How Fortnite changed the way video games were marketed

[CCarter]

Traditional Funnel:

Since Fortnite didn't have the massive budgets, they started from the bottom by making a great game and letting the audience spread the word.

Using the concept of "Seasons" every 10 weeks, they are able to create a reason for people to get back into the game with refreshed content and new maps. There are also special like "14 days of Summer" which enlists the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) scarcity marketing tactic.

The results:

Traditionally marketers are drawn to top-of-funnel activities: Billboards, Influencers, Social Media, etc. These campaigns are easier to justify. They're bigger, bolder, sexier.

But, the reality is, it's probably far more efficient to work from the bottom-up — patching up the existing holes in your bucket before blindly pouring another gallon of water in.​

Great article on their marketing campaign: How Fortnite changed the way video games were marketed

 

[Ryuzaki]

But, the reality is, it's probably far more efficient to work from the bottom-up — patching up the existing holes in your bucket before blindly pouring another gallon of water in.

That's the same advice I heard from @ddasilva, who's an absolute killer in SEO. "Start from the conversion and work backwards." Starting from the conversion refers to commission based stuff where an SEO isn't too worried about retention and referrals and the rest.

But like this article is saying, start from the bottom of the funnel and work backwards. I know people who've started sites in niches because the competition was low and there was decent search volume. They saw it as an opening in the market. Turned out, after they put in all the labor of building and beginning to rank, there were no products to promote. They should have built one, but instead they chalked it up to inexperience and slapped Adsense on it instead.

"If you don't know where you're going, you'll never know when you get there." Same thing for your customers. You have to know where they're going and what your goal for them is.

"Seasons" in games drive me nuts. I'd have loved it in college when I had time for gaming like that. Now, the prospect of missing unique items in Diablo 3 that I can't otherwise get because I didn't have time to compete in a season makes me feel more like "well screw it I won't play it at all." But I know their net profit goes way up even if they lose an old fogey like me.