Growth-focused marketing: entering emerging igaming markets
EvenBet experts share the main steps while entering emerging markets.
Press release.- How do B2B companies enter new igaming markets, and what challenges do they face? According to Gambling Global Market Research, the gambling market size will grow to $580.36bn in 2024 and to $744.76bnn by 2028.
At a certain time, every business in the industry comes across a decision to expand its global presence, and it’s crucial to understand the main challenges of the markets, which differ from country to country.
In this article, EvenBet experts shared the main steps while entering emerging markets, highlighting the branding issue and brand awareness bulging, the importance of social media influence, and why the marketing department plays the main role here.
Brand building
When B2B companies such as software suppliers, service providers, or platforms enter the new igaming market, they must acknowledge their obscurity in the region. They represent an entirely new brand for the audience, necessitating the construction of the brand from scratch.
Consequently, when venturing into any new country that was previously closed to igaming, it is crucial to devote considerable attention and team effort to the BRANDING.
Utilising every possible channel becomes imperative. Building a brand presence in a new market may demand that up to 90 per cent of the marketing budget in the region be allocated to the company visibility growth, not to the sales directly.
Study the market and get to know your target audience
To create a message that will fit the market 100 per cent, it’s essential to understand precisely what the target audience is expecting to hear. Create an appropriate message, test it, and then create the brand positioning.
It is crucial to emphasise that the brand is about building trust. A brand is a promise, and before making any promises to the market, we must fully understand its current needs.
At EvenBet, they have two crucial points for brand building:
- LOCAL EVENTS: The first and most important is local events, which usually appear quickly and become one of the most important channels. You should not be scared to invest in your participation, in high-quality stands and big teams there. This way, you allow the market stakeholders to find you and to speak with your team in person.
- PR ACTIVITIES: Find your PR channels in a new region and build a connection with your audience inside of it. As an example, EvenBet Gaming is now developing in the Southeast Asia region, and recently, its team participated in an exclusive event for leaders of the igaming industry, “HOT 100 SE Asian Gaming Edition”. There, EvenBet Gaming held a Charity Poker Tournament as its PR channel without expecting any instant refund for all spending. But the thing is, they showed local operators that EvenBet Gaming exists, connected its brand with poker in this region and showed that they were interested in that market.
When a particular market opens up, many processes are typically already established within it: resources, mass media, local events, and networking spaces. You have to introduce yourself to them, establish contacts, and explore potential avenues for work and collaboration.
In Manila, Philippines, 3-4 media outlets cover the Asian market and are widely read by all operators and suppliers in the Philippines. Similarly, in Brazil, several media outlets in Portuguese are written and read exclusively by Brazilians and are relatively unknown elsewhere.
A worthy example is EvenBet’s cooperation with AIEJA in Mexico. To enter the market and establish relationships with local operators, the company has engaged with the Mexican association that is involved in setting regulatory standards for igaming.
It’s essential to find such opportunities and partnerships, get to know them, and start collaborating. Using only big international media platforms entering new markets, you will not succeed with any result.
Put people first
Communication is the key. The second challenge that the company faces when entering a new market is a closed community. In Brazil, igaming has been developing behind the curtain for a very long time and already has its opinion leaders, major operators, and other related companies which exist and are known only in Brazil.
In such cases, Blask does quarterly research by asking respondents to select the brands they knew from a list of all brands available in their country. It helps to measure Prompt Brand Awareness.
So, not only marketing but also organisational challenges arise when entering the local community. With branding only, you will not resolve the issue. However, additional resources in a certain country may help the business.
Those who live within this new culture have a deeper understanding of it and are better communicators, often achieving complete comprehension. That is why we put people first in the communication creation process and establish long-term relationships on the market.
EvenBet works with country managers — local professionals in the desired region. We have such a person in Colombia, the Philippines, and some other countries. It’s a very good way for the company to understand what that specific market is awaiting from you, which channels and methods you can use, and what to do to raise brand awareness in a specific region.
Social media channels
Social media is a significantly underestimated resource in new developing markets, especially in the B2B sphere. There is an excellent example at EvenBet of attracting quality leads who are buying the software from LinkedIn or Instagram. It’s definitely the time when social media is used not only by online shops and info-coaches. But pay attention to it as a great source for business communication and sales.
You need to build competent self-positioning on social networks and create market-appropriate content. As an example, conducting the research at EvenBet, we found out that on LinkedIn, our audience of 70 per cent consists of Europeans, while on Instagram, 40 per cent is South Americans. This is why the content, language, and context differ from one social media to another. And it is very helpful not just to attract quality leads but also to increase awareness in the local market.
In 2024, BetFury released its first Telegram Casino Bot, providing faster access to the platform directly from the messenger. EvenBet has a similar project with Telegram-based poker rooms, where registrations, KYC, and financial transactions are facilitated by the platform tools. This is one more example of how to integrate users from social media into your product and attract new customers.
Marketing in the company
The marketing department plays a crucial role when entering new markets. It requires a strong professional team with a comprehensive approach to the company’s promotion and analysis of the actual market.
EvenBet has several milestones in our marketing strategy:
- Clear goals and tools to reach them
- A team of professionals who are experts in all parts of marketing
- Applying a comprehensive approach with 360 degrees of communication
- Maintaining consistency
- Trial, testing and checking the efficiency of every step
For instance, Julia Panina, head of product marketing at EvenBet Gaming, is a “Big Brain” of marketing analytics at the company. She searches for insights, actual trends, and how other markets are constantly developing.
Such knowledge helps marketing position the brand from the right perspective and influence the product from the inside. Thus, marketing’s role is becoming more significant and valuable.
Every year, EvenBet holds its considerable research called a “Trend Report.” Research is divided into markets and regions, providing a wealth of insights for the company and the igaming market as a whole, revealing what interests people in the industry.
For example, when we examine the cross-section of technologies in this study, we observe that AI issues are currently most discussed in Europe and less so in Asia. This trend can be attributed to the fact that the Asian market is still gaining momentum, with a strong focus on acquisition, traffic, and promotion. And has not yet reached the stage of integrating AI tools into its working processes.
Based on such research, we better understand what we can offer to a specific operator and market, ensuring that our product meets their current needs.
Conclusion
The benefits of entering new markets are invaluable. New regions can potentially double your customer and user base, leading to a significant increase in revenue.
It’s essential not to overlook localisation and language issues when expanding into new regions, aspects that received less attention in that material. However, the establishment of a strong brand and enhancing brand awareness is crucial here. And it also increases the trust among the targeted audience. Therefore, you should seek a reliable software supplier.
EvenBet Gaming operates in 38 countries, including South America, Asia, and Africa emerging markets. We adapt our products to the requirements of each specific project across various regions. 40 card games, as well as an online platform with the ability to connect over 10,000 diverse games, including slots and live dealer games.
