The fact that the casino and sportsbook industries are growing day by day is much discussed in gambling business news. This creates a super competitive atmosphere for operators where every single marketing aspect is important.
Many words have been said about affiliate marketing, SEO, promotion on social media, however, not all specialists connected with gambling brands consider the importance of content marketing.
In this article, you will find out why content marketing is essential, what the most efficient tactics are, steps that operators should avoid, and other useful information, which will change your opinion on this topic.
Content marketing in simple words
Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing content, which can attract the audience to a brand. Its main aim, as well as other marketing tools, is conversions. In other words, content should generate leads and even turn them into loyal customers. Although it may seem impossible to acquire customers via texts and images, on the one hand, indeed content marketing is an extremely powerful tool.
Content marketing in gambling doesn’t differ much from other industries. This vertical also needs useful and valuable content, which will allow gambling brands to target their audience and promote their products to it.
Content marketing components are:
- articles;
- videos;
- infographics;
- cheat sheets;
- podcasts;
- and other types of content created by a company.
What is the main aim of content marketing in gambling?
Like in other verticals, this type of marketing for a gambling brand is aimed at attracting more users to a product, as has been mentioned above. However, there are also other purposes, which interact with each other:
- intensification of brand awareness;
- establishing trust and long relationships with customers;
- opportunity to upsell;
- sharing positive news about the company.
Although content marketing is a useful tool in almost every vertical, outside of gambling, this industry requires it exclusively. Taking into consideration that it is very restricted in many countries, and the majority of advertising methods as well, content marketing seems to be the most harmless way to promote a brand.
Why is content marketing important for the gambling industry?
The value of such marketing for a gambling business is underestimated. The main reason is that content marketing isn’t only the articles published in a casino’s blog, it is also the right social media strategy, for example. Moreover, the number of channels is really great, which we will discuss later in this article.
No doubt, content strategies help to distinguish a brand from the crowd of competitors. Many gambling companies, which succeeded, created a strong community via this tool. It goes without saying that this allowed them to increase the number of customers as well. And the last evident advantage – content marketing grows the website traffic volume. If your content becomes viral or you choose paid content, this ensures a fast traffic increase.
Marketing experts who work in the casino niche state in chorus that сontent is a king. It isn’t a secret that users spend hours per day scrolling their feed on social media or other web resources and consume pretty much information. If to set the targeting tool right, a gambling company gets an opportunity to be shown to its potential clients.
An ultimate cheat sheet on content marketing stages
The content marketing strategy consists of several steps. Here are they:
- The first step is to determine a target audience. Thanks to modern tools, this task isn’t very difficult. The majority of online casinos, as well as sports betting platforms, have tracking systems, which allow them to see a customer profile. This includes a player’s age, gender, location, OS, which they use, etc.
- Narrow down the channel, which will be used. At this stage, marketing specialists should decide where potential customers can see the created content. The variety of channels is impressively wide: it can be social media (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok affiliate marketing), content promotion via SEO toolset, PPC campaigns, affiliate marketing, etc.
- Working on a format. Specialists should choose a format, which will be the most effective for the selected channel. For example, if it is content for TikTok, in this case, the best variant is a video that can become viral and draw attention to a company.
- Creation of the strategy and a marketing plan. This step is among the most important ones as a content and marketing specialist should understand the customer journey and prepare the strategy, which will be successful. In addition to this, the marketing team should determine the content, which will bring high conversion.
- Content creation. Whether it is an engrossing video, an eye-catching image, or a text, which can be very helpful for your audience, this requires a very responsible approach to creation.
- Launch and monitoring of results. If you have launched a content marketing campaign and have set goals for it, it is necessary to constantly monitor and analyze metrics. It helps to understand whether the path you have chosen is the right one and what ROI is.
Sure-fire content marketing strategies and tactics
An online gambling marketing plan with attention to content is what a company really needs to promote its services in the market wisely. Read about the most successful tactics below.
Content that covers not only gambling
It’s great if a company cares about its customers and informs them about the newest games and hottest bonuses in time, using high-quality texts and catchy images. However, it isn’t enough for being a real content monster in the market.
The best way to retain players’ attention on a brand and its products is to supply information related not only to gambling. Let’s be honest – constant spamming of players with announcements of new releases isn’t a very good idea. First, it can make customers tired of such content. Secondly, they can try to avoid it and feel about the brand contrary to what you want them to feel.
That is why the variety of content is a must-have for every gambling services provider, which is building an effective marketing strategy. Here it is important to use various triggers. In other words, content should induce the emotions of those people who see them. Such content pieces can be the following:
- humorous;
- surprising;
- nostalgic;
- engaging;
- etc.
Interact with your audience
Content is a bridge between a brand and a customer. A player should not also simply read or see it but react to it somehow. In such a way, a marketing team can see whether users relate to a message and whether it has caught their attention.
Besides, social media is undoubtedly the best platform for achieving this goal. As its aim is social activity and communication, it is the best place where a gambling company can communicate with the audience, get feedback, and offer new content. Moreover, if you create an online community on social media, it will help you to maintain clients’ loyalty and interest in your brand at a high level. It is one of the best marketing tactics.
Tournaments for online casinos
You may be surprised but tournaments among players are also content. The proof for this fact is that your marketing team still needs to put considerable effort to develop the presentation of the tournament and draw players’ attention.
However, the efforts are paid back as a gambling brand gets an opportunity to create a community. In addition to this, free entries and huge prize pools are always interesting for casino customers.
Don’t forget about smartphones
If a gambling company doesn’t have an optimized mobile marketing strategy, it’s high time to develop and implement it. It isn’t a secret that handheld devices have swept the market. Smartphones became an inevitable part of our life and a perfect platform for businesses to promote their brand names.
Content marketing for mobile users won’t have a big difference in comparison to other types. At the same time, it is necessary to make a company’s website and content mobile-responsive, adapted to smartphones, and compatible with the most popular operating systems for handheld devices.
What about sportsbook brands?
If you think that everything is clear with content for casinos, but it’s rather difficult to do the same for sports betting brands, you are mistaken. Vice versa, bookmakers have many successful cases of implementing content marketing strategies and seeing the results.
Here is how you can attract more customers to your betting brand via well-planned and creative content:
- Preview videos before sports events. Such betting previews allow punters to understand what to expect from the match. It goes without saying that, for example, many football fans watch such videos before important matches. In addition to this, video is the most powerful marketing tool, according to recent surveys. People like spending time on YouTube or other platforms with this functionality.
- Bettors want to know the odds. In general, any information about an upcoming competition is a great base for sportsbooks’ content. In this niche, even much effort isn’t needed. A betting company can just provide odds and other data that can interest customers. It can be the anticipated number of goals scored by a team, the time of the goal scored, and other statistics, which influence the game outcome.
- How-tos. Useful information, which can come in handy, is what bettors always need. Guides, cheat sheets, lists of tips, and other similar instructional articles are really valuable and appreciated by punters. So, the creation of such informative content is one of the main tasks for copywriters and related specialists.
- Share your customers’ experience. Buzz marketing is the best helper in the promotion of an online gambling brand. The information is spreading out at a rapid-fire pace on the web. Happy clients are the most efficient advertisement for sportsbooks.
- Storytelling is key. The art of storytelling is the right approach not only in the sports betting sector but in other verticals as well. It helps a brand to tell about itself to customers, share its values, and build trust with clients. If to be more specific, this story should consist of the elements peculiar to a narrative. It is worth mentioning, however, that the process of storytelling can be carried out not only via texts but with the help of visual content as well.
Are regulations a nightmare for content marketing specialists?
A gambling online magazine Login Casino has released many articles and news dedicated to tightening gambling regulations in the countries globally. Many of them also touch upon gambling advertising, and, sometimes, content marketing as a part of it.
Legal compliance is extremely important for gambling brands because one false move can lead to unpleasant consequences, such as a fine or a ban on a company. That is why content marketing specialists should be cautious and remember about the following online casino brand guidelines:
- All that you offer in your content should be real, cheating isn’t allowed. Every word provided in a text should be true. Otherwise, your brand will be considered as the one lacking transparency and being a scam.
- Familiarize yourself with the advertising rules of social media platforms, which you are going to use. For example, it is important to know whether you can promote content via Facebook Ads.
- While creating a content marketing strategy, including targeting, remember about the countries, which prohibit any forms of gambling advertising.
Content is a king everywhere, and the gambling industry isn’t an exception. Building the right content strategy, casino and sports betting brands can increase trust between them and their audience as well as acquire more customers.
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