As governments move to combat the spread of COVID-19, marketing departments have felt the shelter’s impact in place orders.
It might be tempting to trim your marketing budget amid concerns of a significant recession. Opportunities to retune your corona marketing strategy are becoming evident. This is because more and more people stay at home, and you need to cater to their desires.
Why Market Now?
Behind any crisis lurks opportunity. With increased free time, millions of people are spending more time online, says our expert Kate Richards. New data suggests thousands have embraced online gaming to alleviate boredom.
An analysis of a quarter-million Australian online players found a 67% increase in online gaming transactions since the shutdown of non-essential services in early April.
The American social poker site Global Poker noted an astounding 255% jump in new online players. Nearly 7% of American adults (roughly 40 million consumers) now engage in some form of online gaming.
COVID-19 has created a prospect-rich, online gaming environment. As a marketing professional and a gambler, you must stay informed of shifting messaging strategies and outreach techniques.
Here are a few iGaming marketing tips recommended by the experts from Play.Casino.
Reach Out to Customers
It’s important to reiterate your commitment to proactive communication and transparency with clients. If you haven’t already, create a communications task force. They’re responsible for keeping customers updated on necessary information, including:
- How is your company is keeping employees and the community safe
- How have recent changes altered your operations
- How will you be handling refunds if you had cancellations
- What can they expect from you in the coming weeks
Once your task force finalizes your messaging, send a “check-in” email to your mailing list, clearly communicating the state of affairs and how you’ll be moving forward.
Ensure your task force produces exactly consistent messaging across all your messaging channels (website, email, blog, social media). It’s imperative to present a cohesive message to soothe consumer uncertainty.
Optimize Your Website
Online gaming is primed for growth during the pandemic because it approximates a highly social experience in a socially distanced manner. Consider the following steps best to drive this influx of consumers to your site.
Complete an SEO Analysis
High-traffic websites routinely refine their search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to keep pace with changing search engine algorithms. SEO optimization is even more critical in the heavily saturated online gaming market.
Conduct an SEO analysis of your website and tackle common issues, including:
- Fixing broken links
- Checking slow page speed
- Fixing canonical errors
- Identifying underperforming content
- Fine-tune your referral management system for new players
Optimize for Mobile Devices
Gambling on mobile devices has increased by 19% year-to-year since 2017. Whether you have an app already or are formulating a strategy, use these 16 metrics of mobile app success to invigorate customers’ experience with your brand no matter the platform.
Run an Email Marketing Campaign
Email marketing is still the most cost-effective digital marketing option available, boasting a return of $44 for every $1 spent. However, cutting through the 200 emails an average person receives in a day can only happen with concise messaging.
Email marketing is something that different organizations and businesses are engaging in. A quick example of this is that healthcare IT departments create email lists reminding people to stay 2 meters away from each other.
Also, the emails instruct the reader to contact their physician if they have any of the following symptoms:
- Trouble breathing
- Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
- Confusion or difficulty waking up
- Bluish lips or face.
Online gaming marketing has an advantage versus traditional retail campaigns: The thrill of gambling is finite and fleeting. According to the 80/20 rule, 20% of serious players produce 80% of your company’s profits.
Thus, your email marketing campaign should convey three broad messages:
- We are adding new bonus programs for existing players. We know people are gaming more because of the quarantine, and we want to reward their play.
- Join the thousands of people who are embracing online gaming as an exciting diversion from shutdown boredom. Here are the ways we’ll make joining worthwhile.
- We are legitimate, transparent, and helpful.
Support Your Community
These are trying times for all of us. Amid much collective trauma, consumers are especially attracted to brands that demonstrate a philanthropic commitment to the public.
While UK online gaming services are generally ineligible for “charity lottery status,” your marketing creatives can gain valuable insight from these sorts of gaming setups.
Here are some charitable promotions your marketing team could explore to boost both existing player and new-user engagement in light of the pandemic.
Give Players Choice of Charity
In your new-player development, provide players with a choice of 3-4 charitable organizations they can choose to donate to during the pandemic. For each £50 they deposit in the first 30 days, your website will donate £5 to their chosen charity.
Create a Charity Tournament
First off: Make sure your tournament is following appropriate gaming law. For example, if your company wanted to run a charity lottery in the UK, at least 20% of the profits must go to a charitable organization.
Here are some features of a potential charity lottery:
- Set player buy-in. This might be £5
- Choose the prize tiers. For example, Grand Prize might be £1000 in gaming credit; Second Place is a spin of a prize wheel, etc. Creativity in the payoff design will drive increased engagement.
- Publicly commit 20% of the lottery’s earnings to four selected charitable efforts.
- Advertise lottery weekly in your email campaign, emphasizing the philanthropic qualities of the contest
- Create one bracket for existing players and one for new users
- Incentivize users to refer friends by providing extra lottery entries for both parties
- A live-streamed selection event that players can view and interface with
- When the contest is over, allow players to vote for which charity will receive the funding.
It’s important to remember that a significant portion of the public may view online gambling with suspicion or disdain. In uncertain times like these, your marketing team should seize the opportunity to present your online gaming website as conscientious and concerned about people’s well-being.
Conclusion
There’s no better time to audit your website’s marketing strategy than now. With millions of potential customers looking to alleviate boredom, online gaming is poised to gain thousands of new users. It would be best if you had a creative marketing plan to seal the deal.
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