SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Are you satisfied with your current affiliation program? For many betting companies a well-tailored program is simply a matter of staying above the surface writes Jakub Myszkorowski, Chief Commercial Officer at STATSCORE.
In times when everyone offers more or less the same to similar types of affiliates, will you follow the well-trodden and overused path, or try going your own way?
If you are still with us, it means that you are at least eager to find out more about how to make your affiliate marketing more effective. You probably have tried everything and the results were not as satisfying as you wanted them to be. Hoping for the best but expecting the worst – we have all been there.
How about trying something completely different and turning to a type of potential affiliates who are not yet recognized by the market? And we mean… yeap, unofficial football club websites. What the…?! – you could ask. I’m glad that you wish to learn.
Unofficial club websites are one of the hottest pieces of cake at the market in terms of a targeted traffic for betting. Still they are surprisingly skipped by the biggest players, who seek their audience elsewhere.
We speak about a great share of the market. Top clubs from the English Premier League (EPL) have hundreds of unofficial websites worldwide focused on local fans communities, while they can still have only one official site (even if it has several localizations and unique local content).
Unofficial club websites target their communication at the biggest football club fans, who will seek for the updates anywhere. Instead of leaving them on their own, unofficial club websites gather all the desired info mixed with hot gossip and serve them on a daily basis.
In many cases, they are far more attractive than the official websites, which remain more abstemious in communication and much more tied by the club PR policy.
With their devoted audience, people are coming there every day – sometimes even a couple of times – while at work or while travelling. They, therefore, make a perfect choice to recruit more players to bet online.
The unofficial club websites’ target group is made of folks who tend to believe that they know everything about sports and that their opinions are far better than any others.
This makes them a dream group to focus your campaign and win some more regular users and – in turn – a higher level of income. Football fans who usually bet with heart, not with their analytical skills, are the ones that build a loyal group of bettors.
So, how can you deliver these campaigns? Well, the more straightforward and openly you come at them, the higher the risk of scaring them off. Why not try something more sophisticated rather than just adding simple banners?
STATSCORE came up with a dedicated platform for both official and unofficial websites. TeamCenter is a team-themed centre, which brings all the info about the upcoming games, past results, expanded stats, standings, comparisons and of course LIVE data.
Each game is covered with a live tracker that provides dedicated animation for every key incident of the game. While these are all displayed on the playing surface alongside the tracking of the ball position, it secures the thrill of participation for the fans and keeps them involved.
Since TeamCenter comes with several advertising spaces (including the bands in front of the pitch) and can include your betting odds, it has it all to drive more users to your website.
It is a precious content for an unofficial club website and a great commercial opportunity for betting companies to strike affiliate partnerships. The first party gets, for free, a unique add-on to their site and a chance to earn some reasonable commission, while the latter secures greater access to their fanbase. It is a win-win situation.
In the highly competitive market of betting, working with affiliates that allow you to differ from the closest competitors is not something to leave for the future, but a question worth answering right here, right now.
So, why not start working with unofficial club websites and empower them with ready-made tools to drive an increased number of bets on your website?
