In the UK’s £14 billion gambling market, home to over 1,000 remote licenses, building a site that stands out is a significant challenge. It requires substantial resources, hard work, and determination. As competition has increased alongside stricter regulations, choosing the right casino software and strategy to enter the UK market has become even more difficult.
Let’s explore some approaches that can help online gambling brands differentiate themselves in this competitive environment.
Understand the target audience and market gaps
Before launching, any new gambling company must dive deep into the market, segment it, and decide which group to target. Once you understand your target audience — how they gamble and what they need — it becomes easier to scan the market, create a unique value proposition, and design an appealing product.
Market research is the foundation of successful brand building and helps spot opportunities to offer something new. This process should also be used to identify competitors, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and find any areas of opportunity they may have overlooked. For example, you might find that while many competitors offer a generic platform, there’s a gap for a specialised or a more robust online casino turnkey solution.
Build your brand
With your target market and unique value proposition defined, it’s time to focus on your brand. Strong branding helps capture consumer attention, makes companies more recognisable, builds trust, and creates loyalty.
Brand building starts with a strategy, mission, and values, but it extends beyond your logo and site design. It’s your brand’s personality and every aspect of how you engage with customers. Ultimately, it’s the impression you leave after someone uses your product.
In the US, many brands gain recognition through partnerships with celebrities, influencers, and sports sponsorships. While sports sponsorships were once a powerful tool in the UK, they have recently faced scrutiny regarding responsible advertising.
Integrate tech and features
To differentiate your brand, you need to offer something new. For many businesses, this means enhancing the user experience through technology. For others, it’s about content, customisable features, or the services offered. For most successful brands, it’s a blend of everything.
Technology
Gambling brands use technology to enhance the user experience with innovative features like game stats, lobbies to save favorite games, and various mobile options. Following tech trends like live streaming is also crucial. Cryptocurrency casino software plays a key role in driving innovation, especially in crypto casinos that lead the way with advanced payment systems. This forward-thinking approach often extends across the entire platform, creating smoother and more cutting-edge gambling experiences.
Content
Brands focusing on content need to create engaging advertising and onsite material. This includes social media, email marketing, and encouraging user-generated content to build a sense of community.
Online bingo companies are known for championing community features, creating special chat games and quizzes that make their platforms more social. Trusted bingo review sites often consider a site’s community and social elements when analysing its reputation.
Customisation
Greater customisation leads to happier consumers who value a unique, tailor-made experience. Although custom features can be costly to implement, they can be highly effective in differentiating your brand.
Sites can use loyalty programs, rewards, and bonus choices. They can also go deeper with design elements like avatars, personalised casino spaces, leaderboards, and custom game lobbies.
Customer service
Excellent customer service is essential for building a successful brand identity. It’s one of the few times you have direct contact with your customers and a key way they will judge your brand. Standout brands provide responsive, expert-level support via live chat 24/7 and other channels. If you operate in multiple countries, offer multilingual support and don’t rely too heavily on bots, which can cause frustration.
Responsible gambling
A commitment to responsible gambling can also help a brand stand out. This is becoming more important to players. For example, research shows that 77% of Gen Z are more likely to use a casino they feel promotes a sustainable lifestyle. Successful brands must be fair, transparent, and implement responsible gambling tools while staying current with Gambling Commission updates and customer preferences.
FanDuel is a brand doing this well. They introduced mandatory deposit limits for players aged 18-24, the group most at risk of gambling harm. This approach builds consumer trust and has contributed to the brand’s reputation for safeguarding players while offering a top-tier product.
