Paid search and social for player acquisition page 9
4. Paid search and social for player acquisition
Online advertising and betting and gaming restrictions
Paid search, or pay per click, is one of the fastest ways to acquire new customers in most industries.
There’ s good reason not to be passive if paid search is not currently part of your strategy.
Total organic search visits fell 7 % year on year in Q2 of 2016, compared to 11 % year on year growth a year earlier, as organic search listings are challenged by increased competition from paid search advertising, particularly on( there’ s that word again) mobile.
With the rise of advertising options across social media channels, native advertising, programmatic media as well as the expansion of well-established platforms like Google AdWords, there is a lot of potential to target customers and acquire their interest.
However, in betting and gaming, paid search can present some obstacles based on the restrictive terms and conditions of different advertising platforms when it comes to betting ads.
This is why taking advantage of‘ free’ ways to generate buzz and traffic with the pillars of SEO, content marketing and customer engagement outlined above are so important.
The giant in the room, Google, is keen to keep betting and gaming advertisers in line and restricts the promotion of the following gambling-related content:
• Offline and online gambling
• Online gambling-related information
• Online games played for money or prizes
• Online casino-based games, regardless of whether money is exchanged
This doesn’ t mean that advertising is disallowed, just that abiding by the rules set out by the platform is key to achieve, maintain and improve customer acquisition from paid search.
For an affiliate, making paid search a profitable player acquisition strategy can be complex.
Paying for clicks that then must be routed through to an appropriate click-out to an operator, that will only convert a proportion of visitors, means that there is significant scope to lose profit.
These complexities should not deter growth-oriented betting brands if they have confidence in their on-site performance, product offers and bidding strategy.
The best brands will make strategic use of paid search as part of an integrated strategy.
Paid search bidding strategy
It’ s true to say that in paid search, particularly AdWords, there are a relatively small group of leading betting terms that have a high cost attached e. g.‘ casino’, or‘ free bets’.
Typically, the giants of the industry can afford to hog these spots and keep the cost per click( CPC) too high for smaller operators and affiliates to target profitably.
“ We believe social media should be used interactively rather than simply as another advertising tool.”
James Prosser – MyRacing
The solution is to roll up the sleeves and be forensic about profitable bidding strategies, focusing on player intent.
Bidding on lower cost, more specific long-tail terms that nevertheless provide quality traffic is key. These may be terms related to ways to deposit( e. g. by phone), specific bonuses, games and pay-out options.
With 52 % of PPC clicks coming from mobile, understanding how your brand can best communicate through to different channels requires serious consideration of mobile best practice – and routing customers to mobile-friendly landing pages that fulfil the promise of your ads.
The four pillars of player acquisition in igaming
Blueclaw report 2017
iGB Blueclaw Player Acquisition Report 2017 _ v2. indd 9 03 / 02 / 2017 17:50