Winning Advertiser Strategies for iGaming Growth
The iGaming industry is more competitive than ever. With so many new companies entering the market and with player acquisition costs continuously rising, advertisers must find new and better ways to attract new players for their brands.
The most successful iGaming advertisers are not relying solely on large advertising and marketing budgets to achieve their goals. They are focusing their efforts on acquiring players at a more efficient rate while also working with their existing affiliates to improve overall results.
For casino, sportsbook, and gaming platform companies, having the proper advertiser strategy in place can make a significant difference in their return on investment (ROI) and overall long-term growth projections.
What Is an Advertiser Strategy in iGaming?
An advertiser strategy is the plan that an online gambling and gaming company creates in order to acquire as many players as possible while maximizing their value from each player that they do acquire.
A good advertiser strategy will encompass the following components:
Traffic acquisition
Affiliate programs
Player conversion
Market expansion
Player retention
Regulatory compliance
Performance metrics
The goal is to acquire as many high-value players as possible.
The Shift From Volume to Quality
Most iGaming company advertisers used to focus on acquiring as many players as possible.
The most successful advertisers have shifted their focus to acquiring players with higher values.
Why?
Because the value of each player is not the same. A player that acquires fewer players might be better than one that acquires a higher volume of players if the players have higher values for the company.
Focusing on quality acquisition can ultimately lead to increased profitability for the advertiser.
Building Strong Affiliate Partnerships
One of the best methods of player acquisition in the iGaming industry is through the use of affiliate marketers.
However, simply creating an affiliate marketing program is not the only consideration that the advertiser should make.
Work With High-Quality Publishers
The best advertising publishers for iGaming and online gambling companies will provide the advertiser with the following:
More relevant audiences for their advertisements
More trusted content that players will engage with
Higher conversion rates from their advertisement efforts
Compliance with the regulatory standards for online gambling
Advertisers should consider the quality of traffic that the publisher will offer, the ability for their players to convert, how geographically relevant their publishers are to their target market, and the value of the players that they bring to the company over time.
Offer Competitive Commission Structures
Affiliate marketers will naturally look to acquire advertising offers that will return more value for themselves.
Advertisers can offer more competitive structures including:
Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) deals
Revenue share agreements
Hybrid advertising commission structures
Incentive programs for high-performing advertisers
Providing these options will allow the advertiser to attract better affiliates.
Improve the level of transparency with their affiliate marketers for player registration, deposit, and conversion rates to encourage better relationships and improved advertising performance.
Leveraging Data to Inform Advertiser Strategies
Using data to inform and guide the decisions that are made in the advertiser is the driving force behind the growth of most of the best iGaming brands.
Data collection and analysis can ultimately give the advertiser a better idea of which advertising channels are the most efficient and which channels require more investment from the advertiser.
Key metrics to track and analyze for most advertisers include:
Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) rate
Conversion rate
Deposit rate
Customer lifetime value (CLV)
Return on ad spend (ROAS)
Earnings per click (EPC)
Analyzing these metrics will allow the advertiser to determine which traffic sources provide the best return for their investment and which to eliminate.
Segment the players that come from each traffic source to understand their individual behaviors and performance metrics to allocate advertising budgets more effectively.
Optimizing the landing pages that players visit after clicking on an advertisement can significantly increase the number of players who register with the company.
Optimizing for user experience by ensuring that the landing pages:
Load quickly
Function well on mobile devices
Include strong incentives for registration
Feature user-friendly registration processes
Localize the landing pages to feature content specific to the countries from which the players originate.
Examples of content to feature include:
Different languages
Different payment options
Different currencies
Regional promotions
Reducing the complexity and length of registration forms to capture as many players as possible.
Expanding into other regulated markets outside of the advertiser’s current jurisdiction.
Consider the following factors before expanding their reach:
Licensing requirements
Competition in the area
Demand for players in the area
Costs for acquiring players in the area
Regulatory restrictions in the area
Each market has its characteristics that must be considered before entry. There may not be an optimal time to enter another market with the same acquisition strategies.
Work to balance acquiring new players and retaining the current ones.
Many advertisers focus on acquiring new players but do not put much effort into retaining the players that they already have.
Strategies for improving player retention include:
Creating loyalty programs
Offering personalized promotions
Creating VIP player programs
Using automation software to create follow-up and re-engagement campaigns with players
Using data to understand individual player behavior can allow the advertiser to implement retention strategies that increase the lifetime value of each player and the company’s profitability.
Managing compliance in their advertiser programs and affiliate agreements has become a strategy that can ultimately create a benefit for the company.
Companies that maintain high compliance and adhering to regulatory standards will have the following advantages:
More attractive relationships with their affiliate publishers
Fewer regulatory risks
A better reputation in the industry
Greater trust from their players
Monitoring the activities of their advertising affiliates will ensure that their programs adhere to advertising, responsible gambling, and market-specific regulations.
Maximizing the return on the advertiser’s spend on acquiring players.
The advertiser can improve the ROI of their spend by:
Eliminating traffic from low-quality sources
Working with only the highest-performing advertising affiliates
Improving the player acquisition funnels
Optimizing the player onboarding process
Increasing the rates at which they can retain their players
Emerging Trends in iGaming Advertising
A few of the growing trends in the iGaming advertiser space will influence the strategies of the best companies in the future.
First-party data collection
Due to increased regulations on third-party data collection, advertisers will rely more on their own first-party databases to identify user behavior and preferences.
AI-powered marketing
Artificial intelligence software and programs will play a significant role in identifying high-value players and improving player retention.
Attribution models
Advertisers will use more sophisticated attribution models to understand which advertising channels produce the best results and allocate their advertising budgets appropriately.
Final Thoughts
A great advertiser strategy in the iGaming industry goes beyond acquiring as many players as possible.
A winning strategy will find a balance between acquiring players from quality sources, working with great advertising affiliates, optimizing conversion rates, complying with regulations, and finding ways to retain the players that they do acquire.
As competition increases and regulations become more specific to each market, the best advertiser strategies will emphasize profitability and efficiency in their acquisition and retention methods.
The future of the iGaming industry will belong to the companies that can find the best balance and ultimately maximize their player value.