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April 1, 2015

3 Reasons to Incorporate Gamification Into Your Marketing Strategy

When you think of gamification, what often comes to mind are kids playing video games online. Yet the concept of gamification is actually the application of game mechanics and design techniques to engage and motivate people to achieve goals. Many companies are applying this concept — in everything from software to training — in order to enhance their sales and marketing results. In fact, more than 70 percent of the world’s largest 2,000 companies deployed at least one gamified application by the end of 2014. uses it directly within CRM.me! Let’s look at three reasons to incorporate gamification into your marketing strategy.

1. Gamification motivates your customers and influencers to market for you.

It is statistically proven that gamification increases sales tremendously for brands, agencies, and publishers worldwide. People want to achieve and be recognized for their work. Gamification applies the elements of competition and fun to a marketing strategy. For example, if your company has fans or influencers (bloggers are a great example), allow them to share your content and market the business in exchange for rewards. Create contests and product giveaways in which the individuals can participate. Because customers are influenced by other people and peers, you forge a stronger connection with your audience.

2. Gamification taps into the concept of social status and the desire to achieve.

Have you seen the profile completeness bar on LinkedIn? The bar tells you if your profile is at the level of competent, needs work, or is an all-star. This is an example of gamification. LinkedIn users are motivated to raise the bar in order to gain access to LinkedIn’s more advanced features. Another example is the Starbucks rewards program, where the goal is to fill the virtual cup with stars in order to get to the next level of rewards. Both LinkedIn and Starbucks are using a gamification process to engage the customer and cause him to spend more time interacting with the application. Online badges as rewards are another example of social status and gamification. Foursquare is famous for its social check-ins and the competitive process to become the “master” of checking in at locations. Customers are earning badges within Foursquare, which allows them to be social influencers.

3. Gamification can be incorporated into software to help achieve sales and marketing goals.

Our own CRM.me iscloud-based systems that helps businesses run marketing and sales, while managing projects all within one system. It is the world’s first free cloud-based CRM that is powered by gamification that draws upon the competitive nature of games and achievement, and uses leaderboards, missions, and rewards to engage, motivate, and recognize your brand’s top achievers. More companies are using gamification strategies as a way to reach customers through sales and marketing. This technique has becomes increasingly important as younger generations that grew up playing interactive games (think: Millennials) enter the workforce and infuse the economy. If you’re trying to reach this demographic, it’s worth spending some time thinking about how gamifying your marketing strategy can help your business gain the leading edge in your market.