Online gambling is a huge market, representing billions of pounds annually. The market is filled with various companies and bookmakers, and to be profitable, they need to stand out from the rest. As such, bookies have refined and developed marketing techniques that are very effective.
In this list, we will have a look at some of the online bookmakers’ tactics used to attract customers, and how these tips can be generalised to outside of the online bookmaking.
Offers and promotions
The first technique we have is obvious but is a sure fire way of bringing in customers who are on the verge of buying a product or service. Online bookmakers like Betvictor will advertise their offers and promotions for either new customers or existing customers.
Depending on whether they are new or existing, the offers and promotions will be different as the bookmakers are not quite targeting the same thing and need to offer less to the existing customers to entice them than the new ones.
Representative heuristics
Although the name sounds complicated, representative heuristics are simple. It is a method of using psychological bias to make punters think something is better value than it actually is.
It has been proven that punters are more likely to bet on a very unlikely result if very likely condition is added than without the condition. For example, few punters would take a bet of Liverpool losing a game against Norwich, but more gamblers will take a chance if the bet is Liverpool losing with Mohammed Salah, their star player, to score.
Recognisability
Online bookmakers always make sure that there is something to remember them when advertising. Often it is a distinctive colour, like red for Ladbrokes, but it can also be a mascot or a catchphrase. Whatever it is, they make sure that when seeing their adverts, the potential customers will remember the name of the bookmaker, or it could potentially be free advertising for their rivals.
Targeted marketing
Online bookmakers used targeted marketing. This means that they are aiming all of their campaigns at particular groups that they judge the most likely to use their services. There is no point advertising gambling to someone who is totally averse to it, as no amount of advertising will change their mind.
Aiming their campaigns at particular groups, like males from ages 18 to 30, means that they are far more likely to work. There is no point advertising bras to men!
Humour
Since gambling is illegal for under eighteen year olds, online bookmakers are advertising to adults who are likely to have a sense of humour. A great way to stand out is to make people laugh, they get a positive view of the company and are more likely to remember it.
Positive emotions are essential for any business and how the general public perceives it can lead to greatly reduced or increased customers depending on this, so it is a great technique to produce funny adverts like Paddy Power’s loyalty one with Ryan Giggs’ brother.
