Mobile Game Marketing ITP 499x (2 Units)
Fall 2014 v.131015
Objective There are two objectives in this course: 1) to learn state of the art practices for marketing mobile games and driving installs, and 2) get hands-on practice using software tools for guerilla mobile game marketing. Students will use these tools to plan and execute no-cost guerrilla marketing campaigns for existing USC student mobile games.
Concepts Over 200,000 games are currently available in Apple’s App Store and Android’s Play Store. And ~130 more mobile games are added every day as of Oct 2013 (source 148apps.biz). As a result of this unprecedented volume over 97% of mobile game products – regardless of quality – are never seen by an audience beyond family and friends. In order to win in today’s hyper-competitive app economy developers must be able to do two things without 3rd party assistance: 1) build great software and 2) acquire users through marketing.
This class exposes students to the state of the art of user acquisition for mobile games – aka marketing. Students learn today’s best practices and get hands on with the software tools of the trade by marketing their own USC mobile games. Specifically this means students will use online software tools for planning marketing campaigns, executing marketing campaigns, measuring effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and optimizing marketing campaigns. Students will have free access to the software tools. Only no-cost marketing campaigns will be executed as part of the class (though students will learn about paid marketing techniques and economics as part of the course). Class will maintain a running online leaderboard of a) app store page views and b) app installs generated by student marketing efforts.
Prerequisites No prerequisite. Students should be able to use word processing software, graphic utilities, social media tools, analytics tools, email, and Internet browsers.
Instructor Chris Swain Contact Email: [email protected] Office: TBD Office Hours Listed on Blackboard under Contacts Lab Assistants Listed on Blackboard under Contacts Lecture/Lab One class meeting per week (1 hr of lecture and 1 hour of lab each class) Exams Quizzes and final exam to consist of written test on paper (T/F, multiple choice, fill-the-blank, and essay).
Page 1 of 14 Required Textbooks Instructor lectures and on-line resources listed on Blackboard.
Optional Textbooks GROWTH HACKER MARKETING: A PRIMER ON THE FUTURE OF PR, MARKETING, AND ADVERTISING, by R. Holiday, Portfolio Publishing, ASIN: B00BPDR3JM
UNDERSTANDING DIGITAL MARKETING: MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGING THE DIGITAL GENERATION, by D. Ryan; Kogan Page; Second Edition, ISBN-10: 0749464275
500 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TIPS: ESSENTIAL ADVICE, HINTS, AND STRATEGY FOR BUSINESS: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST, GOOGLE+, YOUTUBE, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, AND MORE! By A. MacCarthy; Amazon Digital Services. ASIN: B007L50HE6
Website All course material will be on Blackboard (http://blackboard.usc.edu). Lectures are on Blackboard under Content, and assignments are on Blackboard under Assignments. http://blackboard.usc.edu. Assignments are to be turned in online via Blackboard Students are also required to stay apprised of mobile game trends on http://www.appdata.com (required reading). IT Help Hours of Service: 8AM-9PM; Phone: 213-740-0517; Email: [email protected]
Grading The following percentage breakdown will be used in determining the grade for the course. Lab Exercises & Quizzes 25% Short Assignments 1-10 50% Marketing Campaign 1 10% Marketing Campaign 2 10% Final Exam 5% Total 100%
Grading Scale The following shows the grading scale to be used to determine the letter grade. A 100-93 A- 92-90 B+ 89-87 B 86-83
Page 2 of 14 B- 82-80 C+ 79-77 C 76-73 C- 72-70 D+ 69-67 D 66-65 F 64 or below
Policies No make-up exams (except for documented medical or family emergencies) will be offered nor will there be any changes made to the Final Exam schedule, except as permitted by university rules. Assignments - Assignments are posted weekly under Assignments on Blackboard. Exercises are to be submitted online via Blackboard only. Barring an extended campus-wide Blackboard outage, no work submitted by email will be graded. Exercises are due the day assigned. It is the student’s responsibility to turn in assigned exercises on or before deadlines as set by the instructor. If student misses class, assignment is still due that day and can be turned in on Blackboard from anywhere in the world with internet access. If absent due to illness, bring written note from medical facility to get exception. Save your work - You are required to save your labs using a USB flash drive or a website such as http://www.dropbox.com. You must keep a copy of all labs. You will not be able to save your work on the ITP lab computers. Open labs - ITP will have open lab hours starting the second week of the semester. The open labs will not have an ITP 499x lab assistant to assist with labs. These lab times are there in case you need extra time to complete a lab. Please contact office staff in OHE412 for specific times and days for the current semester. Quiz - During the first half of the semester, a quiz will be given (to be announced at least one week ahead of time). The quiz counts the same as a regular weekly assignment, and its grade goes into the assignments portion of the overall grade. Athletes - If you must miss class due to an athletic event, you must notify instructor in advance of the absence. You are still expected to turn in all work. As noted above, assignment is still due that day and can be turned in on Blackboard from anywhere in the world with internet access. Late Submissions - Exercises/assignments turned in late will be reduced by 20% the first day it's late, and by 50% the second day. On or after the third day, a zero is entered in the grade center. Extensions are granted based on written excuse and are granted on a case-by-case basis only; no guarantee that an extension will be granted. Make-up policies - To make up for a missed assignment, student must turn in assignment on Blackboard (subject to lateness penalty per above). To make up for a missed exam, the student must provide a satisfactory reason (as determined by the instructor) along with proper documentation. Make-up exams are only allowed under extraordinary circumstances. Attendance - Students should notify instructor by email in advance if a class will be missed. Students are expected to come to class on time and attend each class. The course reader is online. Read it. Do the homework online.
Page 3 of 14 Games - Games provided by ITP must be returned at the end of lab. No exceptions.
Incomplete and Missing Grades Excerpts for this section have been taken from the University Grading Handbook, located at http://www.usc.edu/dept/ARR/grades/gradinghandbook/index.html. Please see the link for more details on this and any other grading concerns.
A grade of Missing Grade (MG) “should only be assigned in unique or unusual situations… for those cases in which a student does not complete work for the course before the semester ends. All missing grades must be resolved by the instructor through the Correction of Grade Process. One calendar year is allowed to resolve a MG. If an MG is not resolved [within] one year the grade is changed to [Unofficial Withdrawal] UW and will be calculated into the grade point average a zero grade points.
A grade of Incomplete (IN) “is assigned when work is no completed because of documented illness or other ‘emergency’ occurring after the twelfth week of the semester (or 12th week equivalency for any course scheduled for less than 15 weeks).”
Students with Disabilities Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to your course instructor (or TA) as early in the semester as possible. If you need accommodations for an exam, the form needs to be given to the instructor at least two weeks before the exam.
DSP is located in STU 301 and is open from 8:30am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday. Contact info: 213-740-0776 (Phone), 213-740-6948 (TDD only), 213-740-8216 (FAX), [email protected], http://sait.usc.edu/academicsupport/centerprograms/dsp/home_index.html.
Emergency Preparedness/Course Continuity in a Crisis In case of emergency, when travel to campus is difficult, if not impossible, USC executive leadership will announce a digital way for instructors to teach students in their residence halls or homes using a combination of the Blackboard LMS (Learning Management System), teleconferencing, and other technologies. Instructors should be prepared to assign students a “Plan B” project that can be completed ‘at a distance.’ For additional information about maintaining your classes in an emergency, please access: http://cst.usc.edu/services/emergencyprep.html
Page 4 of 14 Academic Integrity USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/gov/. Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards (SJACS) for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/.
If the instructor, a grader, or a lab assistant suspects you of academic dishonesty, it has to be reported to SJACS. Do not share lab assignments with another student. Do not submit another student’s work as your own. Do not look at other students’ papers during exams. Do not leave the room during an exam. Do not cheat! As Trojans, we are faithful, scholarly, skillful, courageous, and ambitious.
Regarding USC Mobile Games to be Marketed In Fall 2013 instructor will send campus wide “call for submissions” for USC mobile games to be marketed by the Spring 2014 Mobile Game Marketing class. All games must be available in the Apple App Store and/or Android Play Store for consideration. Students enrolled in the Spring 2014 course will have the option of marketing their own mobile game or choosing from the games submitted by fellow students. Students will be provided with “suggested best practices” for collaboratively marketing products online that may result in generation of dollars. USC policy specifies that student games are property of the students and the university is not involved arrangements between students.
Page 5 of 14 Mobile Game Marketing ITP 499x (2 Units)
Course Outline
Week 1 – Understanding the Mobile Game Business and Competitive Landscape
Lecture: Overview of Course Economics of mobile games, January 2014 o App Stores o Mobile Game Publishing 101 . Development . Marketing Funnel . Legal and Accounting Basic Concepts
Lab: Review USC mobile games available for marketing via their respective app store pages. Use App Annie and AppData to build prelim business case for one of the games. Instructor shows students the class online leaderboard which will track a) pageviews and b) installs, and c) conversion rate generated by student marketing efforts.
Assignment for a) Set up Flurry account Next Week: b) Read Flurry website and post 3 questions on instructor-provided forum for next week's guest speaker from Flurry c) Do readings for next lecture
Week 2 – Mobile Game Analytics and Monetization
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Understanding mobile game analytics and monetization Walk through a mobile game financial pro forma Review data on a set of 4 mobile game case studies
Readings for http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/15/mobile-monetization- this Lecture: advice-game-insight/ http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/inc-well/How-Mobile- Developers-Can-Better-Monetize-Their-Games-209958311.html
Lab: Guest speaker: Sean Galligan, Flurry (pending availability) Practice using Flurry
Page 6 of 14 Setup Google Analytics account.
Assignment for a) Write a 10 bullet point business case in format provided by Next Week: instructor. b) Do readings for next lecture
Week 3 – Guerrilla Marketing Plan and Process
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Guerrilla Marketing 101 Review data on a set of 4 mobile game case studies
Readings for http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/178516/ this Lecture: http://mobithinking.com/mobile-app-promotion-guide http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/129249/Mobile_game_ marketing_tips_from_Surprise_Attacks_Chris_Wright.php http://devsbuild.it/resources/type/white-paper/5-steps- successfully-market-your-free-play-mobile-game
Lab: Setup Mailchimp account for harvesting email addresses. Setup Google spreadsheet for tracking all your marketing accounts
Assignment for a) Write marketing messages for your game using format provided Next Week: by instructor b) Do readings for next lecture
Week 4 – Establishing an Online Presence
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Learn best practices of App Store pages. Learn best practices of LinkedIn to promote your project and build your personal network
Readings for https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Langua this Lecture: gesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/18_BestPractices/ BestPractices.html http://mashable.com/2011/08/23/mobile-app-ranking-tips/
Page 7 of 14 http://www.starrhall.com/create-more-connections-using- projects-on-linkedin/
Lab: Tweak app store presence for your game Make deals with classmates for cross promotion. Set up a LinkedIn Project for your game Set up an AddThis account
Assignment for a) Make 1-3 page website for your game including blog page, blog Next Week: roll, email solicitation, AddThis buttons and links to your App Store page b) Do readings for next lecture
Week 5 – Awareness 1: Inbound Marketing
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Learn basics of Inbound Marketing - blogs, podcasts, video, content marketing. Review case studies of quality inbound marketers.
Readings for http://www.pardot.com/whitepapers/guide-to-inbound- this Lecture: marketing-best-practices/ http://www.hubspot.com/inbound-marketing http://insourcecode.com/design/inbound-marketing-design-best- practices-tips-must-haves/
Lab: Research 5 quality inbound marketers for mobile games Each student shares top techniques found with the class Quiz 1
Assignment for a) Write 1 short post on your blog Next Week: b) Write 2 short posts on 3rd party sites to generate in-bound marketing credibility. c) Everything should link back to your App Store page. Everything should have Google Analytics tracking links. d) Do readings for next lecture
Week 6 – Awareness 2: Social Media - Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Page 8 of 14 Lecture: Learn how Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr are used to market products and drive mobile game installs Learn about reciprocal links Look at case studies of quality social media marketers
Readings for http://mashable.com/category/social-media-101-series/ this Lecture: http://socialmediatoday.com/chris-horton/1639436/social- media-marketing-101-viral-content
Lab: Setup Facebook page for your game Setup Twitter account for your game Setup Tumblr page for your game Send out 3 tweets promoting other indie mobile games. Write 1 post for Tumblr
Assignment for a) Play Google's mobile game Ingress (students without Android Next Week: phones just do the readings for next lecture) b) Post three questions for next week's guest speaker from Google. c) Do the readings for next lecture
Week 7 – Awareness 3: Social Media - Youtube, Google+, RebelMouse
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Learn how Youtube, Google+, and Rebel Mouse are used to market products and drive installs. Look at case studies of good marketers using these tools
Readings for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingress_%28game%29 this Lecture: http://www.youtube.com/user/ingress http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOAy-_GUQ1Q
Lab: Guest speaker: Dan Arey, Google (pending availability) Setup Youtube account and channel Setup Google+ account Mid-term course evaluation
Assignment for a) Make short video review of quality mobile game not your own. Next Week: b) Post your video to Youtube with links back to your App Store page. c) Embed your video on your blog. d) Do readings for next lecture
Page 9 of 14 Week 8 – Awareness 4: Social Media Monitoring and Community Building
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Learn how Social Media Monitoring is used to build community around a product. Learn how forum sites like Reddit and others drive app discovery
Readings for http://socialmediatoday.com/pamdyer/1458746/50-top-tools- this Lecture: social-media-monitoring-analytics-and-management-2013 http://socialmediatoday.com/peter-trapasso/1799311/social- media-monitoring-tools-infographic http://www.insidefacebook.com/2013/07/30/facebook-launches- mobile-discovery-platform-for-smaller-game-developers/ http://petertrapasso.com/top-5-free-social-media-monitoring- tools/
Lab: Survey different social listening apps. Choose 1 and set up account. Set up 3+ phrases to listen to.
Assignment for a) Identify (through social media monitoring) 3 social posts that are Next Week: relevant to your mobile game and retweet. b) Do readings for next lecture
Week 9 – Awareness 5: Guerilla PR
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Learn how Events, Festivals, Awards, and Influencer networks work. Learn basics of writing and releasing press releases. Look at case studies of good uses of guerilla PR.
Readings for http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/marketing-your- this Lecture: business/seven-steps-to-getting-known-guerrilla-public- relations.html https://www.openforum.com/articles/48-guerrilla-marketing- tips-from-top-pr-pros-1/ http://www.slideshare.net/pabrahamsson/portland-ten-guerilla-
Page 10 of 14 public-relations-11857707
Lab: Survey different Influencer networks Choose 1 and set up an account. Quiz 2
Assignment for a) Write a press release for your game using instructor-provided Next Week: format. b) Post to your blog. c) Optional: Send to 3+ journalists d) Do readings for next lecture
Week 10 – Consideration: App Store and Play Store Best Practices
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Learn best practices of App Store operations Learn rules about version in the app stores. Look at case studies of quality app store pages. Instructor explains "Growth Hacking" process.
Readings for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_Hacking this Lecture: http://yongfook.com/actionable-growth-hacking-tactics.html http://mashable.com/2013/09/02/growth-hacking/
Lab: Use App Annie and AppData to find 5 exemplary App Store pages. Share one with class.
Assignment for a) Post 5 growth hack marketing campaigns including hypothesis, Next Week: success criteria, and process to Google doc. These will be the basis for your Marketing Campaign 1 and 2 assignments b) Techniques utilized can be borrowed from anything learned about in class prior. c) Do readings for next lecture
Week 11 – Conversion: App Store and Play Store Optimization
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Learn App Store Optimization 101
Page 11 of 14 Look at case studies of apps with strong conversion.
Readings for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/App_store_optimization this Lecture: http://fergushurley.com/2013/04/24/app-store-optimization- best-practices/ http://www.mobiledevhq.com/appstoreoptimization- 25/articles/tag http://www.asoprofessional.com/app-store-optimization-tools- what-tool-is-the-best/
Lab: Survey App Store Optimization tools Students choose 1-3 and set up accounts Each student presents his/her Growth Hacks. Class provides feedback and votes on best options.
Assignment for All Students: Next Week: a) Read Grab Games website. b) Post 3 questions for next week's guest speaker from Grab Games. c) Do readings for next lecture
Marketing Campaign 1 a) Student Group A: Execute 2 growth hacks including all tracking data. b) Student Group B: No assignment this week.
Week 12 – Understanding Paid Marketing 1
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Guest speaker: Hersh Choksi, Grab Games (pending availability) Speaker provides overview of his paid marketing initiatives including metrics. Speaker discusses pros and cons of different techniques.
Readings for http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014241278873243458 this Lecture: 04578425252956831668 http://digiday.com/platforms/decline-mobile-ad-network/
Lab: Present results of growth hack marketing campaigns. Get feedback from instructor and class. Draft plan for next week's growth hacks.
Page 12 of 14 Assignment for All Students: Next Week: a) Read Iddiction website b) Post 3 questions for next week's guest speaker from Iddiction c) Do readings for next lecture
Marketing Campaign 1 continued a) Student Group A: No assignment this week b) Student Group B: Execute 2 growth hacks including all tracking data.
Week 13 – Understanding Paid Marketing 2
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Guest speaker: Billy Shipp, Iddiction (pending availability) Iddiction speaker provides overview of his paid marketing initiatives including metrics. Speaker discusses pros and cons of different techniques.
Readings for http://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2013/11590/seven-dos- this Lecture: and-donts-of-mobile-app-marketing-infographic http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/mobile-game-marketing- 6-key-things-developers-need-do/2013-07-15
Lab: Present results of growth hack marketing campaigns. Get feedback from instructor and class. Draft plan for next week's growth hacks.
Assignment for All Students Next Week: a) Do readings for next lecture
Marketing Campaign 2 a) Student Group A: Execute 2 growth hacks including all tracking data. b) Student Group B: No assignment this week
Week 14 – Loyalty/Advocacy: Customer Rel. Management for Mobile Games
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Page 13 of 14 Lecture: Learn about techniques for maintaining ongoing relationship with customers via email. Goal of CRM is to build loyalty, advocacy, and repeat business from users.
Readings for http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/16/playnomics-launches- this Lecture: playrm-customer-relationship-management-platform-for-games/ http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-predictive- analytics-crm-for-mobile-gaming-summary.aspx
Lab: Present results of growth hack marketing campaigns Get feedback from instructor and class Write plan for next week's growth hacks
Assignment for Marketing Campaign 2 continued Next Week: a) Student Group A: No assignment this week b) Student Group B: Execute 2 growth hacks including all tracking data.
Week 15 – Final Presentations / Wrap Up
Leaderboard: Class reviews leaderboard tally and accompanying growth chart
Lecture: Each student presents his/her final marketing campaign materials and data
Readings for No readings for this week this Lecture: Lab: Awards given to top marketers based on Leaderboard data Course Evaluation Discuss next week’s Final Exam Wrap Up
Week 16 – Final Exam
Lecture: Final Exam
Page 14 of 14