As we face another challenging year it’s also important to note that it may be quite an interesting one as we’ll definitely be seeing how brands and marketers will diversify their marketing budgets to engage players more efficiently online.
Here are 5 key trends that will impact the iGaming industry this year and either create innovation or change the way customers are experiencing online gaming and personal entertainment online.
1) SEO Sites Will Continue to Dominate the Performance Space and Promotion of Top Brands
SEO is always a critical component of a marketing strategy, and it will continue to be the dominant force for the promotion of brands and affiliates, and how they gain traffic.
With almost everyone having an Alexa in their home or a voice-activated smartphone - voice search will be a major consideration. More FAQ type pages and knowledge hubs where questions are actually answered will be much more commonplace to get that coveted position zero result.
It’s also widely known that people use social media outlets as search engines. As TikTok is the fastest growing search platform, there’s no doubt short-form videos that can be uploaded there to get brands more easily found will become part of the marketing mix.
Influencer channels will still be a strong place to build community and create links back to sites.
2) Video Content Will Be More Popular and Necessary
Video has become increasingly important when it comes to how we consume content online and 3-11 minutes is the average time TikTok says is most effective. Already some of the stats that have been delivered in terms of 2023 trends online - which show that 93% of people on TikTok take action after seeing a video.
You only have to look at the popularity of the social media platform TikTok to get evidence of that and look at how many popular streaming channels already exist.
However, it’s not just social media where video will become increasingly prominent, video will be popping up much more frequently in search engines on website pages too. There will also be much more connectivity between TV and mobile. 90% of people have a mobile phone in their hand whilst watching TV - brands will look to leverage this by implementing ad campaigns to attract players. We are already seeing much more creative ads that are now showing off the personality of a brand rather than just pushing an offer and expecting the audience to bite.
3) Attribution and Cookie Deprecation - Customer Retention Will Become More Important
As this will change in 2024, brands and affiliates need to ensure they are focusing on building 1st party data and become GDPR compliant. The sooner they prepare for the transition the better. This will also be incredibly important for affiliates who are predominantly in the business of re-selling making a push towards brand marketing to build their traffic. Content curators will also start to invest in lead generation and data monetisation metrics on performance models
4) Recession Market Impacts - Change in Labour Market and Brand Budgeting
Remember we are in the midst of a recession, so there will be changes in how money is spent. Brands will be much more careful in how and where they are spending their budgets. There will be a laser focus on even the smallest amounts, the pennies take care of the pounds after all.
Analysing a return on investment for marketing campaigns is going to be important. Which is why performance marketing techniques will take centre spotlight - affiliates who can prove value will have safe harbour during this period. As we've seen in previous recessions, brands who continue to spend remain front of mind with customers and see between a 50-75% increase according to previous Market Sense surveys held in 2009, the last recession period.
5) A Move Away from Price Lead Promotions to Value Lead Marketing
There will be a much larger focus on building an affinity with players rather than just dishing out bonuses/rewards. Players will be able to enjoy much more effort going into the innovation of games, and a higher level of customer service than previously offered.
We are now in a world where people expect instant responses.
Much more creativity will go into VIP and loyalty schemes to improve retention rates, as well as much more effort in relation to money can’t buy experiences.
The point is - there is no need to panic.
These trends are merely a continuation of the previous year’s growth and whilst everyone will be budget wise in the coming months, if you focus on value added promotions customers need and enjoy, your marketing will remain effective in the year ahead.
