The online casino market in the United Kingdom is thriving, with millions of pounds in revenue being generated each month.

In fact, iGaming Business reported in March that online GGY for a typical month was £362.8m, a significant sum that underlines the industry’s strength overall. Of that figure, online slots were the most lucrative. They accounted for £192.8m, an increase from the previous month (14.6%), despite the overall figure being slightly down. Contrast this with Rank Group’s nine London casinos, physical locations, which Yogonet reports have seen very weak visitor numbers over the same period.

When one sector of the iGaming industry shows an increase, but the overall picture is of a slight decrease, it suggests that the improving sector is doing something right. The online slots market is incredibly competitive, with many different providers wanting a market share. Even as that market increases, it is difficult to grow; the more companies want a piece of the pie, the smaller the slice tends to be.

That’s why successful online casino providers have to use cute marketing strategies to ensure they keep thriving. They use several key strategies that allow them to continue to have a strong public presence and generate the impressive revenue streams we see month after month.

With that in mind, we’d like to explore the top marketing strategies employed by online casinos.

The Message

The first key to iGaming marketing is to have a clear message, something to shout about before you head out into the marketing game.

Game Innovation
Game innovation is a big marketing strategy for online casinos. After all, the best way to market yourself is by having something to sell. It might be a unique license, a special game type, or just a host of different games.

Popular branding is a key weapon in the online casino marketing arsenal. This is typified by the range of titles from Foxy Games, including branded slots, such as Slingo Friends, and live game show titles, such as Monopoly Big Baller. These are recognisable titles, but brands and give any marketing drive a headline to push. They’re not the only type of games, but by having a show stopper and a strong range of backup games, any marketing message feels more powerful.

Playing Bonuses
If there’s one thing online casino providers do well, it is fish for customers. Everybody loves something for nothing, so they seek to drive traffic to their site by throwing bonuses into their marketing mix. Who wouldn’t be tempted by free spins, free goes, matched stakes and that sort of thing? If someone wishing to play sets a limit of, say, £5, but a provider will double that if they sign up, there’s an obvious attraction.

Online Promotion
One of the key strategies employed by online casinos, rather predictably, is an increased online presence. This can take many forms, perhaps too many to mention here. However, we’ll touch on a few to give you a flavour of how they increase their visibility.

SEO
Firstly, these companies do a lot of SEO work. Tech Target defines SEO as “the science of improving a website to increase its visibility when people search for products or services”, and it is the process of getting a site to rank higher on search engines such as Google. The end game is for their site to appear on the first page of a search engine when one types’ online casino London’, for instance.

Affiliates
They may also work hard to increase their visibility through affiliate programmes on other people’s sites. An affiliate programme is where a website owner posts links or adverts, which leads their readers to the casino provider in exchange for a small percentage of what they spend. It’s a popular ploy for commercial sites, but the rewards can be lucrative for an online casino provider.

Social Media and Targeted Adverts
They might also leverage social media for their marketing, looking to create a viral marketing campaign simply by playing on shares and likes. They may even instigate a paid advertising campaign on a popular social media or general media site. When you log into YouTube, you might often be greeted with an online casino advert before you watch your video featuring a celebrity or just shouting about bonuses and games.

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