The marketing techniques US operators can build on from European success

In 2024, I think it’s safe to say that personalisation is going to dominate the conversations taking place at conferences this year. And rightly so.

If we take the entertainment industry for example, the likes of Netflix or Spotify have personalised the experience to the point that they can make recommendations on which film to watch next, or which podcast to listen to. As an industry, we could learn a lot from this. 

What does a more personalised experience look like? That could be bet suggestions based on your history, the layout of your app homepage or even suggestions on other products that you might enjoy. There are so many ways as an industry we can achieve this and that’s before we even scratch the surface of AI which is something we need to understand how to utilize better.

Players don’t just want an experience that has been created with everyone, yet no one in mind. Instead, they want something more unique – something that is personal to them.  Ultimately, if we can focus on delivering more of a one-to-one experience for customers, it will be much easier to retain players. And at a time when player acquisition costs are sky rocketing, creating a loyal fan base is more important than ever.

Sweet streams

It feels like we’ve been saying streaming is going to become the next big thing for many years now. And every year, we’ve seen streaming become a fundamental strategy for marketing any casino product. But for some reason, this hasn’t quite hit the US market…yet.

We’ve seen European operators utilize streamers to their advantage. Whether it’s used to promote their new slot, or to create a community of sports bettors who are fans of a particular team, the possibilities have been somewhat endless.

It’s only a matter of time before US operators begin to realize the potential of streaming as a marketing tool – this strategy becomes even more pertinent when trying to increase your brand awareness among the more tech-savvy, Gen Z players.

In Europe, we’ve seen players enjoy the interactive nature of someone live streaming their casino experience. Not only can players interact with the streamer and see how particular elements of a game work in real-time but, from a marketing perspective, using a streamer or influencer can also build new levels of trust with your players. It’s a win-win, really.

Brand new

PlayStar is solely focused on the US market, so we truly understand just how difficult, and expensive, it is for casino operators to not only get their foot in the door, but also make their brand a household name. This was particularly apparent when the US market first opened up. 

Brands were spending huge sums just to engage with players – advertising, branding and player promotion costs kept many operators in the red. Marketing can pull very tightly on the purse strings and, with so much competition out there, this is unlikely to change any time soon.

But now it’s nearly six years since PASPA was repealed, and the US has settled since the early days when everyone was rushing to gain a competitive advantage. So, I think that we’ll see operators continuing to turn their attention more towards profitability and achieving a return on those hefty investments that they made in the early days.

Jon Bowden is the chief marketing officer of PlayStar and has been working within the igaming sector since 2012.

During that time, he has held a number of senior level positions at some of the industry’s most prestigious brands including Entain, Rank Group, Gala Coral and Ladbrokes Gala Coral.

As chief marketing officer, Bowden is responsible for delivering PlayStar’s unique brand proposition to the regulated US market and that focuses on giving the ultimate casino player experience.