Launching any product or service requires a lot of preparations and upfront work. More so for competition sites – considering all the risks and details that go into it. With no initial customer base, the difficulty is multiplied by ten. It’s never too early to start planning and preparing for launch and the myriad of possible scenarios how things may right or wrong.

Tentacle Solutions has been in competition site and skilled games industry for long enough to develop a set of rules, guidelines and simple steps on how to prepare a pre-launch strategy for your competition site, minimize any risks and ultimately get off to a good start.

1) Plan to fail!
No matter how much planning goes into competition site organizers should be ready for slight initial losses when the competition just starts. This minor setback is nothing to worry about, but it can ensure the success of the competition and the satisfaction of the players. IT’s much better to suffer minor losses in the beginning if it makes a positive impression and leads to more players and satisfying end.

2) Give away and provide value
Once again there is only one chance to make the first impression and organizers should be ready to impress with giving away as much free stuff as possible. First hundred tickets for free? Wonderful idea. It helps garner a positive first impression without making the players wait too long and increases enjoyment and engagement with the audience.

3) Pre-registration
As soon as your business launches, growth should be a top priority and should be carefully premeditated well before the big day. A great way to do this is to create a branded landing page that invites visitors to sign up in advance and offering a prize to win or a reward for signing up. Not only will this help gauge player interest early on, but it will also take the pre-launch hype and generate it into leads.

4) Let them practice
It’s called a skilled game competition for a reason. First-timers need time to learn and understand the “language” and mechanics of the game, understand how Spot the Ball works and just get used to it. It gives a taste of the game and the reward system while increasing brand awareness through engagement and raises the chance that the players will register and return.

5) Find the right influencers
Reaching out to a proper audience – one that is already interested in what you’ve got to offer and is ready to engage. After you’ve determined your target audience, one of the best ways to reach it is to partner up with influencers who already are part of the community and can help you connect with it. The right influencers can shape a proper public perception of the competition and the brand. These can be bloggers, Youtubers, Instagramers, podcasters, or even other business owners.

With more than 80% of the skilled games market developed by Tentacle Solutions, you can be sure that their team of professional developers, managers, and designers know what they are doing and can solve even the hardest issues and the most unexpected scenarios –reach out and they will come up with a solution.

It’s never too early to start planning and preparing for launch.