There was a time not all that long ago when affiliates could build a website, write some content and then sit back and watch as players flocked to their sites.
But today the sector is fiercely competitive with hundreds, even thousands, of online casino and sports betting affiliates active in the market.
While SEO is still a critical component of generating a sizeable audience, the most successful affiliates now consider themselves brands and are undertaking broadscale marketing activity.
The affiliates that do this are able to not only increase the size of their addressable audience but also retain customers over a much longer period of time. Brand power is real.
So what is considered broadscale marketing and how can affiliates – even those with small budgets to play with – use it to increase awareness of their sites and brands?
We take a look below…
Social media
Do not underestimate the power of social media when it comes to brand building.
With the right content and strategy, and a small budget for boosting posts, affiliates can reach a large yet highly targeted audience that is likely to engage and convert.
Whether sharing news articles, explainer features or running competitions with prizes, social is a must for affiliates seeking to build a brand.
While organic visibility is increasingly hard to achieve, boosting posts is a good way of cutting through the noise and reaching your target audience.
Digital marketing
Digital marketing is broad and most affiliates will have some sort of strategy in place, but newsletters are always worth highlighting.
This is a channel that is often overlooked by affiliates, but it is highly effective at keeping your existing audience engaged and driving value from them.
Brand building is all about touchpoints and properly thought-out email marketing campaigns can certainly be a strong point of contact with players.
That being said, emails must deliver value – a new casino, an exclusive bonus offer, etc – for recipients to engage with them.
Think about the newsletters you receive and the ones you do and don’t open.
PR
Use press releases to share updates and campaigns with the wider media – both B2B and B2C.
Paddy Power has long been the king of securing coverage in the mainstream UK press through its crazy stunts and campaigns and you as an affiliate can do just the same.
You may lack the budget of a global gambling operator but that doesn’t matter – the media loves stories that are funny and outlandish, so get creative and come up with the next big headline.
Securing coverage in major media outlets exposes your brand to a huge audience and also fosters trust while increasing loyalty among those already familiar with your site.
Video ad campaigns
We are consuming more online video than ever before, and this presents an opportunity for affiliates to create video ad campaigns and get them in front of specific audiences.
Ad networks such as Google work in a similar way to social media where you can push your ad to highly targeted audiences across channels such as Youtube.
These are just some of the ways affiliates can begin to build a brand. While each works in isolation, for the maximum impact they need to be combined under a broadscale marketing strategy.