gives me (consumer/user/customer/prospective) hope for something of value.

I remember a few years ago, when I used my Google Pay account for payments, I would get a popup displaying a line that said '10 more payments for a cash back of x'. I wanted that few pennies or paises because it gave my action value.

The intended goal for Google Pay-keep me using the app. And, I did.

Google Pay has used gamification in more ways than one, and if you're in the mood to know more, here's a good case study analyses on Medium

When gamification is done well vis-a-vis used at the right time, right place, it can yield immensely valuable insights. Used for growth marketing, the analytics can enable inbound marketing success.

Expect to see more growth in this space by 2030, with experts projecting the gamification market size to be approximately $72bn.

Way 2: Gamification provides me unique market tools and integration

By integrating #AR #VR and #AI into this technology, we are seeing early adopters use gamification to experiment and develop their insights toward user behavior. What does mean? If you've been in business long enough, you know the plateau that marketing hits with traditional modes of advertising. It can also extend to the impact these modes have had on your marketing efforts, and the impact you can derive from the new technology that's available.

Using immersive technology can have lasting impact on your user engagement- their interest to know more-do more can be beneficial for your key measurement metric. For example, you're a big furniture retailer and looking to gauge if your new range of dining room pieces will be acceptable by your target audience of 25-30 year olds living and working in either Chicago or New York. So think small spaces, busy work life, and little time for a dining set. No less, a market analyses using AR can enable your prospective buyer market to test the design aesthetic against their living space, giving user engagement that can help your evolve your design thinking. By adding the element of 'gain' and making this experience a game, a retailer has now gone from advertising their product to building deeper engagement with their prospective- perhaps through a game of selection- picking out the pieces and assembling a unique piece, thereby adjusting their costing and getting a unique dining piece from the experience.

That is just one in an innumerable number of permutations that such technology can bring to life.

Way 3: Gamification builds brand recall

You read it right. Opting for gamification keeps your customers memory bank actively tuned into the brand or your company. Also called Product led Growth or #PLG, this technique is longterm strategy at its finest. The process is thought through for a specific outcome. For example, you're a technology company, and your goal is to keep your customers loyal to your offerings without taking a walk... the way to this, can be gamification.

Gamification is industry agnostic. For example, let's wind it back to school lessons- if you're studying to become a medical professional, the number of hours it takes you to grasp a surgical procedure can drastically reduce if you have a gamification model to work with. Think incentivized gaming lessons wherein you practice your technique and move up the complexity level to eventually complete the procedure, all within the comfort of your study room and not the actual surgical room, where lives are literally in your hand. This method of learning or immersive experiences can reshape the process of practice and expertise building. It simply takes, thinking out-of-the-box and believing in the work your #marketingstrategist can offer.

The industry/sector I've seen implement gamification with most aplomb is #education. The number of ways it's been used has yielded the phenomenon that we now call self-paced learning.

The takeaway: From the three way's gamification can bring in your marketing ROI it's obvious this is not a fad, but an industry goto strategy but only if you have the right team and people working with you.

Lucky for you, as a reader of this article you can now access the resources of building a gamification model and going to market by reaching out via a DM. My team and I understand the nuances to helping you take a problem statement and building an unique solution that can be iterative, informative, even build community impact through the thoughtful construction of a gamified solution.

#marketing101 #digitalmarketing #ARmarketing #VRmarketing #digitaltools #communications #strategy #digitalstrategy