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Allan Petrilli, Managing Director at Acquire.Bet, talks about paid media and the trends shaping customer acquisition in the regulated North American market

Paid media is very much the future of player acquisition in the regulated North American market, but running successful campaigns is not without its challenges.

More than ever, operators and marketers need to nail not only their creatives and messaging but also the measurement and tracking of campaigns.

Paid channels control much of the campaign and ad targeting, but with stricter privacy rules in play, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to target directly based on a user’s preferences.

Creative fatigue is as real as it is prevalent, so operators and marketers need to achieve creative iteration at scale, not only in terms of volume but also creative types and formats.

Just as important is having measurement dialed in and being able to inform the platforms of what is working – this means having a ton of actionable data at your fingertips so you can quickly decide where to spend your ad dollars.

Then there’s incrementality and uplift, which can’t be ignored, either.

The platforms themselves are starting to take more “credit” for conversions, so being able to zoom out and understand multitouch is key to making the marketing budget go further and perform better.

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The great SEO slowdown

Paid media is becoming increasingly important in player acquisition efforts because there is a clear SEO slowdown. This, combined with advancements in generative AI in search, means brands are going to have to rely more on communities for growth.

Influencer marketing is no longer just getting some with a decent following to promote your brand, with micro influencers becoming a very important piece of the puzzle.

It’s also worth highlighting Discord here as it’s starting to play a significant role, especially in sports betting. This channel is all about community and trust, and we are seeing some really smart partnerships play out across the platform.

Regardless of platform and channel, operators must understand the power of their brand and that by aligning with influencers and communities that match their values, they can supercharge growth.

The only caveat here is that these partnerships need to be authentic.

Market maturation brings new challenges

As the North American market matures, we see the establishment of standard success KPIs, but it’s important that each brand really understands its own LTV and CAC data so that it can drive towards hitting its own success metrics and not just “industry” standard KPIs.

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Why? Because those industry standard KPIs are often skewed by the power players that have spent big to get to where they are today, and won’t be reflective of smaller operations and brands.

It’s also important to focus on incremental growth as the market matures, understand the power of multi-touch and how each channel supports the overall acquisition strategy. Operating in silos is a recipe for disaster.

In addition to this, operators need to have a clear view of their runway – those with considerable cash can operate in more aggressive ways than brands that are relying on quick growth to fund future spend.

Ultimately, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, and that’s why operators must focus on their own metrics for success and not industry-standard KPIs. They also need to remember that while being nimble is key, being relentlessly focused on data is what will allow them to win.

Regulations do influence player acquisition strategies, but everyone plays the same game

A lot of times, operators will focus on regulation and compliance to make excuses as to why they market one way or another, but the reality is that everyone is playing in the same sandbox and under the same rules.

How marketers push those boundaries, and to the extent they are willing to get creative, is what separates those who succeed and those who don’t.

Take Ontario, for example. You can’t promote the welcome bonus, so brands are having to engage players in other ways – those with kick-ass product marketing campaigns or that offer something truly unique are winning right now.

Of course, paid media is the perfect channel through which to communicate their epic product and unique player experience.

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