Using the Marketing Funnel to Design a Trailer Campaign
Let's talk some marketing 101, namely the marketing funnel and how it feeds into game trailer design. It has other names like the purchase funnel, conversion funnel, sales funnel, customer funnel; they're all the same concept. The marketing funnel is a visual representation of the customer journey from learning about a game to eventually purchasing it. I'm going to piggy-back off of Chris Zukowski's blog post about funnels because he talks specifically about gamers, and uses those hilarious Game Pro magazine rating icons from the 90s.
Every potential customer starts at the top of the funnel; this is where they become aware of a game via a trailer, news article, social media post, animated GIF, YouTube video, streamer, almost anything which shows or talks about the game.
If their interest is piqued, they move onto considering whether or not they should devote more attention by: following a social media account, joining a Discord, wish listing the game on a store page etc. A step further down the funnel, they might decide to read articles, watch videos, and maybe even play a demo. After that they either become a buying customer, or not. And after that, they either play it and don't really like it, or they might even become fans of the game, and the people who made it!
Calling this a funnel is much more for the visual rather than referencing the actual real-life object, because of course if you pour something into a real funnel, all of the contents put into the top will come out the bottom. The visual is a funnel because every step of the way there are fewer and fewer people engaged with the game or even paying attention to you. It's more like a series of sieves if anything, but that doesn't sound as catchy :P
The key to marketing is to understand and serve the needs of the people at the phases of the funnel:
Are they just learning about the product?
Are they already following you?
Are they following, but need more information?
Are they a new customer?
Are they already a fan?
These questions are what will help guide your trailer design and strategy, because knowing who your audience is will help you give them what they want.
Let's dive into each step of the funnel, and what tends to work best to serve the people at those stages.
Awareness
This is the stage where you're working off of nothing. No one knows who you are, they might not even be familiar with the genre of game you're making. This is where you need to make a trailer which shows how unique the game is, make the message simple to digest, and make the trailer itself as broadly appealing as possible. As we go through the stages of the funnel, a good way to think about it is that the first trailers give the broad, but shallow view, and each one which follows dives a bit deeper.
AAA games frequently make their announcements via cinematic trailers. This is because well directed, shot, edited, scored and sound designed trailers with beautiful visuals are very entertaining. Since most AAA games feature game mechanics which are easily understood at a glance, they can afford to be more cinematic, and worry less about conveying gameplay ideas (not to say that they don't ever do this!)
I think the best cinematic trailers make an effort to illustrate gameplay ideas while also looking good. A good example is this trailer for Drake Hollow by Molasses Flood.
Cinematic or animated trailers are very expensive to produce (whether it's time or money or both), so a trailer made via the game engine is what most people will make. Announce trailers of that style need to present the clearest and simplest gameplay idea so it's very easy to describe and share. A good example is the announce trailer for Snow Runner.
If you can get a share, follow or wishlist from your announce trailer, you've successfully brought some people further into your funnel!
Consideration
Now that people are aware of the game, they're going to need something more from the next trailer to help them consider whether or not they really want to purchase the game. This means diving into some specifics which were only hinted at in the announce trailer. Depending on the type of game, that means making either a story trailer or gameplay trailer. I think at this stage in the funnel it's risky to dive into any subjects peripheral to the gameplay such as voice talent or other behind-the-scenes videos, because while important, they're not typically the core of what people are looking for at this phase.
This part of the funnel is one where you're likely to lose a lot of people (and that's ok!). People who were intrigued by the vague but exciting pitch of the announce trailer might not hang on when they realize the gameplay doesn't fall into their preferred genre. Or maybe the story didn't go in the direction they thought it would. You might be tempted to mitigate loss by remaining more vague, but then you risk frustrating or boring the people who want more information if your trailers are too same-y and vague. It's important to continue to play to your unique hooks, and strengths.
Some games present well enough in montage hype trailers like Spelunky 2, while others might be just unfamiliar enough in concept that they require more explicit explanation like Creature in the Well or Tactical Breach Wizards.
Manifold Garden had an ambient teaser trailer for many years, so when it came time for the second, people really needed to know what the gameplay was.
Story trailers need to go a little bit deeper into what is happens in the game in order to serve people at this phase. If a story trailer still feels like it only presents a world and an idea, then it's likely to be unsatisfying. For example, announce trailer for Firewatch presented the idea of a fire lookout in a situation where something went wrong. For the second trailer, we wanted people to know there's a mystery, and that events will be actively unfolding during the course of the game (this was to differentiate it from other first person games which focused on uncovering past events). That trailer introduced the idea of some missing girls, a cut communications wire, and a mysterious person invading your lookout tower.
This part of the funnel is about informing and hyping people up. Holding attention is probably the most difficult thing to do, because people get impatient without new content; you need to strike a balance between satisfying the audience, while not spoiling anything about the game.
Neo Cab was revealed via art and text, so the first trailer was actually both an announce and a story trailer.
Evaluation
This is the final step before the purchase. If they're still paying attention at this point they either need even MORE detail, or they're along for the ride, and just want to get excited about the game.
People with lingering questions might be well served by making Gameplay Overview or 101 trailers. Again, Snow Runner had a very good array of gameplay videos, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution had its 101 trailer explaining the different play styles you can employ.
This is also a good time to make trailers for things peripheral to the gameplay trailers like behind-the-scenes looks at the game and its design choices. For example, take a look at these videos which lead up to the release date of The Last of Us Part II. You can see each video is longer form and more in-depth than what you get from a typical hype trailer, and discusses more granular things about the game. These videos scratch the same itch I had as a kid when I was so excited for the game I just purchased that I read the manual as my mom drove me home (before she inevitably stopped at the grocery store first :P)
The last thing to hopefully get people to purchase is the launch trailer which either sums up everything covered so far, or does something big and flashy like an animated trailer or live-action trailer.
This came after release, but it's the sort of thing which would be fun for people to watch in anticipation of the game coming out.
Customer
If you still have people in the funnel who are ready to purchase, congratulations! There are still trailers you can make to serve the people at this part of the funnel. If the game has additional content or features coming, then you're going to be making update trailers and DLC trailers. These should be specifically focused on existing customers, and it's one of the few times when calling out features and quantity of content really works in game trailers.
You might also make celebratory trailers which appeal to people's confirmation bias; people like seeing opinions they already agree with, and they like feeling good about a purchase they made. This is one purpose accolades trailers can fulfill, even if they're mainly intended for people who haven't purchased yet.
These PUBG trailers are still very much made like "gameplay" trailers rather than ones which quantify new content, but still serve existing customers.
True Fan
If you're ever fortunate enough to have a true fan (someone who will buy anything you make sight unseen) congrats again! True fans will appreciate just about anything you make, but something which feels specifically for them to show your appreciation is a nice gesture. For example, this anniversary cinematic trailer for Stellaris feels very much like a tribute to the game and the community. You can see in the comments a large number of fans who really enjoyed it!
Final thoughts
When you understand the marketing funnel, you're better equipped to make trailers for your game, because you understand the needs of the people at the different stages of the funnel. It's a lens which allows you to see and interpret feedback.
For example, I think people who dislike cinematic trailers for AAA games have that attitude because they quickly move past the Awareness part of the funnel onto the mid-funnel gameplay specific content as soon as possible so they can consider and evaluate. I think it's better to leave them a little unsatisfied at first because since they're so ready, they'll be there when you're prepared to show more.
You need to design the marketing campaign, and pace it in a way which best serves your game. Some people are NEVER satisfied, and others only think they know what they want. Another way to think of the funnel is, that each bit of information is there to convince the person to invest more of their time.
For example, not everyone wants to watch a 10 min trailer as their first intro to a game. They might want a 60 sec teaser, which convinces them to watch a 2 min trailer, which convinces them to watch a 5 minute overview, and then maybe they'll watch dev stream or read blog post. It's a chain of deeper investments which we hope ends with them spending their money and time playing the game. Some games can get people to go from teaser trailer to purchase, but most people will need more warming up to be truly convinced.
To see a great example of a trailer campaign which maps well to the needs of the people at the different stages of the marketing funnel, please read my post about the Snow Runner campaign!
If you're dying to learn even more about this subject, I did a talk about game trailer campaigns and marketing funnels at DISCO: MTL 2019. In it I explain things using different metaphors and examples, so if you want more talk about trailer campaigns and marketing funnels, please take a look!
