You're a game publisher. You want to promote your products, and want part of your strategy to include an element of online advertising. But... you want your ads to be seen by the people who are most likely to respond, and you don't want to break the bank to reach them.

This is what Ed Healy (that's me) would do:

(1) On the day you release a new product, purchase a small amount of advertising on Facebook and StumbleUpon. You can get a small, but respectable response from both sources with only $7.50:

Facebook allows you to target your ads to a given country, state, city, and gender. You are also able to target certain keywords—roleplaying games, for instance—so that your ads are only seen by people who are likely to be interested in your products. Even better, you only pay when people click on your advertisement, and you get to decide how much you pay per click.

You can have your ads point to your home page, or online store. Even better? Create a Facebook Group for your business, which your customers can become ‘members’ of. For your main product lines, create a Facebook Page so your customers can become ‘fans’ and help you spread the word. Post announcements and run your RSS feeds through these tools in order to keep your customers engaged with your company. Target these pages with your ads.

StumbleUpon ads are similar to Facebook ads. However, people don’t see your advertisement—they simply show up at your web site. As with Facebook, you pay for each time someone clicks. The added benefit to SU advertising is that the user can ‘thumb up’ your site, increasing the likelihood that others will find it as well. It’s the closest thing to for-pay viral marketing you’re going to find.

It’s important, with StumbleUpon advertising, that your site grabs the viewer’s attention and makes him want to stay. Consider designing a landing page specifically for your SU campaign—maybe offering SU visitors a discount for purchasing your product.

(2) There are a number of great gaming blogs on the internet. I happen to represent (full disclosure, and all) seven of them. Here’s “the list”:

* Dungeon Mastering: dungeonmastering.com
* Gnome Stew: gnomestew.com
* Jonathan Drain's d20 Source: d20.jonnydigital.com
* Kobold Quarterly: koboldquarterly.com
* Musings of the Chatty DM: chattydm.net
* Roleplaying Tips: roleplayingtips.com
* Treasure Tables: treasuretables.org

For $17.50 per month, your advertisement will be seen 500 times on each site. Honestly, there’s no need to go much further than this, unless you have the budget. Use this modest amount of exposure for branding—to keep your company and products in front of your prospective customers and to encourage them to visit your website.

Read a little more about advertising on these gaming blogs here.

So, that’s it. Let me know what you think of this plan. Have you ever used Facebook or StumbleUpon ads? Are you a reader of the sites I listed? Sound off, and game on!