We’re back with a brand-new season of Footprints in the Market | Influencing iGaming! To kick off the new season, we’re delighted to welcome John Wright, Co-Founder of StatsDrone. John sat down for a chat with Digital Footprints Managing Director Sharon McFarlane about the role of education in affiliate marketing, tracking technology, brand-building journeys and more. Listen in below.
Moving Beyond Spreadsheets
We can all be guilty of relying on spreadsheets a little too much. They’re undoubtedly a handy tool and can be used for everything from invoice tracking to content planning. However, your overreliance on Excel could be doing you a disservice. You could be missing valuable optimisation opportunities or, worse still, a mistakenly deleted file could have disastrous consequences.
John explains:
“The iGaming industry is built upon spreadsheets. There’s an image of all these boxes, and there’s a tiny little Excel box that’s supporting the whole thing, and you take it out and the entire business falls apart. That’s very true for even some billion-dollar companies.
“Spreadsheets can be good, but we need better automation. That’s what we’re lacking a lot of in iGaming. There’s nothing wrong with having spreadsheet skills; that’s still important, but you’re going to need to start stacking that, I think.”
The Power of Video Content
It’s no secret that video content is the name of the game in marketing today. However, few appreciate just how valuable it is in a people-focused sector like iGaming, and, unfortunately, many iGaming brands are missing out on the opportunities video content can offer.
John said: “Audio and video have been important for at least 10 years, but now it’s becoming more so. People want to buy from people. Whether it’s me being on your show or just recording a video and throwing it up on YouTube, it creates all these touchpoints.
“This is what really drives a lot of value. People want to listen to it in their own time, and they connect with it a lot better.”
Brand Partnerships
The iGaming space can be extremely competitive. As a result, expansive brand partnerships can be hard to come by. While competition is always good for business, should it come at the expense of collaboration?
John said: “I actually think iGaming is behind the times when it comes to these weird, unique partnerships that seem to happen everywhere else. In the generic marketing space, there’s more if it. In the SEO space, there’s a lot of it.
“Why can’t we have partnerships that go beyond the traditional ones? Which are: ‘Here’s your affiliate and here’s your operator and here’s your tracking link and here’s your commission’. Calling that a partnership is technically true, but it’s not something unique and collaborative.”
John and Sharon also discussed:
The Role of Education in iGaming (jump to 3.14)
Branding and Marketing Strategies (jump to 10.09)
Advice for Start-Ups (jump to 23.20)
A huge thanks to John Wright for taking part and joining us as the first guest on Season 3 of Footprints in the Market | Influencing iGaming. Stay tuned for Episode 2!
