GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 11 - January 2010

iGamingAffiliate Promotions thatSucceed Foraffiliates, thenameof thegame is converting leads intosales, sokeeping abreastofoperatorpromotionscould giveyoua legupon thecompetition By Ryan Drew L ike every other business, the iGam- ingworldwill from time to time of- fer special deals and promotions to attract players to their gaming platforms. Promotions can be powerful marketing tools that work to build awareness of a brand, gain new acquisitions and create new revenue streams. Merchantswillquiteoftencreate incentive promotions for affiliates as well. Finding ways to capitalize on these can earn affili- ates extra income, or even cash bonuses andprizes. Every year,more andmorepeople areus- ing iGamingas ameansof entertainment, and promotions have had a great deal to do with new signups. Some of these pro- motions have been very clever, gaining a lot of attention. Evenwhenoperators end up losingmoney onpromotions, they still make it back over the long run, having gottennewpeopleplaying their games, or bettingonevents. Sports betting sites frequently offer pro- motions where they will refund bets to players if a particular person or team wins. For example, one year saw extrabet offering refunds on all losing bets on the Wimbledon finalsmatch if Roger Federer was to win the tournament. Even though they lost a good deal of money on the promotion, they were able to gain extra awareness of their brand name through themediahype thatwas created. Affiliates can play a big part in creating hype for an online casino or bookmaker, and with good reason. Operators will make it worth the affiliates’ while to pro- mote their products by providing incen- tives such as tiered revenue sharing and bonuses that are awarded over the course of a specificperiodof time. Whenapromotion isgood forplayers, it is almost alwaysprofitable for affiliates, and whenanoperator adds extra incentives, it becomes just thatmuchmoreappealing to affiliates toactively andaggressivelymar- ket that particular operator’sproducts. Operatorshavemanydifferentwaysofpro- moting their products, depending onwhat they’re marketing. We looked at a clever marketing strategy from extrabet earlier on;quitea fewsportsbettingsiteswilloffer freebetsof a limiteddollar amount. Inad- dition, they’ll have sign-upbonuses,which isagreatway togetnewplayers. And to keep players, merchants will often addapercentagebonusforeachtimeaplay- er reloads money into his or her account. Other retention promotions include bonus bets, results-based cash back promos and percentagerebatesonmonthlynet losses. Because there are somany casino games, there are literally thousands of player pro- motions. Some gaming siteswill giveplay- ershundreds of dollars to start playing the games with, or, in the case of some slots- based games, free spins. There are often limitations on winnings, but what a pro- motion does is get the players “seated” at the table. One popular strategy for poker operators is the freeroll tournament. The operator will put upa set amount ofmoneywithno sign-up fee for players toplay. They’re es- sentiallygivingawaymoney,but thename of the game here is building awareness of their rooms, and getting people involved at the tables. As an affiliate, the name of the game is converting leads into sales, so keeping abreast of promotions that operatorshave available could give you a leg up on the competition. Making sure that you know the most up-to-date information on the promotions andbonuses inwhatever ver- ticals you aremarketing ensures that you have the freshest deals for your potential or existing customers. If you aren’t offer- ing these deals, you can be certain that someoneelsewill be. Making affiliates aware of promotions and keeping track of the results can be a daunting task, and that iswhymanymer- chants and affiliate program managers use the Income Access software. It pro- vides themwith the power to create pro- motions for specific groups over a certain period of time and base them on precise criteria. In addition, operators are able to directly target their highest-performing affiliates and offer them extra commis- sionsor otherperks. For affiliates, the tracking software allows them to findoutexactlyhowwell theirpro- motionsaredoing,so that theyknowwhich ones areworth concentratingon. They can alsomonitor howwell their differentmar- keting strategies are performing. With this information, they’ll be able to more precisely assess where they need to invest their timeandmoney in the future. If an operator is offering promotions to its affiliates, this adds an extra incentive to promote it. Some of the best promo- tions for affiliates involve revenue shares, where any new players sent by the affili- ate to the operator will earn an increased percentage share for the lifetime of the player, over and above what the operator wouldnormallypayout. 44 iGaming Affiliate Promotions That Succeed