How to succeed as an affiliate Down Under
Digital Fuel Marketing's Gavin Chew talks about how affiliate marketing is gaining momentum in Australia and shares his tips on how to succeed in the market
Put very simply, affiliate marketing is selling someone else’s product on your website and taking a cut from the sale. Most will define it as generating income by promoting other people’s products, but that isn’t completely accurate, because you only generate the income when someone buys the product through you. How it generally works is you find a product that you like/are interested in/think will sell, and then promote that product on your page in a way you think your audience will respond well to and is likely to entice them to buy. When they do actually buy the product, you earn an agreed upon commission from the sale.
So, if you are currently considering getting into affiliate marketing in Australia in the egaming space, what do you need to know, how do you get started, and why is Australia such an attractive option right now?
Australia is still a relatively untapped affiliate market with potential for substantial growth, particularly in comparison to other mature markets such as the UK and US, which are already billion dollar industries.
Why gambling, betting and egaming? Because Australia is a huge market for betting and has the highest rate of gambling in the world. It is no coincidence that Digital Fuel, headquartered in Sydney, Australia, specialises in digital marketing for sportsbooks, online casinos, forex and eSports, and has recently signed on as the digital marketing partner with Aussie wagering giant Tabcorp in their new joint-venture with News UK, Sun Bets.
Affiliate marketing in Australia
The digital marketing landscape in Australia is always an interesting talking point. On one end of the spectrum, people will tell you that it’s ahead of the curve; the other end claims that it is years behind, with anywhere in between also popular answers. Despite the range of observations on the industry as a whole, it is almost the consensus that one particular space has definitely lagged behind the rest of the world - affiliate marketing.
Australian brands have not embraced the performance-based marketing stream like the UK has, and this is possibly due to the country’s sparse population, its smaller marketplace, competition from overseas brands delivering Down Under, and a lack of competition within Australia itself. All factors together have meant that to date, the big brands in Australia seem to be less inclined to innovate, and haven’t felt the pressure to push for a strong online presence.
That being said, affiliate marketing has been gaining momentum in Australia in recent years, with the major local brands devoting more attention to their digital marketing efforts, and international companies expanding their affiliate programmes into the country. This has resulted in a spike in affiliate marketing revenue, and a budding industry that is now ripe for the picking.
Okay, but what does this mean for egaming?
While everything discussed so far is relevant to gambling, betting and egaming affiliates, particularly the fact it’s a burgeoning market, those looking to benefit from affiliate marketing in this industry are going to find it tougher getting traction than their peers in other verticals due to much stricter gaming and gambling industry regulations.
Don’t be discouraged. This doesn’t mean you can’t do well as a gambling affiliate. Despite all the restrictions, the Aussies love for all things betting means that success stories are possible, and there have been many. Say what you will about Aussies, but they are definitely a nation of punters.
But before you get carried away with the hype and take the leap on board the gambling affiliate train, there is one particularly important caveat you need to keep in mind.
In Australia, affiliates in gambling, betting and egaming can’’t quite advertise on paid search. I say “quite” because you can bid on keywords that are incredibly low intent and very broad, but that would see your CPAs skyrocket, and therefore, this marketing strategy isn’t recommended. That folks, is where this article gets interesting.
The key to success
Since you are now more familiar with the state of the gambling affiliate market in Australia, it is time to take steps to ensure your foray into the industry will be a successful one. As most affiliates will tell you, the two most difficult aspects of getting conversions are a) getting traffic, and b) getting clicks (or conversions).
The first issue of traffic (the upper level of your sales funnel) is going to be what is most hamstrung by the inability to advertise with paid search. So you’re going to have to get creative, and remember there are other core traditional methods that virtually everyone should be doing to gain traction for their website:
- Search engine optimisation (SEO): This is the ever important and time-honoured method of improving your site’s organic search result ranking.
- Social media marketing: Tweet, post, snap and Instagram your offers, content and USP. Start broad and then focus on the platforms that work. Make sure you get as much traction as possible by engaging your audience with relevant (and current) hashtags and mentions.
It is important to remember that digital marketing is not a tool, it’s a whole toolbox, and one of the best tools that you do have at your disposal in Australia to get virtual foot traffic through your online door is display advertising.
While the traffic from display advertising won’t be as qualified as paid search, the sheer volume passing through your site will be significantly higher. This can and should be the utmost level of your funnel. Display can simply be banners on a website (consider the option to trade banner ad placements with another website relevant to you in an effort to keep costs at a minimum), to the more exotic option of pop-under advertising. Once you do get them through your door and into your store, you have to give them something to browse, and most importantly, a reason to buy.
Which brings us to the hardest part. Content, content, content! Sure it’s important for SEO, but it is also crucial to engage your visitors and get them to the checkout. This is definitely the most difficult part, but it will also be the most rewarding, and will essentially be making the sell to your audience. Here are a few alternative ideas for content pieces:
- Blog posts: keeping a regularly updated blog will give your customers a reason to return to your site, which maintains traffic, builds trust and does wonders for page rank. Write about predictions for upcoming games, post form guides for race days, promote new egames or online casino games available. If you want to shake things up, try being a guest blogger on someone else’s site (make sure it’s relevant to what you’re offering) and link it back to yours. Again, good for your SEO.
- Comparisons: common examples in the world of affiliate marketing are comparison sites that display a number of different offers, their features and the pros and cons of each. Try listing your offers in a Top 10 table, displaying them in order of attractiveness.
- Reviews: empathise with your potential customers and write a genuine review from their perspective. You’ll find that your readers will appreciate the honesty, and they relate much better to content and opinions they can trust. So, perhaps write an in-depth review of a certain sportsbook, their website, their offers, their app etc., or of a certain online casino. Choose one that you find easy to use and enjoy, and that you would personally recommend. If you’re being genuine, remember to include any negative feedback too!
It may be a little cheesy, but digital marketing really is like a toolbox, and you’ll need different tools at your disposal to get a big job done well. As mentioned above, content marketing goes hand in hand with SEO, but this isn’t the only match with synergy.
Another example is pairing your display advertising with remarketing lists. The high volume traffic that display will bring will likely not convert within that first visit. So, remarketing is a great way to keep your brand at the forefront of your traffic and top of mind. If you want to target the more relevant visitors to your site, place your remarketing tag/pixel on a medium to high intent section, such as a sign up page.
These aren’t the only avenues available to you. Yes, it’s true that Australia has stricter regulations, but there are still plenty of advertising options out there. So get creative and always remember your marketing tactics work best in tandem with each other. And if you are only going to take one thing away from this article, make it the “toolbox” analogy.