The global online gamingmarket was worth $21.1 billion in 2020, a twenty percent increase on 2019 figures. By 2025, more than 1.3 billion people are expected to be regularly playing online games.

The type of games which make up this market are as diverse in appeal as they are in style. Online casino, massive multiplayer role-playing games (MMORPGs), first-person shooters, puzzle games, mobile games - there is something for every player.

As online gaming has boomed, so has the number of providers competing for a share of the enormous profits available. As a result, digital marketing strategies for all gaming siteshave needed to become more sophisticated, and more innovative.

Trailblazers like Angry Birds and Call of Duty have shown what can be achieved by a smart digital marketing campaign. So, what are some of the best strategies for marketing online games?

Social Media

One of the biggest developments in marketing of all kinds over the last 20 years has been social media. For online products such as gaming sites, whose customers are based online, the effectiveness of this can be even greater.

The beauty of social media is that it is interactive, and companies can engage with the customers in real-time. It’s also a breeding ground for peer-to-peer marketing; going viral costs far less than a mainstream marketing campaign.

Retargeting

Also known as “bouncing” this is a strategy made possible by the way in which the online world collects data. Companies can see when a user has visited their site and left, either after playing briefly or never signing up.

Also known as “bouncing” this is a strategy made possible by the way in which the online world collects data. Companies can see when a user has visited their site and left, either after playing briefly or never signing up.

Affiliate Marketing

Something commonly used in the ultra-competitive world of online casino is affiliate marketing, or brand promotion, through outside sites. For example, review sites such as Gambling.com offer guidance to the best bonusesand casino games available to play in your area. The casino sites listed are also safe and secure, legal sites.

By allowing these sites, and other industry brands, to link back to their gaming site, providers can build stronger brands. The wider these affiliations can become, the more awareness of their brand and products an online site can generate.

Blogging

This is often a clever way to market digital gaming sites in a much more subtle way than direct ads. By writing about related subjects, offering hints and tips, or sharing personal experiences you can draw interested users in.

For example, a blog offering poker tips is a great way to engage potential poker players with your online casino. Strong blogs will also encourage user sharing, helping to generate word-of-mouth marketing which is often more trusted than paid-for ads.

Search Engine Optimisation

The main tool we use to find things we are interested in online is a search engine. While these have developed greatly over the last few decades, the basic premise remains the same.

When an engine returns many thousands of results, a site needs to rank as highlyas possible to get noticed. SEO keywordsand smart contentare the most efficient way of getting any site to the top of those listings.

Email Marketing

Almost since the dawn of commerce people have been using letters and mailouts to market their products. While physical mailing is now seen as wasteful, expensive, and largely ineffective, email is still widely used.

The advantages of email marketing, other than the vastly reduced cost, are its immediacy and flexibility of targeting. Users who sign up can be sorted by location, age, and many other factors to help emails become specifically tailored.

Buyer Personas

This is another, and increasingly sophisticated, use of data capture to help target marketing and products. Though creating complex and detailed user profiles on every buyer, and potential buyer, companies can make much more effective decisions.

Offers, incentives, and communication can all be individually tailored to best fit the known behaviour of each gamer or customer. Even what games are offered, or how they are packaged, can be altered to fit the targeted buyer personas.

Videos

In 2009, Angry Birds shot up the mobile gaming charts thanks to a promotional video which received 110 million views. At the time, YouTube was the medium of choice for digital video marketing, and it drove over 2 billion downloads.

Today, YouTube is still significant, but video sites such as Instagram and TikTok have added a new dimension. At their peak, a video on these mediums only needs to be seconds long to have a global viral impact.

Joint promotion

When the Call of Duty franchise released their Black Ops II edition, they chose to team up with another app. A CoD branded version of Action Movie FX allowed users to create their own videos relating to the franchise.

Combined with an interactive landing page, millions of users were able to create, upload, and share Call of Duty action videos. The release was a massive success with Black Ops II grossing $1 billion in its first 15 days on sale.

These techniques, in combination with innovations like EA Sports‘ Madden GIFERATOR, have become vital for marketing digital gaming sites. The importance of collecting the right data and using it in the smartest way cannot be overestimated.

As the world of digital gaming and online casino inevitably becomes more crowded and competitive, this will only increase. So, take note, if you have an online gaming site to promote, get your digital marketing strategies in place now,