Just an idea, I didn't try this. And it's probably not the most effective trick there is, but couldn't you just go into retail shops in your city and download your game onto the devices on display?
Clever... Just make sure you log out of your account before you leave! Now to make a list of all the Apple Stores, ATT, and Verizon shops in my area...
I've tried stuff like this before (just for kicks honestly). I do consider it a waste of time otherwise, though. The amount of time and energy you potentially spend on setting up some promotion online versus "out in the real world" yields results that are night and day between the two. You want to setup a method where someone is going to click on a link and get right to the purchase point of your game with as little interference as possible, whereas if it's something they see in the real world (and thus requiring extra steps.. "remember a website, type something in, etc") you are drastically reducing the percentage of chance that there will be follow-through all the way to that purchase point. Of course this works when it's something more traditionally advertised on a grander scale, and if you are ballsy enough to cover bus-stop benches with your advertising then go for it, but don't think your efforts might not simply get removed/come back to haunt you/etc. In my own experience, I've seen the best results from simply appearing at higher-profile news aggregate sites (probably), stuff I have done to spread the word on this particular form (it's getting harder and harder), and of course neogaf although most people hate when I bring that one up (and their iOS thread is getting more useless by the day as it's just so huge and discombobulated)
Pregnant Dad iPhone App Publicity Stunt Here is a link to a stunt by an app creator for monitoring pregnancy http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nutricia-baby-connection-app This is a big company but there is no reason a small developer could not do this. It got 2.4 million views. How many apps sold: who knows but this creates opportunities. Since my game is a zombie app, I have an idea for a publicity stunt that ties in to the Hot Dog Eating Championship that got tons of press this 4th of July. I would have a ZOM-B-Q eating contest with people dressed as zombies. I think it would get some press. Again, who knows with sales but it take a small rock to snowball into an avalanche.
Boooom!!!! http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bouncing-birds!/id449095015?mt=8&uo=4 That's the best guerilla marketing I can do.
I find that what works (well, relatively speaking) for me is bringing ad cards everywhere I go, and when I spot someone with an iPhone, I strike up a conversation. This at least gets them to download the free Lite version. Also, I just went on a two week tour with my band (Yogurt Smoothness, if you care to check it out on iTunes), and I set up a little ad stand for The Last Ace of Space next to our band merch - giving me the chance to spread the word about my game to a different group of people in a different city each nite. Sales are still not optimal, but they're progressively climbing, and that's a good thing.
This is our plan as well. We recently got 500 or so business cards printed up that advertise RoboArena, and I put room on each card for a sticker to go that will have a promo code on it or a personal message. For each update we do, I'll put most of those promo codes on the business cards and drop them off at some local gaming shops or send batches of them to some of our super fans who are totally gung ho for promoting RoboArena to their gaming groups and friends. Short of that, I might actually hire this guy for some real "gorilla" marketing:
Here's one. Make an unguarded comment about sony dev kits, include an out of context, apparently negative comment about apple, and then make sure every important website on the planet runs with it...
to those talking about ad cards.. I've spent a good bit of money (not crazy, but still) printing up postcards and stickers, and put them all over the place where they'd be effective (PAX, E3, and non-events like bars, high-traffic places in Los Angeles, etc). I still go to some bars and see stickers I've slapped up from several months ago. It's nice to have stuff out there but it really is hard to measure if I've even got one measly download from that stuff (my DLs haven't crashed, and I still do plenty of constant hefty online promotion, so something is getting me DLs - even if it's a small number) Anyway I would suggest that "real world advertising" for indie devs of that manner is probably largely useless. If you are ballsy enough to put huge banners up somewhere then I suppose that's one thing (also, you might piss someone off or face some kind of fine) but otherwise casually mentioning and handing out material is probably not going to help more than a negligible amount. Now, if you could assemble some kind of uber-aggressive street team, on the other hand..
Stickers I'm sure I've seen your stickers. If people see them often enough I'm sure they get curious and download. I know Cut the Rope had a big ad display by the Kodak Theater and people were all over it. I wonder if walking around with an Eat-at-Joes type of sign would do any good. Maybe if it was pitched to the business editor of a local daily or weekly paper about the levels indie developers would go to promote their app. But then again, how many sales would come of that would be hard to determine.
