First of all, entrepreneurship is the practice of Problem-solving, Innovation, Value-creation, Opportunity-finding and Technology application (PIVOT). Innovation is the central issue in business. It is the application of creative solutions to problems and to opportunities to enhance and to enrich people’s lives.
Marketing is about Attracting, Identifying and Retaining (AIR) customers. It is the act of satisfying clients. It is one of the primary components of business management and commerce. Marketing is typically conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or manufacturer. Products can be marketed to other businesses or directly to consumers.
The 7P’s of marketing are product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence.
These five elements of marketing are Mission, Money, Message, Media, and Measurement. The 5 M’s work hand-in-hand to create impactful and effective advertising strategies – whether you’re doing digital marketing, traditional advertising, or a combination.
Gamification is adding game mechanics into non-game environments, like a website, online community, learning management system or business’ intranet to increase participation. The goal of gamification is to engage with consumers, employees and partners to inspire, collaborate, share and interact.
Gamification marketing is a distinct development in the marketing industry. It has emerged as an innovative approach to engage current customers and convert them into loyal customers. At the core of this strategy lies the idea of incorporating game-like, interactive elements into a traditional marketing campaign.
Gamification marketing is an enhanced marketing technique that borrows design elements from games to attract and retain customers. In gamified marketing, consumers are driven to perform an action because it offers elements of competition/challenge or reward/achievement.
It is a strategic fusion between psychology and technology that allows marketers to create deeper connections with their audience, thereby promoting brand love and customer loyalty.
Gamification is a marketing strategy that goes beyond traditional promotional methods. It offers a dynamic, interactive way to connect with customers.
The feelings and emotions that gamification evokes can all be categorized under one of David McClelland’s human motivators – need for achievement. As a result, there are essentially three pillars of gamification, which illustrate how and why gamification is able to increase participation, loyalty and engagement. They are ‘PLAY’, ‘FLOW’ and ‘VIBE’. These are all acronyms which will be extensively discussed in the second part of this article, so watch out.
One of the most prevalent applications of gamification in building loyalty is implementing engaging loyalty programs, challenges, and rewards. Loyalty programs are quintessential gamification tools that incentivize customers to engage with a brand consistently.
Examples of brands deploying gamifification as a marketing strategy:
- Apple: A key gamified aspect of the Apple Fitness app is its goal-setting and achievement system. When users set specific fitness objectives, such as completing a certain number of workouts per week or burning a target number of calories, they receive virtual badges and achievements upon reaching these goals.
- Nike: Nike also boosts sales by engaging users through fitness challenges and rewards. Gamification strategies foster a strong community and brand loyalty among Nike users. Social sharing features turn users into organic marketers for Nike products. Progress tracking and personalization enhance user engagement and motivation.
Gamification – SWOT:
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
As an expert in gamification in my own right, I have observed that one of the weaknesses of gamification is lack of quality game design – Applying game elements without game design skills results in poor experiences. Quality game design is crucial. Focusing on existing behaviors – Gamification works best when focused on developing new behaviors, not rewarding existing behaviors.
Complexity in game design leads to unfavourable user experience and poor outcomes of the intended ‘gameful’ experience expected of a user interphase. Read up UI/UX designs.
The second part of this article will also focus more on gamification ‘SWOT’.
Marketing is gainful if it’s gameful!
Loyalty programmes are a great way to gamify the customer experience. By offering customers points, stars, or other currency after they make a purchase. By incorporating game elements into marketing efforts such as brand awareness, reward programs, or new product promotions, businesses can turn basic campaigns into connective efforts that keep customers coming back for more.
For marketing teams, a gamification strategy could be turning your inbound marketing into a game in order to achieve a specific outcome. Your audience (customers, leads, fans, followers, readers, whoever) engages in a game that offers the chance to win something, and in return, you get a marketing boost.
“It is sort of like when we host a webinar and say whoever tweets the webinar’s hashtag the most gets a free ticket to our next marketing conference — it taps into people’s competitive spirit and drive to win, and gets our content more exposure on Twitter. Again, a win-win scenario, and one that’s more creative than just asking someone, “Hey, can you tweet this link?” That’s a gamification strategy!
Other examples of Gamification in Marketing include the following:
KFC: Mobile gaming
Under Armor: Trivia
M&Ms: Digital puzzles
Starbucks: Rewards app
Nike: Fitness competition
Duolingo: Gamified education
Wordle: Streak counter
eBay: Emotional investment
The US Army: First-person gaming
Headspace: Social sharing
Gamification marketing is best suited for service industries. Let’s help productize your services – move your business from indoors to industry and turn your creative idea into a lucrative opportunity by leveraging game mechanics and game design techniques.
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