Great Copywriting In Action: Bioware (For The Nerds)
Image source: gametrailers.com
Bioware sure is a force to be reckoned with in the gaming world. If you aren’t a gamer, you might not know about this company, but they are known for bringing us incredible games like Baulder’s Gate, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. This company became a strong name recently because of their incredible copywriting and content marketing skills. Let’s take a look at how Bioware utilizes certain skills to create a gaming company many have come to trust. (A quick side note, some of the resources used for this article quite possibly carry spoilers for Bioware games.)
Listening To The Crowds
The one thing Bioware does with their copywriting and content marketing is they listen to their customers, which is vital to having great copywriting. Of course, sometimes they fall flat when it comes to responding adequately, as is evident by the odd change made to the end of Mass Effect 3. They do have a pretty decent record of listening to their clients outside of the ending of ME3, and even asked for fan input for the upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition. Actually, the Dragon Age request for fan input was a great move for Bioware to learn just what their clients wanted because there were obviously tensions over Mass Effect as well as their Star Wars RPG (roleplaying game), The Old Republic.
How can this inspire your copywriting? Simply that it is imperative you listen to your clients! Did you have a few posts that fell flat or that created some unhappy discussion within your client base? Then address it and ask clients what you should do differently. A great way to learn what your clientele wants is to use surveys and polls to hear what they have to say. Consider implementing at least a portion of the suggestions and addressing why you couldn’t make other changes. You can take a leaf out of Bioware’s book with Dragon Age: Inquisition by letting clients know that you will listen to their input, and to expect that not every suggestion will be implemented. People still gave their input, regardless of whether or not Bioware would make the changes. This helped Bioware to come up with some great ideas that we will all see soon in the new Dragon Age.
Creating Lasting Stories
Regardless of the trouble Bioware has seen with Mass Effect and The Old Republic, the one thing the majority of people can agree on is their ability to craft lasting stories. Bioware’s developers did a great job by immersing you in the world of Mass Effect and Commander Shepard; you felt the death of each team member, the awesomeness of being a renegade, or the thrill of fear at seeing the Reapers. They make this happen by turning their games into some powerful RPGs, making you decide what happens and knowing that your choices will hold lasting, and strong, effects in the rest of the game. It is quite cool to see just how the story progresses when you make different choices.
While they are, obviously, attempting to tell a story with their games, Bioware shows just how important it is to tell a story. It really brings a sense of community amongst other fans and prompts some incredible conversations. While you can’t really take your copywriting to the level of an RPG, telling a story might be one of the best ways for you to connect with your client base. Consider telling a story about how your company came into being or a story surrounding your products; it will help keep people engaged with your work.
Viral Marketing Skills, They Have Them!
Something else that Bioware gets is the importance of viral marketing. Anyone who is signed up for Bioware’s game newsletter got a recent teaser of an intriguing game and were told, “You are chosen.” They coupled it with a few interesting, short sentences, and punctuated the email with a teaser trailer called You’ve Been Chosen: Nightmare. Creepily, exciting! They’ve continued the campaign with several more mysterious trailers, one with a woman saying “It’s not my fault” repeatedly. Fast-forward to the recent Gamescon and everyone was waiting on the edge of his or her seat just to know what in the world this new game was. How’s that for intense and awesome viral marketing?
Viral marketing can help anyone, including a big company like Bioware. You should consider doing a few viral marketing campaigns in your copywriting to promote your website further. It can bring in quite the amount of new clients and it will certainly be entertaining for your existing ones! A few ways this can benefit your copywriting is that it can create more awareness about your site, get attention quickly, and give you the ability to see just what your client base will react to the most. Try it out!
In Closing
Bioware really does have some great ideas when it comes to writing copy and you should take this opportunity to research the various other ways Bioware can influence you. Try a few of the ideas listed above to help you come up with some powerful and incredible copy soon!