How to Supercharge Game Growth with Non-conventional UA Channels
A few years ago, Influencer marketing for mobile games was what one would consider an ‘unconventional’ marketing strategy. There wasn’t much insight on how these campaigns would even work, and most game marketers weren’t entirely convinced on whether they were needed.
Yet, today, Influencer Marketing is hardly what you’d call an ‘emerging’ channel in the game marketing world. It’s something many marketers will have considered, if not tried, especially after the iOS 14 updates.1
From game launches to reviving titles with stagnating growth, or simply just diversifying and supplementing the UA mix with an alternative, always-on channel – Influencer Marketing for games is a powerful tactic that can serve a number of marketing objectives.
There’s a clear need to look beyond traditional game marketing channels for game and app growth today – competition is rife, privacy regulations are tightening, and it’s becoming tougher to capture attention in memorable ways.
But although the growing interest in other alternative UA channels like Podcasts, Connected TV (CTV), and Linear TV is encouraging, there’s still a lot of resistance before that interest converts to intent.
And a lot of that comes down to a lack of awareness around sound strategy and how measurement & attribution for these channels actually work.
Our Chief Growth Officer Sara Guerola has spent the last decade of her career building alternative channel strategies and processes at SocialPoint, FunPlus, and Bandai Namco Mobile for titles like Dragon City, Monster Legends, State of Survival, Kings of Avalon, and Dragon Ball Legends.
In this ‘Guide to Multichannel Growth with Non-conventional UA Channels’, she outlines everything game marketers need to know about the strategic approaches underlining the best mobile game influencer marketing campaigns and podcast advertising campaigns.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the guide, including best practices for strategy, measurement, and overcoming common challenges.
Why Non-conventional UA Channels Matter for Game and App marketing
It’s easy to let your strategy set into a lull by the relative safety offered by traditional deterministic channels. But the mobile gaming landscape has fundamentally changed. It’s saturated with competition, and consumers are more conscious about their privacy and advertising practices. The growing costs and uncertainty aren’t temporary conditions—they represent a fundamental shift in how users discover and engage with new games.
Here’s where non-conventional channels can help-
- Broaden your potential reach, offering alternative growth paths and reducing reliance on saturating mediums, particularly if your product is struggling to gain traction
- Create opportunities for fresh creative approaches when traditional ads start to stagnate.
- Reach valuable, untapped audience segments that are unresponsive to traditional digital channels
- Foster deeper connections through authentic engagement rather than transactional advertising, particularly important for emerging brands
Understanding the Non-conventional UA Channel Landscape
There are many options when it comes to non-conventional UA channels – Influencer Marketing, Podcasts, CTV, Linear TV – but is one channel really better than the other?
The answer is, it depends.
It can be quite subjective depending on your game, audience, objectives, but if we’re looking at ‘emerging platforms,’ CTV and Podcast consumption in the past few years has surged significantly. With that, the tech and infrastructure we have to analyse and optimise campaigns on these platforms is also improving.
In our work as a mobile game marketing agency, we’ve seen valuable player acquisition with these channels for clients.
Here’s an example of the ROI results from a casual game’s Podcast ad campaigns compared against the targets.
As the results suggest, Podcasts can actually be a powerful channel to explore performance driven influencer marketing for games. We’ve seen increasing adoption of this channel for game marketing, with games like RAID:Shadow Legends, June’s Journey, and Match Masters.
Sara Guerola shared some of her specific tips for Podcast advertising success at PGC London, check out the session here!2
Of course, influencer marketing for games remains a steady channel with plenty of potential to scale (as long as your game or app is compatible), but it’s something that is a lot more established and acceptable for most teams today.
If you’re new to game influencer marketing, you may also find our fundamental guide to game influencer marketing helpful!
Strategy and Planning – How do you get started with non-conventional channels?
Success with non-conventional channels requires methodical planning.
This means going beyond a minimal test budget or testing on a whim. If you set out to test these channels in a silo, with no consideration for market factors or your wider marketing mix, you’re already setting yourself up to fail.
The foundation of a successful strategy starts with a clear definition of objectives: new user acquisition, re-engaging lapsed users, or building brand awareness for future conversions? Each objective demands different creative approaches, measurement methodologies, and success metrics.
With budgets, you need to ensure you’re investing enough to realistically move the needle.
Check out our webinar with expert influencer marketing consultant Marion Balinoff on assigning and allocating the right influencer marketing budgets.
However, optimising resource allocations goes beyond monetary investment.
You need time to actually investigate what the ideal set-up would look for you, organise proper analytical support for measurement setup, and facilitate cross-functional alignment that ensures teams are geared to coordinate rather than function in disruptive silos.
Geographic targeting decisions cascade through budget allocations and projected performance. Not all channels have equal reach across all markets, and market size versus measurability often creates trade-offs—smaller markets may provide clearer results but lack scalability.
Timing requires careful consideration of external factors that could confound results. Seasonal peaks, app store featuring, and IP cross-product launches can all skew attribution, so it’s something you need to be mindful of.
These are all factors you need to consider in consolidation when creating your strategy – they inform the ‘who, what, when, where, why, and how’ of your approach, and all form critical pieces of the puzzle.
Here’s an example of strategic planning in practice:
Check out A Guide to Multichannel Growth with Non-conventional UA Channels for more examples!
Navigating Measurement and Attribution for Influencer Marketing and Other Alternate Channels
This is probably the section you’re most interested in – after all, attribution complexity tops every marketer’s concern list when exploring non-conventional channels. There are a few different methodologies you can follow, so it’s important to get completely aligned internally and externally on what approach you’ll be following from the outset to avoid conflicting expectations.
Some of the most common methodologies for measuring impact with non-conventional channels:
- Uplift Analysis: Compare organic traffic before and after campaigns
- Causal Impact Analysis: Model what organic traffic would have looked like without the campaign
- Advanced Tracking Solutions: Implement QR codes, gift codes with deep links, and in-game surveys
The key is developing a measurement framework that accurately captures the true impact of these channels, accounting for both direct and indirect effects.
Summing Up: A Holistic Approach for Success
Ultimately, non-conventional UA channels aren’t meant to replace traditional UA channels – they’re meant to complement them as part of a holistic app or game marketing strategy.
Initial adoption of these channels can be intimidating without a clear playbook, but it’s only as you test and iterate that you’ll understand their full potential and how to optimise them for your specific game.
The tips and tactics outlined in our Guide to Multichannel Growth with Non-conventional UA Channels offer a great foundation to help you set up for success.
Beyond that, speak to your industry peers who have found success on these channels for more tips and insight, or reach out to an experienced mobile game marketing agency to help with your efforts.
Working with a leading gaming influencer agency can help guide the strategic directions outlined above and help navigate key challenges like measuring the impact of your influencer marketing or podcast advertising campaigns.
Ultimately, adopting a diverse channel strategy can not only help drive immediate user acquisition, but can also build stronger brand recognition, help gain valuable audience insights, create competitive differentiation, and reduce dependency on any single acquisition channel, setting your game or app up for long-term success.
We’ve been specialising in influencer marketing for mobile gaming for over a decade. As the leading gaming influencer marketing agency, our approach is guided by game marketing veterans from some of the world’s gaming biggest studios.