Game Based Marketing by @gzicherm – 60 Second Book Review
Game-Based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests
by Gabe Zicherman & Joselin Linder
What are the books hot topics:
It’s all about the games and how you can increase your effectiveness of marketing, customer loyalty and more with gamification (Gamification: the use of game play mechanics for non-game applications a.k.a funware.*) This book is a great introduction to the new wave of marketing and customer loyalty programs. You’ll get a great overview of “player types”, how to correctly make your campaigns social, the good and bad of points and badging and more.
There are some good case studying including the US Army, Airline FFPs, McDonald’s among others and how they are using gamification to recruit, sell more, generate customer loyalty and more.
Who should read the book: If you are developing marketing campaigns, looking to reach customers under the age of 35, or just getting into any type of social, mobile web app development this book is for you. If you’re looking for a step by step guide to gamify your marketing or product, this isn’t it, but it will give you the introduction and overview needed to get started down that path.
Must Read Chapter(s): Chapter 3 – Social Networks & Leaderboards & Chapter 6 – The Ultimate Funware: Frequent Flyer Programs
Overall Conclusion: This is an easy to read book that stimulates the mind. I give this 4/5 – its a good book and a definite read if you’re marketing to Millennial/Generation Y or Generation G, if you’re looking to start a customer loyalty program in today’s digital age, or if you’re looking to stand out from the crowd. The concepts of gamification covered in Game Based Marketing will give you the insight and knowledge to separate yourself from the worn out interruption marketing efforts that are so commonly blocked by people today.
Have you read “Game Based Marketing”? Let me know what you thought about the book in the comments below.
* Definition of Gamification from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification
