[jay_kyburz]

Last time I did an Adwords Campaign I was paying about 30-50c a click. I'm doing web games at the moment so really don't have any figures for buying adds on mobile.

I have heard anecdotally that a click in a mobile game costs a lot less.

Fully agree that spending a small percentage of your marketing budget on shows is great. And as I said before, they are heaps of fun and a great holiday for the team. You get to rub shoulders with the press and meet other devs.

But, I think somebody else mentioned these guys aren't even paying themselves a salary yet.

[corin_]

How does that 30-50c look once its turned into sales, as in how many clicks per sale? (Unless you don't directly sell anything).

Anyone who exhibits at an event for fun is a fool, as is anyone who exhibits at an event but doesn't find it fun. In my experience - and maybe this differs in other industries or indeed other parts of the games industry - events couldn't be further from holidays, most event organisers and exhibitors I know, myself included, would tell you they are the most tiring and most stressful times of the year. But for some of us, that's what makes them enjoyable.

Of course there's fun to mix in and around them in ways that being away from the normality of office life let's you have, but it's generally a case of lletting off steam while working crazily hard, not of enjoying a break from working. My last event consisted of 10 days without a break, 10-12 hours minimum, or 15+ during the 4 days of set-up / pack down, but it was still the most fun I've had recently.

[jay_kyburz]

"How does that 30-50c look once its turned into sales"

Haha, my conversion ratio is not quite there yet, that's why I'm not yet retired.

Once my 50c click pays 55c in sales I'll roll every sale into more ads and be as big as Zynga in no time.

I'm not crazy far off though, last time I had a run at it I made about 85c to the dollar.

[corin_]

I don't know what sort of marketing budget you have, but if/when it has a little leeway, try some more targeted advertising rather than AdWords. I'd love to tell you that I could provide it, but the audience I have are PC gamers and I don't honestly think you'd see great results with us, but there will be sites out there that will give you a worse CPC but a better CPA than Google can.