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Best way to market a high traffic professional gaming team?

by Rendition
9 replies
Dear Warriors,

I am looking for advice on marketing a very high traffic professional gaming team. I work closely with a League Of Legends (the most highly viewed and played game in the world) team that live-streams daily with high viewership, and who regularly compete in MLG (Major League Gaming) and other events.

LCS is the tournament series sponsored by Riot Gaming (the maker of League Of Legends), which is a tournament offering millions in prizes each season. For the top 8 teams in North America, Riot also offers sizable salaries to staff and players on each team, and subsidize team-house efforts for the teams.

Currently our team is ranked #9, and considered the best non-LCS team. They have earned a spot in "relegation" to earn their rank in the top 8, and have many more opportunities to earn it later on as well. The potential for entry into LCS is a big thing, but we are also trying to capitalize on our players streaming efforts and fan-base. Two of our players average roughly 8-10k viewers per player at any given time when they stream on any given day, and we receive by far the best streaming numbers of any non-LCS teams, and better than some LCS teams.

That is a very abbreviated look at our team, and I can provide more details in private discussions. But what I am looking for here is advice on how you Warriors would market this product I have (being the team and viewership etc). We have recently parted ways with a large organization and are now going it alone, and any advice or collaboration opportunities are welcome.
#gaming #high #market #professional #team #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author Assetus
    Interesting topic for me since I occasionally watch streams of other games and organised teams, though not in as popular a game as LOL.

    What does your average viewer know about the players? Do they have a personality beyond the game itself to form a connection with (usually established via some form of behnd the scenes video I'd assume, or social media profiles). To be blunt some of the best players in my games were either the dullest people I've met or complete stoners, but a few of them were interesting enough to have marketable potential.

    Do they have distinctive play styles or branded sorts of specialities if you like? I don't know LOL well but I know in some of the games I've played there would be a large community but perhaps less than 10 people who could do certain things well, and obviously being the best in a very particular task or play style makes the player more memorable and noteworthy, in the same way an NFL player with exceptional speed/strength/elusiveness/interception ability, stands out.

    Do they engage with their fans in actual playing, say pick a team of most hardcore fans for a mixed team game sometime? Your average sports fan would love that kind of thing so I'd assume the feeling translates to esports.

    Is your team roster similar age/demographics to the targeted viewers?
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  • Profile picture of the author SARahman
    Offline marketing is a tough nut. But things are much easier now as we have some big players to learn from.

    After reading your whole question, WWE is the only brand marketing came to my mind. Watch some PPV events and learn how they top the rankings.

    Invest big in BRANDED give-away things like hats, T-shirts, etc. in exchange of trending for a HASHTAG at any given time.

    • Create a Facebook fan page, buy some Ad credits and get laser target audience for your content. You can give some stuff out there as well if you feel like giving.
    • Use twitter and trend often with your own custom #hashtags.
    • Upload gazillions of your replay videos with a branded Youtube channel.
    • And don't forget Google+, cause that's the key to pet the monster.
    • Hire a professional and experienced media manager to do all the promotional work for you. Remember, they don't know you if you are not on the Internet BIG time.
    If I were you I would learn from WWE and how they created a media war between their own shows Smackdown Vs. Raw in 2005 or 2006.

    Adios,
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    S A Rahman Bukhari
    Webcast Coach & Writer
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  • Profile picture of the author Rendition
    What does your average viewer know about the players? Do they have a personality beyond the game itself to form a connection with (usually established via some form of behnd the scenes video I'd assume, or social media profiles). To be blunt some of the best players in my games were either the dullest people I've met or complete stoners, but a few of them were interesting enough to have marketable potential.
    The average viewer is a fan of the player. These guys have huge personalities in the game and are some of the most popular in the game because of it. If you PM me I can link you to videos.

    Do they have distinctive play styles or branded sorts of specialities if you like? I don't know LOL well but I know in some of the games I've played there would be a large community but perhaps less than 10 people who could do certain things well, and obviously being the best in a very particular task or play style makes the player more memorable and noteworthy, in the same way an NFL player with exceptional speed/strength/elusiveness/interception ability, stands out.
    They have very distinctive play styles and are very aggressive. Again I can link you to VODS privately.

    Do they engage with their fans in actual playing, say pick a team of most hardcore fans for a mixed team game sometime? Your average sports fan would love that kind of thing so I'd assume the feeling translates to esports.
    They frequently engage with fans and also through their own personal social media. They love to stream, as well as chat in their own streams. At events they meet and engage fans.

    Is your team roster similar age/demographics to the targeted viewers?
    Pretty much exactly. 18-25

    Invest big in BRANDED give-away things like hats, T-shirts, etc. in exchange of trending for a HASHTAG at any given time.

    Create a Facebook fan page, buy some Ad credits and get laser target audience for your content. You can give some stuff out there as well if you feel like giving.
    Use twitter and trend often with your own custom #hashtags.
    Upload gazillions of your replay videos with a branded Youtube channel.
    And don't forget Google+, cause that's the key to pet the monster.
    Hire a professional and experienced media manager to do all the promotional work for you. Remember, they don't know you if you are not on the Internet BIG time.
    Because we dont have the capital to rebrand comfortably, we are currently using a placeholder team name. The placeholder facebook page got 200 likes within 12 hours, and im sure if we market it, it will explode. The issue is that we are looking for a key investor or sponsor which will allow us to comfortably assume our permanent team name and form our LLC. Once we have rebranded our team, we will be ready to heavily push social media, merchandise, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author Assetus
    From your reply it seems the biggest problem right now is in fact the fact they're ranked 9th not 8th-it sounds like you're doing much right already and going by the first post they're already outperforming higher ranked pro teams in social engagement and viewership.

    What type of companies sponsor the top 8 teams? I'm assuming the usual sorts of gaming/computer companies but I've even seen pro teams sell their naming rights to a consulting company which bemused me slightly as it seemed an odd connection to the 18-25 year old playerbase. Your viewership of 18-25 year olds with computer skills shouldn't be a hard sell to a sponsor though, as they probably have higher than average incomes for that bracket if they've got spare time to spend watching gaming streams, or are students with resulting higher incomes a few years down the track so a better lifetime customer value for any company looking to lock up customers for the future (as banks do with student specific offers).
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  • Profile picture of the author Rendition
    Sponsors range from Razer, Steelseries, Roccat, and other gamer merchandice companies as well as PC companies etc. It's a pretty big network of potential sponsors.

    The problem is that it takes about 100 inquiries to find a big sponsor, and those have to be with a good presentation. We dont have a good presentation because we arent branded and therefore don't have our site, team social media, etc completely established. Its a catch 22 of sorts. Even with a bit of capital we can rebrand with confidence, and then start really appealing heavily to sponsors.
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    • Profile picture of the author SARahman
      So your number one problem is; re-branding your team name and company form up. I got it!

      You will have a sponsor unless you have that kind of reputation to grab a money shark's attention. Problem number two would be; repuration

      You can't afford hardcore promotion because you don't have an investor. Problem number three; funds

      You don't have a branded team name to promote and build reputation, you don't have funds -- to be more precise, right?

      How about going for crowd funding if you have got 200 likes within 12 hours already? That shows a healthy amount of backers, I believe.

      Go to Kickstarter.com, tell a story and get as much fund as you want. Don't take my words for that, see this #1 crowd sourcing platform that has turned the most broke people into riches.

      And there are several other platforms are out there. Buy yourself a good crowd sourcing WSO or info product for as low as $47 (I guess you can pay that much, can't you?)

      I hope this help you beat the league games and the tournament to earn the #1 spot in the gaming industry. And that day I will charge you for my fee
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      S A Rahman Bukhari
      Webcast Coach & Writer
      Best Freelance Business Video Tutorials in Town!
      IT Success Center
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      • Profile picture of the author Assetus
        Originally Posted by SARahman View Post


        How about going for crowd funding if you have got 200 likes within 12 hours already? That shows a healthy amount of backers, I believe.

        Go to Kickstarter.com, tell a story and get as much fund as you want. Don't take my words for that, see this #1 crowd sourcing platform that has turned the most broke people into riches.
        Haven't used it myself but this is certainly a viable option for people in your situation of high online engagement but lower real world business perception (at the moment). It has certainly worked well for some movie producers offering incentives to their fans with special levels of engagement depending on contribution.
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    • Profile picture of the author Assetus
      Originally Posted by Rendition View Post

      Sponsors range from Razer, Steelseries, Roccat, and other gamer merchandice companies as well as PC companies etc. It's a pretty big network of potential sponsors.

      The problem is that it takes about 100 inquiries to find a big sponsor, and those have to be with a good presentation. We dont have a good presentation because we arent branded and therefore don't have our site, team social media, etc completely established. Its a catch 22 of sorts. Even with a bit of capital we can rebrand with confidence, and then start really appealing heavily to sponsors.
      I just checked out the Major League Gaming site, and then a few of their LOL gamers online profiles-I was aware of MLG but never really looked into it before you posted this. Given I've played games quite heavily, I'd suggest there are plenty of potential sponsors who are even more unaware of the numbers involved there. Unless you get a sponsor who is already involved to some extent, explaining it in depth with facts and figures to back up the viewership is going to be key-otherwise they're going to write it off as a novelty game for kids.

      I'd expect it would compare well with any other type of team sport in terms of marketing ROI, but explaining that is the tough part. You can at least sell the fact you're apparently and up and coming team and that any investor or sponsor would be getting in ahead of the curve and viewers/followers would logically increase if you break into the top 8 teams.

      The naming situation is tricky as you've already said. However there is enough potential upside in the relationship that if you hit up enough qualified prospects then someone should see benefit in it for them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rendition
    So your number one problem is; re-branding your team name and company form up. I got it!

    You will have a sponsor unless you have that kind of reputation to grab a money shark's attention. Problem number two would be; repuration

    You can't afford hardcore promotion because you don't have an investor. Problem number three; funds

    You don't have a branded team name to promote and build reputation, you don't have funds -- to be more precise, right?

    How about going for crowd funding if you have got 200 likes within 12 hours already? That shows a healthy amount of backers, I believe.

    Go to Kickstarter.com, tell a story and get as much fund as you want. Don't take my words for that, see this #1 crowd sourcing platform that has turned the most broke people into riches.

    And there are several other platforms are out there. Buy yourself a good crowd sourcing WSO or info product for as low as $47 (I guess you can pay that much, can't you?)

    I hope this help you beat the league games and the tournament to earn the #1 spot in the gaming industry. And that day I will charge you for my fee
    You have identified the issue exactly. Crowdfunding is actually a very good idea, and I've been thinking of that to begin with. Do you think it might be best to do Indie Gogo instead of kickstarter so that we arent forced to reach a funding ceiling? We are also open to bringing in a business partner who can give a small fiscal injection to help us get a brand off the ground, and pay them back as sponsors and or LCS come through.
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