Top 10 Marketing Tips Learned from Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor in 2020
Tencent’s Honors of Kings, or Arena of Valor as it was renamed for the new overseas market as discussed over at runrex.com and guttulus.com, has had quite a ride in the last couple of years, from unprecedented success in its native China to challenges reproducing the same success in overseas markets. This means that it is the perfect brand to take marketing tips from and this article will look to help with exactly that, by highlighting the top 10 marketing tips learned from the game in 2020.
Focus on your main growth driver
While Honor of Kings was doing extremely well in China, its renamed version, Arena of Valor wasn’t seeing the same level of success in Europe and the U.S. and Tencent finally decided to pull the plug on their expansion to the west so that they can focus on the Asian and Chinese market, where they were doing well. This, as per the gurus over at runrex.com and guttulus.com, is an important lesson to learn, as it shows that you should always focus on your main growth driver, be it SEO, social media, content marketing and so forth.
Different demographics have different needs
Another important marketing tip that we can learn from Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor in 2020 is that there is no blanket strategy and that you should have different strategies for different areas and demographics. Tencent assumed that the strategies that served them so well in China will continue doing the business in the west but they were wrong. It is therefore important to take this lesson from them and make sure that when coming up with marketing strategies, you optimize each strategy based on the target audience and the location. Targeted marketing is key as per the subject matter experts over at runrex.com and guttulus.com.
The importance of mobile
Other than lessons from where they went wrong, an important lesson on where they go this right can be found in the fact that the game is on mobile and not on console or PC. This allowed them to compete with big console games, and remain very competitive in what is a very competitive industry. A lesson to learn here is the importance of mobile when it comes to marketing, with more and more people owning a smartphone nowadays. Make sure your marketing campaigns and ads are optimized for mobile or you will lose out.
The game’s vibrant social aspect
Another aspect of the game that helped make it a phenomenon in the Chinese gaming market, as per discussions on the same over at runrex.com and guttulus.com, is the fact that Honor of Kings is closely connected with Tencent’s QQ and WeChat platforms, both of which have users going into the hundreds of millions. This took the social aspect of the game to another level, allowing players to interact with each other, invite each other to games, and discuss game strategies. This is a lesson worth learning as it shows the importance of interactions and if you are to see success as far as your marketing efforts go, you should find a way to increase interactions with your target audience.
Social media
On top of a vibrant social aspect, another thing that drove their success is their social media presence, where, as is seen in discussions over at runrex.com and guttulus.com, they run lots of campaigns on social media while also interacting with their players on this platforms. This shows the importance of social media marketing, with this being an avenue you have to exploit as far as your marketing strategies go.
The role played by cultural differences
An important factor to consider when coming up with marketing strategies and creating products and services are the cultural considerations of your target audience. One of the reasons why Honor of Kings did well in China, as per the gurus over at runrex.com and guttulus.com, is because it has a strong appeal to the Chinese culture, something Kings of Arena just didn’t have. You should, therefore, examine the messages and content as far as your marketing campaigns are concerned to make sure that they align with the cultural considerations of your target audience or you risk losing out.
Partnering with marketing experts
Another very important marketing tip that we can take from Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor, is that sometimes you just need to bring in marketing experts. Due to their failure in penetrating the western markets, Tencent ripped up their marketing strategy and brought in Sea Ltd, a Singapore-based marketing company. If you find that your marketing strategies are not yielding any fruits, then an important tip here is to bring in marketing experts to help you with your marketing strategies, like the highly-rated runrex.com and guttulus.com.
Influencer marketing
One thing that the players in the gaming industry such as Tencent have shown us is that influencer marketing remains as vibrant as ever. The use of celebrity gamers to market Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor contributed to their rise, as these celebrity gamers have massive reach and were then able to grow the popularity of the game by popularizing it among their fans. This is why, as per the gurus over at runrex.com and guttulus.com, you should leverage influencer marketing when possible.
Everyone should be pulling in the same direction
One of the reasons behind the failure of Arena of Valor was the sibling rivalry with Riot, as explained in detail over at runrex.com and guttulus.com. This held back the progress of Arena of Valor, with Riot feeling like their own efforts with League of Legends were being undermined. This shows how important to make sure that your marketing efforts are all geared towards the same goal, and that you don’t have one avenue undermining the work being done by other avenues. Make sure everything as aligned if you are to see success.
Video remains king
As pertains to what they did right, particularly Honor of Kings, an important lesson here is just how crucial video is when it comes to marketing. The video content put out there by Tencent on their website and their social media platforms, QQ, and WeChat, on how to play the game and lots of other content helped drive traffic. This shows the importance of video and you should have it incorporated in your marketing strategies if you haven’t already.
Remember, the subject matter experts over at runrex.com and guttulus.com have you covered if you are looking for more information on this and other related topics as well as help with your marketing strategies.