Gaming on web sites is about engagement. It is not about visitors playing games, collecting points and leaving. Gaming is a strategic investment in entertaining people in your target market, getting them engaged in your brand and motivated. You want “gamers” to keep returning, to buy in to your brand positioning and to buy your products.

I went to the Social Media Breakfast 21 in Ottawa to hear David Nicholson. He has helped shape the online strategy for companies like Games Workshop, Electronic Arts and Atari. He talked about “Gamification” (such an ugly word) and the way clever organizations are adopting the principles of gaming in to their online experiences. Weight Watchers and Nike+ were given as two great examples.

David’s observation was that gaming needs to be deep in your marketing communications plan and your online presence. If all you do is create a game and stick a big button on your web site that says “Play our cool game – we are a cool company” then you are wasting a marketing opportunity.

You need to match your brand values and your target audience with the game type. The game type drives the messaging used in the marketing communication. He highlighted five different types of games targeted at different user types:

• Caring
• Collaborative
• Cordial
• Competitive
• Combative

I guess it’s important if you market a product aimed at testosterone-driven young males that you build games that are competitive and even combative, because they are not going to want to plant flowers in a caring game.

The Marketing thought

Corporate gaming is so much more than just playing games. It’s about driving business development programs through understanding market behaviours and engaging them with innovative and entertaining games.

If you have an opinion on using gaming in your marketing strategy, you can post it on the blog post.

Just a thought
Tim

Blog post: Why gaming matters to marketing.

Fun image taken and licensed by Sheryl.

Tagged as: influencing behaviours, understanding customers