The age of ad blockers and brand over-saturation has caused traditional digital marketing tactics to fall flat. Competition continues to increase on stature and customer acquisition costs are always on the rise. But what can operators and affiliates do in order to build their brands, in this dog-eat-dog industry?
Successful companies tend to invest in things that may not necessarily lead to more sales – but can strengthen their brands in the long run. Creating communities is one way brands are building retention around their service. The importance of reaching and engaging customers versus simply driving traffic to gain revenue is now a bigger focus for digital companies.
So why is building a community such a necessary task?
Your brand should be a community driven movement.
To differentiate yourself, you don’t just need a strong community. It doesn’t matter how good you are at selling casino or sports betting offers, at the end of the day, the one thing that you represent is your service and this is quantified as an experience. Your business came from an idea, through being proud of your service. But the relationship with your customers online needs to be personal.
The Meaningful Brands Survey of 2019 stated that 77% of brands could simply disappear and not a single customer would care. That’s a powerful statistic. With iGaming sites and operator brands closing down every day, building a community is one of the most crucial things which can be done to build a meaningful brand that sticks. Affiliates need to add extra incentives for customers to return, community building and loyalty programs offer a clear way to create a more meaningful experiences for a customer.
Community can provide social context to your brand.
There is not stronger market positioning tool for a brand than your community. A lot of brands provide ads to their sites, which appeal and resonate with their target demographic. Offering luxury incentives items such as sports cars and jewellery can be the way into some customers’ hearts – however, nine times out of ten, this doesn’t really mean much.
These tactics are now overused in Gambling. Influencer marketing is now helping to revive brand loyalty and help build community based followings. People talk, and word-of-mouth marketing is one of the strongest ones out there – don’t underestimate it. 6 out of 10. customers won’t trust your brand, unless one person they know has vouched for it.
Communities are often loyal, but it doesn’t always translate into brand loyalty. Your consumers are brought in by your corporate vision, and as a rule, will enthusiastically approach products that expand it.
Reviews, this is where they matter.
Using review and insights based companies like Feefo to build insights around your audience can help build your proposition , increase your reach, and let you really listen to what your customers are saying. Content which is generated by the members of your community, can convince new members to join. The Meaningful Brands survey also said 71% of consumers are highly influenced by their friends recommendations.
A big set of challenges can come from this; if your development decisions somehow damage the ideals of your community was built upon, then your consumers are likely to abandon your site. However, staying true to your customer and listening to their needs will encourage better conversion.
Communities in Conclusion
We are part of a bigger and bolder digital culture, and if you are not nurturing the communities that fit around your brand, you risk losing your players to the competition, rising cost of traffic and this certainly will impact your earnings too.
