In recent years, the iGaming market has experienced a significant amount of growth. Thanks to new and continually evolving technologies that have been continually evolving the market, today’s video and online games allow users to play pokies with free spins and apps in general have become more user-friendly than ever before in comparison to your first experience of classics Super Mario or Sonic.
According to PwC’s Global entertainment and media outlook report, the igaming industry is set to be worth a staggering $321 billion US dollars by 2026. Part of this growth is thanks to the igaming industry’s attitude towards the digital transformation and their openness towards shifting to a cloud-based gaming model, which many large gaming organisations are now doing.
Another factor is that as technology is improved across the world and becomes more accessible to the masses, especially with the likes of 4G and 5G becoming more widespread, more people than ever are now able to access online games. However, one of the largest factors in the igaming market’s success book has been their digital marketing strategy.
As services have shifted to an online mode, marketing has never been such an important concept, in which a full go-to-market, digital strategy is essential for any i-gaming provider hoping to stand out from the crowd and be successful in this day and age.
Below, we’ll take a look at how igaming companies are deploying a digital marketing strategy to make themselves so successful in an incredibly competitive market.
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Getting ahead of the competition
As major gaming companies have moved into the online space, it’s become incredibly saturated. As such, competition is higher than ever to attract and retain players who can easily bounce around from provider to provider if the ball is dropped.
In the sea of igaming providers, the first issue is being able to stand out. In the physical world, this typically included traditional marketing methods like ads on a tv, billboard posts and print ads on the side of a bus or in a relevant magazine or newspaper. Yet, as consumer habits are moving online, people can now skip the ads by watching on-demand tv, get their news and entertainment from social media, and have become desensitised to the masses of ads we see out in public.
Intelligent ads
In order to gain their attention back in the online space, igaming companies have had to create multi-channel display ads that are able to use technology to show on sites that players are most likely to be on and interact with. These ads can then be re-targeted to keep reminding potential players about a particular service or site, until they make the decision to click on the ad or discover the brand for themselves.
Promotions and bonuses
Another way igaming companies are getting ahead of the competition, particularly in the online casino space, is by offering a range of enticing promotions and bonuses. These are most common for new players, in which many quality online casino sites offer a no deposit bonus for new players so that they can check out the site and games available before having to commit and deposit any cash into their account.
As people are becoming more money conscious too, other promotions include free spins and in-game bonuses. These help players to get a little extra from their money while making the game last for longer and adding to the excitement.
Organic marketing strategies in the igaming world
While marketing can seem like it’s all about throwing big money at ads to generate attention, there is a lot of work that goes on in the background too for providers to gain a good online reputation. One way they can do this is through good SEO practices.
This essentially means that sites that want to rank well in google search results so that potential customers can find them easily, need to optimise their site to stand out and adhere to Google’s algorithm requirements. Some of the ways igaming sites can do this include:
- Optimising web copy with easy to read and key word rich text that answers a users query and provides the right information on the right page.
- Ensuring the website is working well, has a fast response time and very minimal 404 errors
- Building up backlinks to other sites so that Google knows the organisation is trustworthy – a bit like an individual building up a credit score
- Putting out regular content on a site’s blog, as well as ensuring product and service pages are kept up to date with the latest information.
