I’ve been playing Clash of Clans for several months now. For those of you who are not familiar with the game, basically it’s a popular iPhone/Android game created by Supercell. It’s been around for a couple years and is a strategy game where you can raid and pillage other villages.
For the record, I’m not a fan of playing games on the mobile. I know many people do it “to kill time”. You don’t kill time. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
Time is killing you.
But I digress.
Now although Clash of Clans is free-to-play, the additional in-game currency can be purchased for real money. Personally I’ve spent… more than enough than I’d like to admit!
In fact, this game is Supercell’s only product. In April 2013, it was reported by Forbes that the company was making $2.4 million a day with Clash of Clans. That was the reason why I started playing. I call it “market research”. What is so great about this game that people are spending crazy amounts?
Part of the game is creating and joining clans. I know a few people who have become so close to their clan members that they’ve set up websites collecting donations, gotten referrals for jobs and actually become friends.
So what I wanted to share today is a little story about one of my clan mates.
To date he’s spent around $4,200 on the game. And yet…
He’s homeless.
I spoke to him personally about it and he’s given me permission to blog about this.
You see, there’s an in-game chat feature and we were all just talking when he admitted that he had lost his house and was currently charging his phone in a public area.
I just wanna pause for a second to allow you to wrap your head around this real quick.
Homeless but spends $4,200 on a free game.
Why am I telling you this?
Niche selection guys. It’s the foundation of every online enterprise you embark on. If you’re not in a hungry niche where people will find the money to buy what you’re selling, you need to go back to the drawing board.
A lot of people tell me that they aren’t able to monetize their in their niche because their target market simply don’t have the money to spend. Look, when the need and addiction is strong enough, people will find the money to get what they want.
Because it doesn’t matter how amazing your product is, if it’s not a solution to an urgent problem, if the pull isn’t there, you’re not going to be making the money you want.
My cash cow back in the day was Farmville. Yes, that silly little Facebook game that took over all rational thinking of many many people around the world.
The need was huge. The pain was real.
What pain?
A friend of mine was setting her alarm to wake up at ungodly hours throughout the night so she could farm her crops.
A change of lifestyle. Sleep deprivation. A lower quality of life.
That is pain.
It may seem petty to you, but that doesn’t make it any less important to those affected.
Yes, there are bigger problems in the world, but I see nothing wrong in solving the little ones first.
So I created my guide: Farmville Secrets.
It generated over $1.3 million in sales in less than 8 months.
Now I know there are many marketers struggling to make their first sale, struggling to make a dent in this industry. My best advice to you is to go back to square one. And REALLY find a hungry market.
One of the biggest mistakes you can possibly make is to underestimate the importance of niche selection.
I know it’s a drag. All that research and stuff. But trust me, when you have your niche down, the rest of the journey will be all the more easier, and most importantly… profitable.
