Developing computer games and off-the-shelf software

Getting your sales and marketing right is crucial to selling your product successfully.

Marketing

Creating a marketing strategy will help you identify potential customers, understand the market and target them with appropriate products or services.

When marketing your product, you should consider:

• which type of marketing is appropriate - eg digital and social media, viral marketing
• a unique event or venue launch/marketing event to tie in with your theme/content
• creating excitement around your product - especially pre-launch - and ensuring it lives up to expectations once launched

Sales

To increase the chances of your product being successful, you should ensure you understand and plan for the following at an early stage in development:

• the industry
• your target market(s) - eg whether they are seasonal or niche markets
• your competitors
• economic factors
• timing of bringing your product to market
• your unique selling point

You should look at developing the appropriate sales channels for your product to engage the customer through:

• direct sales
• franchising
• selling through agents - especially in foreign markets
• online selling - through your own or other established websites
• economic and logistical considerations - warehousing, supply chain, fulfilment - ensure you can provide stock levels to maximise your sales and profits - and returns

For more information, read about selling online.

Branding

You should carefully consider all elements of the branding for your product, including:

• packaging
• localisation - see translation and localisation of computer games and software.

Depending on your target market and audience, you should also consider designing, or redesigning, products, services, processes or systems to prevent or repair damage to the environment, society and the economy. 

For more information, read about branding for our business.