Author: May Thawdar Oo
One of the most overused clichés in content marketing was coined back in 1996 by former Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates: Content is king.
Well, clichés exist because they are true.
If there’s one thing that the history of the internet has proven up to this very day, it is that content really is king, and will remain so for a very long time.
Take a look around – content is a vital part of every online endeavor today, independent of any platform, vertical, or marketing channel, for that matter.
In fact, content is so important to every marketing strategy that an entirely new marketing discipline was born from the proliferation of the internet into virtual omnipresence. And the online gambling market is predicted to reach USD 153.57 billion by 2030, which is proof positive of the importance of quality content as part of a high-performance personalized iGaming content marketing strategy.
Quality content is now a prerequisite rather than a nice-to-have as the internet continues to evolve. But content is just one part of the equation – for content to truly succeed, it has to be seen by people.
No distribution? No traffic.
No traffic? No conversions.
But above all, for content to engage and leave a mark on readers, is all about getting the context part of the equation down pat. Let’s examine the difference between content marketing vs. context marketing of content marketing – and how it can be one of the best iGaming content marketing strategies you can employ as an important part of your iGaming marketing funnel.
And here is the brief summary of the “Content vs. Context” topic, before we explain this matter in more details:
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Content Marketing vs. Context Marketing: The Difference
Context is the yang to content’s yin.
As a result, you’ll have better, more personalized iGaming content that gets clicks and conversions when you understand the context, the setting, or circumstances in which a person views your content, which gives it a greater meaning.
Content is basically any material you can share with audiences, such as blog posts, videos, social media posts, game descriptions, advertising banners, landing pages, and everything in between.
Context, meanwhile, can be the person’s location, language, customs, superstitions, and/or cultural characteristics that serve as a lens from which they derive the meaning of your content.
Context isn’t just a subjective, personally-nuanced characteristic – context could also be informed by far-ranging global situations or pandemics that affect entire populations. Case in point: plenty of iGaming brands had to reformulate their casino and sportsbook content strategies on the fly in response to the pandemic.
Likewise, localization is key for seasonal and cultural traditions that are trying to capture a piece of the international market pie.
What Is Context Marketing?
iGaming marketers and content creators need to control the context in which their content is received by understanding the full picture of the circumstances in the markets they operate using the appropriate tools and strategy.
That’s where context marketing comes in. The whole premise behind context marketing is to deliver the appropriate marketing message, in the appropriate cultural context, and at the perfectly appropriate time.
Context marketing is on a higher level than content marketing. Context, after all, gives people that emotional connection that no amount of good content can create. Context requires you to have a good knowledge of your target audience that leads you to create content that answers their questions.
That’s why content marketing personas for iGaming brands are often used by expert iGaming marketing pros to ensure that their message gets across every single time for every particular segment of the market they are writing for.
Everyone is bombarded with content daily, and no amount of good content will be of any effect if your target audience doesn’t find it relevant enough to be worth paying attention to.
Context is responsible for a major part of your success in iGaming digital marketing, but you need to approach it with some thought. An iGaming context marketing strategy lacking in data and a concrete plan will still be lacking in actual context.
Context, after all, gives people that emotional connection that no amount of good content can create. Context requires you to have a good knowledge of your target audience that leads you to create content that answers their questions.
How to Unlock the Benefits of Context Marketing for iGaming
You can add a whole layer of context to your iGaming marketing strategy by making the following adjustments to your plan.
1. Answer a Pain Point
Context marketing is a means to streamline and make the customer journey more intuitive.
- Which part of the iGaming sales funnel do you find your audience hanging up?
- Is it a question about how to deposit using crypto?
- Is it because of a lack of knowledge of the different types of sports bets?
- What part of the funnel do you fail to convert, and why?
Use this information to brainstorm content ideas designed to fully overcome these hitches.
The most frequently-used term in Google searches is “what” – a particle that leads into a question. For instance, “what is an accumulator bet” brings 3.5 million search results, with a host of questions from high-ranking sites quoted to make it easier for users to find the answer.
It is, for this reason, plenty of iGaming content marketers answer questions about online casino and sports betting-related queries.
Answering specific iGaming-related queries, inquiries, and pain points are a way of fine-tuning your content to fit a certain clientele and get your ads to appear at the best possible time within the iGaming customer journey.
2. Know Your Audience
If you wish to benefit from personalized iGaming content, you have to know your audience. You need to have specific buyer personas and targeted audience examples that are ready to go at the drop of a hat.
The most successful iGaming content marketing strategies involve a thorough knowledge and segmentation of their target audiences. Personalization is the norm in 2023 moving forward – you have to have content that appeals to every player of every interest level and of every location.
Personalizing experiences is at the heart of context marketing. For instance, you can set up a strategy that sends the most helpful information to your readers at the best possible time.
Certain sportsbooks and live score apps, for instance, may also set up pop-up banners depending on a user’s pre-selected favorite teams and show them ads on prop bets for the next fixture the next time they log in or use the app.
Based on past betting behavior, sports betting sites may also propose an accumulator bet featuring their preferred teams, bets, and bet types based on their past betting history, sometimes pre-filling the betting slip with one click.
Yet another way online sportsbooks can utilize is location tracking while using their app, which they could leverage to provide free bets involving punters’ favorite or hometown teams every time they open the app during game day.
3. Tailor Your Content Accordingly
The most compelling online casino and sportsbook content will always be informative, value-added, and well-written. Good content always tends to rank higher in the SERPs when it is authoritative, relevant, and painstakingly written to match the tastes of their target audiences.
Spammy and thin content that looks like it was regurgitated by an AI writer and peppered with grammatical, factual, and contextual errors will torpedo your site rankings.
That’s where seasoned iGaming writers, for instance, come in – and iGaming brands know that people who know their iGaming content are worth their weight in gold.
Because who better to rely on to create content relatable to iGaming audiences than to know someone who knows how their audiences tick? Create iGaming content that’s fit for your readers to enjoy and learn from instead of “writing” simply to rank.
Think about iGaming content ideas such as game tutorials, sports betting strategy guides, reviews of online casinos, hot takes on industry developments, industry trends, and relevant research based on the sector that will remain relevant to iGaming readers.
Good content is useful, high-quality, and original content that gets your visitors coming back to your site for more.
Content Marketing vs. Context Marketing: Recap
Content marketing without the appropriate context will risk you reaching the wrong individuals at the wrong end of the customer journey.
And no matter how good your content might be, it would never be as effective as it would be than it would if you took control of the narrative and apply context in your iGaming marketing and advertising campaigns. Doing so will help you outperform your lead acquisition goals and ultimately drive your company’s bottom line.
That said, if people are to go through the iGaming sales funnel by turning on a computer and spending their valuable time on a website, they expect to be rewarded with content that’s authoritative, relevant, and up-to-date.
They need to be engaging and contain the appropriate visual and presentation elements that are relevant to their intent.
That has never changed about content marketing. If people are to develop an emotional connection to iGaming brands or research their products, the content and context of the content they consume ought to be personalized to their tastes, localized for their regions, and rewarding enough for them to give their full attention to.
And once iGaming marketers find that sweet spot where the content they produce resonates with iGaming audiences and is delivered at the perfect moment in the iGaming sales funnel, content marketing is elevated to the art of context marketing.
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How did you like May Thawdar Oo’s blog post “The Role of Content vs. Context in iGaming Content Marketing”? Let us know in the comments if you have anything to add, have another content idea for iGaming blog posts, or just want to say “hello.” 🙂
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