Gamification Marketing For Dummies. Zarrar Chishti

will hit the ground running. If you’re seeking an older audience, you’ll need to make sure to include multiple explanation elements along with a simpler graphics and mechanics.

      Determining duration and frequency

      Consider the longevity of your gamification marketing campaign. How long will your campaign last? This is especially important for gamification campaigns, where you’ve invested huge resources creating a unique marketing vehicle. Ideally, you want your campaign to last long enough for your target audience to engage fully.

      

If your campaign is shorter than one month, you’ll be seriously reducing the likelihood of your audience seeing, understanding, and engaging with the gamification elements you’re marketing. Similarly, you don’t want your campaign to go on more than six months because you run the risk of your gamification elements becoming stale. If a gamification campaign becomes too familiar to your audience, it eventually loses its appeal. Even legacy brands like Coca-Cola and Nike change up their gamification campaigns frequently in order to keep their audiences interested in their marketing messages.

      

When considering the duration of your campaign, keep in mind the following:

       What’s popular today may not be popular tomorrow. Gamification works best when it’s based on trends, but you need to identify a sensible longevity for those trends.

       Try to provide a means for getting customer feedback (see Chapter 10). This can be through forms, chat bots, and social media platforms. Then keep track of public interest in your campaign and make adjustments accordingly. Being able to show your audience you’re listening will produce a positive reaction on social media.

       Be flexible. Don’t be afraid to end the campaign sooner than you thought, if you identify interest going stale or, worse, you’re getting negative feedback. Figure out what’s working in your current marketing efforts. You may not need to change everything — just adjust anything that’s causing negative reactions.

       Be innovative. Innovation is what gamification is all about. Be creative with your gamification elements. Pay attention to what’s current. Don’t be afraid to be a trendsetter!

      After you’ve worked out the ideal duration for your campaign, consider the frequency of it. How often will you bring out a new campaign? Gamification elements are expensive to design and develop, and gamification campaigns can take a lot of effort.

      

All the elements you create — from the animation to the designs to the coding — can be reused over and over again. These elements are assets for your company. The first development will involve the biggest cost. After your first campaign, it will cost considerably less to revamp and recode new campaigns. Think about how you’ll be reusing the gamification elements when developing your first gamification campaign.

      

There are three frequencies I recommend considering:

       One-off: When the campaign ends, so does the narrative for the gamification elements. When reusing the gamification elements for the next campaign, you’ll produce a brand-new narrative. This approach works well when your audience is exposed to your campaign over longer periods. In this case, a new narrative will reignite their interest in your marketing efforts each time you launch.

       Series: Just like a TV series, your campaign’s narrative continues from where it left off with the last campaign. This approach can be extremely profitable in marketing terms. Your message is repeatedly pushed to your audience with minimum effort (after the first launch). This approach works for campaigns that are short, leaving your audience wanting more.

       Seasonal: Here, you deck your campaign with the seasonal themes. The most popular version is Christmas, which has historically been the most engaging time for gamification campaigns. This approach can work for medium to short-term campaigns. It can even work for long-term ones as long as the seasonal theme is incorporated within the campaign rather than treated as a relaunch.

In Table 2-1, I compare the various frequencies against the gamification models I look at earlier in the chapter.

TABLE 2-1 Determining the Best Frequency for Your Gamification Model

Game Model	Cost	Development Time	Best Frequency
Action	Low	1 to 2 weeks	Series, seasonal
Simulation	High	3 months	One-off
Interactive storytelling	Very high	4 to 6 months	One-off
Adventure	Medium	2 to 3 months	One-off, seasonal (incorporated)
Puzzles	Low	2 to 3 weeks	Series, seasonal
Word-based	Low	2 to 3 weeks	Series, seasonal
Skill-based	Medium	1 month	Series, seasonal
Multi-player	High	2 to 3 months	One-off
Educational	High	2 to 3 months	One-off, seasonal (incorporated)
Role playing	High	2 to 3 months	One-off

Avoiding the Big Mistakes

      In this section, I share some of the mistakes I’ve made so you can avoid making them yourself. Believe it or not, the list was originally much longer — I’ve shortened it to the most important mistakes I believe can be easily avoided with a little care from the start.

      Depending on desktop

      Mobile phones and tablets are everywhere, so as a marketer you need to make sure your gamification elements are developed using mobile-friendly interfaces.

      As I explain in Chapter 6, having a responsive game design means that