An entirely different technique to advertise a mobile game.

In my last article, I laid out a different method on how to market a Facebook game. The basic premise was simple: Instead of paying Facebook or other media companies to advertise your game. What if you PAID THE PLAYER directly to do this? I have tried my best to explain how companies can do this effectively without any legal or logistic hurdles. Here is the article (http://bit.ly/vixmo1)

In a similar vein, mobile games can be marketed the same way using referrals but with a completely different technique. To my knowledge, I haven’t seen a mobile game in the app store that uses “in-app-texting” to market its games. Not sure what this means? Then read on.

The concept is simple: Let’s say there is a game in the app store that sells for 99 cents. Under this technique, a player (let’s call her Jane) initially starts playing this game by downloading it for free.

After she has completed the first few levels, a window pops up that offers the complete game for free if Jane sends an Actual Text Message (SMS) to 5 (or more) of her friends inviting them to download the game.

If Jane agrees to send the text message, then the app directly accesses the native text-messaging system present in the phone. This way, Jane can access her phonebook and decide which friends to text the invite to. As soon as Jane sends these text messages, she receives the full app for free.

Such a technique hasn’t really been explored before. But the advantages here are quite a few. I will list some of them here.

1) Game studios could charge Jane for sending these text-message based invites. The way this would work is that these text messages could be charged 5 cents per text message sent. I know you might think “Why would Jane want to pay for these text messages?”  Well, it’s simple: If Jane can get a 99 cent app that she really likes by sending 5 text messages that will only cost her 25 cents overall, then why wouldn’t she?

The cool thing here is that studios are completely getting away from the freemium/paid model and relying on an entirely new system to generate installs. And this system is basically giving every penny to the studio directly without having to share it with anyone else.

Studios could even partner with carriers like Sprint, Verizon and have the 25 cents billed directly to Janes monthly cellphone bill. This way, Jane does not even have to use her credit card.

One issue here could be that in the future Apple or Google might not allow this feature because it deprives them of any revenue. Well, this system can be built in a way that the same 70:30 revenue share can be applied here too.

2) Jane can also be rewarded for her behavior so as to encourage her to send more invites. So if Jane refers this app to 5 of her friends, she can actually make money every time each of these friends refer the app to 5 of their own friends. For example: Jane spends 25 cents to invite 5 of her friends. Then she can get paid 2 cents for every subsequent text invite that is sent by her friends (the remaining 3 cents go to the studio). This obviously is not gonna make Jane a millionaire, but if she can make enough money to buy another paid app, then isn’t that a good enough incentive for her to send these invites?

3) In the same way, the reward structure can work for installs too. So if Janes invites 5 of her friends, then she can expect to get paid 2 cents for every install that happens as a result of these invites. If you do the math here, the studio will never have to pay a single dime on advertising because the studio earns 3 to 5 cents on every referral and also manages to distribute its app to a huge audience.

4) Using this technique, studios don’t have to rely on interstitial ads too. Ads generally use up some real estate in the game and it can be distracting a lot of times. Studios could provide a much more cleaner looking app which is also technically “free” for all to play.

Some critics may point out that if Jane doesn’t like the game at all, then why would she even spend that 25 cents? Well, again the answer is simple: She has the opportunity to get her money back if enough of her friends accept the invite or install the game. So technically, she can potentially end up paying nothing for the app.

This is an abstract idea for now. But I am confident of its prospects because it uses the power of incentives to encourage sharing of content. And ultimately, the best form of advertising is one in which the customer himself recommends a product to his friends.

I am happy to clarify any questions you might have or delver further into this methodology. I personally feel that this technique can do well as long as its implemented the right way. Companies like Playphone and Openfeint have the resources and the knowledge to develop such a system.

You can follow me on Twitter @aabidsiddique to stay updated about my latest blogs. In case of questions, please reach out to me at aabidsiddique81@yahoo.com.

Please note: All the numbers/prices I am using here are purely for understanding how the system works. Studios should have their own pricing models in place.