The iGaming industry is continuously developing. New resources and challenges were introduced to online gaming in 2022. To get a better understanding of how to build an efficient marketing strategy under these circumstances, we interviewed Elazar Gilad – Chief Marketing Officer at Spill Media.
Elazar is a great believer in teamwork, Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships. He is a strong result-focused C level with over 10 years of hands-on experience in acquisition, operation, and product. Delivering A-Z data-driven growth strategies for iGaming organizations. Penetrate emerging markets and acquire new customers within competitive markets and verticals such as eCommerce, SaaS, iGaming, and corporate organizations such as Chilindo.com, Fiverr.com, Enlabs AB/ Optibet, Webet, Gowild Casino group, Spiral Solutions, XLMedia / WebPals.
Why picking the right marketing strategy is important?
Given how important player acquisition function is to gaming organizations, we decided to write this article. Trying to answer and clarify the mist surrounding the historical question that every acquisition professional should be accountable for:
- How many FTDs can you generate?
- How long will it take to oversee acquisition channels and how much will it cost? (CAC)
In this post, we will go through a tried-and-true research approach for examining operators’ marketing tactics and contrasting quick wins vs long-term marketing strategies.
What is happening in the online gambling market right now?
The iGaming industry is ever-evolving. 2022 brought to iGaming new money and new challenges. Investors mainly from fintech are looking at more stable and sustainable revenue streams.
Many operators that operate with Curacao gaming licenses are struggling to scale up their operations when market after market is being closed and competition for gray markets is rising.
Like fish outside the water are operators out of new regulated markets. With no available markets to operate, they start to look at emerging markets such as Africa and Asia. Now, let’s be clear the strategies that work in western markets do not hold water when it comes to Asia.
Thailand is an example target market and the following acquisition pain points:
- The share number of traditional SEO and PPC affiliates in the market is very limited;
- Local affiliates and agents will find it very hard to trust and work with foreign operators and the legal international affiliate brands are limited to 5 big groups in the industry;
- Product and payment localization integrations – having the right product is critical.
Note: Asian consumers are well known for their fast technology Adoption and their love of mobile devices. You can expect 95-97% of players to use a mobile app.
What is the key to user acquisition?
The key to any user acquisition campaign’s success is relevant, high-converting traffic. In that situation, the math is straightforward: the more relevant highly targeted users who land on your site, the greater the probability that they will convert to active players.
In a traditional iGaming operation, we can imagine the affiliate team to be leading the acquisition of new depositing players. The main strategy here is the arbitrage model. We know the value of our potential players and we know the cost of acquiring the user, therefore, it is very precise at least in excel.
Pros
- Fast – time to market
- Easy to calculate;
- Easy to scale (depends on the market);
- Branding.
Cons
- It can be expensive – a hybrid, CPA, revenue share, fixed listing fees;
- Pre-booked positions – there is a waiting list to get registered in relevant converting positions for the top affiliate sites;
- A low number of active affiliates in emerging markets.
Why stand out when you can lead long run marketing strategy:
- Branding is the key;
- Understand your value;
- Develop your brand voice and values;
- Be rememberable.
To summarize
You reap what you sow. Relaying on affiliates as the primary acquisition is a good idea when operators want to penetrate new markets or launch a new brand. It is the fastest and more cost-effective acquisition channel. The issue starts with the mechanism of online marketing and brand creation. Focus on affiliate acquisition only without a long-term marketing strategy will bring over-dependency upon one business unit.
Instead, shift % of your marketing budget to long-run compelling strategies. Use acquisition and develop an in-house tactical acquisition team to cover the relevant converting acquisition channel.
Read more: Best iGaming Aggregators
