4 Sports Betting Marketing Strategies to Maximize Your ROI
As sports betting expands and new states open, more operators are chasing a market that has massive growth potential. In the face of such stiff competition, providing free bonuses or using online ads does not seem enough. Operators should up the game with their marketing efforts. In this post, we will look at some of the winning strategies that will help you drive a bigger audience to your sportsbook and increase your ROI.
Why Is Marketing Localization So Important?
Beyond having different regulations, every state presents its own unique marketing challenges and has its own market leaders and celebrities, specifically in the sports world. For instance, FanDuel remains the most popular sportsbook online by a wide margin in New Jersey. So it becomes imperative to run personalized campaigns in every state where you have a presence.
This point was driven home by Daniel Kustelski, co-founder and CEO of games-as-a-service provider Chalkline, in our recent interview.
What it comes down to is what is working on a state-by-state basis. We’re seeing lots of, certainly, above-the-line advertising. But then down at its more regional and local level, it’s really about figuring out who in each one of these states is interested in sports betting and/or maybe has bet illegally in the past and how do you acquire those customers.
There are 25 states where sports betting is legal. And that poses a massive challenge for these brands just getting simple things right like state-level marketing, state-level activations. It’s hard. A lot of the operators are juggling a lot of balls, and one of them is just getting operational in this particular state. Then, we’ll worry about tweaking the top of the funnel and the funnel down to getting people to sign up and deposit into my sportsbook. But it’s really that localization, that regionalization. I think that’s a challenge for all operators.
FanDuel’s CMO, Mike Raffensperger, stated that marketing in different states is just as unique and complex as the regulator rules. Describing FanDuel’s approach to the problem, he added:
As we think about media markets, promotions, and local influencers, it’s a question of where are the places we can leverage our assets at scale, and how do you put the right people and resources in place?
Effective Marketing Strategies for Sportsbooks
When a new sports season begins in any sport, and especially the NFL, it is hard to miss all the sports betting advertising on television and social media. Traditional advertising strategies are still a major factor in how sports betting is marketed, as well as paid Google ads, and affiliate marketing.
However, there are many more tools to utilize on top of paid TV and affiliate marketing in sports betting. The rise of technology and the now ubiquitous nature of the internet has opened up more channels than ever before. Improving your reach in each of the following facets will lead to positive outcomes for your sports betting business.
#1 Content Marketing
Quality content can help you educate your bettors, boost fan engagement, and thus, nudge bettors to make more bets. The recent Executive Reality vs User Expectations survey shows that 35 percent and 39 percent of all sports bettors ages 18–34 and 35–54, respectively, consider expert content when choosing a betting provider.
FanDuel, DraftKings, and Penn National Gaming are great examples of how sports betting vendors can dominate by utilizing content. FanDuel owns several content businesses, including broadcast channel TVG. The channel covers horse and greyhound races and has exclusive deals with several tracks. This allows the company to directly market its betting service as racing fans are watching an event.
DraftKings owns the sports betting network VSiN. This gives the company a highly targeted audience that is made up almost exclusively of sports bettors. DraftKings also has a partnership with SB Nation, which gives them access to another large audience.
Penn National Gaming gained large new fan bases with their acquisition of Barstool Sports, a sports and pop culture blog, and the acquisition of theScore, a Canada-based digital media company.
PODCASTING
Podcasts are a great way to build a loyal and committed audience and introduce them to your product. DraftKings and Rush Street Interactive are examples of successful sports betting podcasters. They run engaging, dynamic podcasts that keep their listeners and fans tuning in and using their betting platforms.
DraftKings has teamed with iHeartMedia as an official sponsor, providing odds and developing content across the media giant’s broadcast, digital, social, and podcast platforms. The deal grants DraftKings access to the highly valuable customer data of iHeartMedia, which can be used for better targeting and exposure for DraftKings.
Rush Street Interactive has created its own hyper-local series of podcasts called City Casts. The podcasts are produced for specific localities and will provide relevant information about sporting events and sports betting that is either unique or of special interest to that area.
Podcast listeners expect regular content from creators they choose to follow. If you plan to launch one of your own or team up with an existing podcast, be sure that you are willing to put in the planning and commitment required to keep an audience.
VIDEO ON DEMAND (VOD)
According to Deloitte Global, “60 percent of North American men aged 18–34 who watch sports on TV will also bet on sports — and the more often they bet, the more TV sports they’ll watch.” While television will remain the primary source of sports content for some time, the way content is delivered to fans is already shifting.
The available streaming solutions on the market like Netflix, however, are not designed for sports betting since they are not live. As Jean Pierre Diernaz, Vice President of Marketing at Nissan Europe puts it,
Sport is now the only potential discipline where you can engage very high numbers of people. It still provides one of the few moments that is broadcast live where having a replay doesn’t make sense. When it comes to sport, Netflix has zero value.
Therefore, more sportsbook owners started to consider creating their own OTT video platforms. Younger sports fans are likely to be watching by other means besides TV, such as using their mobile devices to watch live feeds on social media. OTT platforms, delivered through devices that the younger generation is likely to be using, allow sportsbooks to combine sports watching experience with the ability to place a bet right from the same device. This seamless experience is a perfect match.
Creating an OTT experience does require partnering with a reliable technology partner as developing the technology and securing the rights to broadcast sporting events is a big hurdle to overcome, but possible to achieve. Sportsbooks who want to start their own OTT platform should carefully weigh their options and the costs involved.
#2 In-Venue Marketing
Venues are tried and tested sources for promoting sports betting options and pulling in newbie wagerers. Operators simply set up a booth in these gatherings, offer promotional codes or gift cards, and leverage ad space inside a venue.
In-venue marketing has even more potential as evidenced by the Maryland House of Representatives passing a bill that allows sportsbooks to take bets right from stadiums. Illinois and Washington D.C. are other states allowing in-person sportsbooks to operate at venues. With bettors now able to make their bets from a mobile app, advertising inside the stadiums where sports fans are enjoying a game can be a great way to draw spur-of-the-moment bets.
NASCAR certainly sees the potential of in-venue betting; the stock car giant teamed with BettorView to provide sports betting to fans at NASCAR tracks, sports bars, and stadiums around the country. BettorView will not only display special sports betting promotions but also NASCAR stats, analytics, and odds. This will help NASCAR to enhance fan engagement and strengthen its position in the sports betting landscape.
DraftKings went even further. The company collaborated with Sports & Social to open betting-themed sports bars. The first locations include Nashville and Detroit. Yet, since the state of Tennessee only permits sports betting on mobile devices, the Nashville location will not have any betting kiosks or windows. Even during the recent COVID waves, DraftKings’ representatives emphasized the importance of in-person experience for bettors:
Today, so much of sports betting is focused on the mobile-technology aspect, however, the in-person experience is an integral layer that we look forward to advancing alongside Sports & Social’s premier dining and entertainment offerings — Ezra Kucharz, Chief Business Officer at DraftKings
#3 Influencer Marketing
Based on the recent survey by YouGov and SBC Americas, 35 percent of wagerers named celebrity endorsements as one of the decisive factors when choosing a betting platform. Influencers can help build trust and credibility to your betting brand, raise awareness, open up new engaged audiences, serve personalized advertisements, and grow your revenue. After bringing Michael Jordan on board as an investor and adviser, DraftKings’ shares went up. Among other stellar collaborations are:
- FanDuel partnered with Pat McAfee
- WynnBet signed a contract with Shaquille O’Neal
- PointsBet is working with Drew Brees
- Caesars has numerous celebrities in their ads
#4 Programmatic Advertising
As more and more aspects of the business are automated, it only makes sense that advertising will join that list. Programmatic advertising allows you to set a list of criteria and a budget, then let AI decide which ads to buy and when. It is a highly efficient form of advertising that reduces manual efforts, improves results, and allows for highly targeted ad campaigns. The algorithms use real-time data to find ad space, improve targeting, and react to openings quicker than a human could.
William Hill’s marketing team is leveraging programmatic advertising to serve ads to potential customers at the right moment. They focus on first-party data to break down audiences by various criteria, in particular, on product preference. Such personalized campaigns let the company significantly increase customer acquisition.
Sportsbooks that choose to go this route should also consider their sports promotions ideas, how often they advertise, and the ethics they adhere to when doing so. Many states have strict rules about how sports betting marketing can be carried out. Starting September 2021, New Jersey and Colorado legislators got tougher on sports betting advertising. When promoting a sportsbook in these states, operators should avoid confusing terms and conditions for bonuses and put proper focus on responsible gaming.
Market Your Way to Growth
The ever-changing marketing landscape and fan preferences provide both considerable challenges and opportunities for betting providers. Content marketing, collaboration with influencers, and podcasting are just some of the ways of expanding your online reach and increasing your market share. What works for one sportsbook may not work for another. Determine the states you want to target and create your own mix of hyper-local and personalized sports betting marketing strategies.
If you need a professional consultation on how to implement powerful marketing solutions into your betting platform, drop DataArt a line.
By Russell Karp,
Vice President of Media and Entertainment Practice at DataArt
Originally published at https://blog.dataart.com.
