New Opportunities for Marketing in the Rising Field of eSports

eSports has significantly grown in the past few years with marketers viewing it as a great opportunity to source for new audiences. The potential market available on eSport is vast, and marketers all over the world are rushing to grasp the untapped opportunity.

The online space for gaming is advancing rapidly, and significant sites like Slotozilla are not being left behind. Within a few years, eSports has emerged as an excellent source of niche marketing. Fans flock from all over to view the live sports events, where real-time gaming is featured.

The audience on this platform is beyond staggering with statistics indicating that on average 421.6 minutes are watched per month. This is 44% more than the anticipated on Youtube. In this article, I will provide clarity as to why there are several underlying opportunities in this ever-growing field.

Is Esports a Great Marketing Channel for Your Business?

Before you decide to use this avenue as one of your marketing channels, it is important to determine if your business will benefit from the avenue. Is this an excellent marketing channel for the business?

The first question a marketer should probably ask is whether the channel will appeal to their target audience. The audience is the critical determinant of marketing means used. However, on eSports, it is quite difficult to categorise the users in one demographic as it includes as vast number of users from different addresses, genders, and preferences. It is assumed that over 1.8 billion people are involved with e-sports yearly, so the audience is beyond vast. Here you can reach out to new target groups and create new markets for your products and service.

The second question to be asked is whether the business can afford the marketing costs on electronic sports. Will this bring about a higher conversion rate?

Don’t be fooled by the big brands that are already marketing on this platform. One may assume that the costs of marketing here are high which is rather not true. There are other cheaper opportunities available for the small and medium-sized businesses such as branding, sharing related content, merchandise, and ticketing that could be budget friendly to the marketer.

How Do You Market on Esports?

Once you have determined that this is the way to go for your marketing needs, how do you proceed? What are the means of marketing successfully?

Set up a Content Branded Game

It is believed that up to 75% of the users search for the related brand once they view a video according toForbes. Create entertaining videos related to the sports your target audience is passionate about. Once they view the content, they will be compelled to view your brand. Sports lovers associate with brands that recognise their points of interests.

Get Reviews from Influencers

To reach out to the gaming community on eSports get influencers to review your brand. Influencers have vast numbers of loyal followers that can turn into your customers once their gaming mentors post relevant reviews related to your brand.

Sponsor a Team

Depending on your marketing budget, you can sponsor a team in whichever way to gain the influence of the related fans. There are two varieties of teams: the work teams and the agency teams. Work teams are financially supported and run by companies, e.g. Samsung who support the League of Legends world champions.

The agency teams are more popular and better to sponsor if you would like to generate awareness to your brand. This sponsorship is operated in a way that sponsors are treated as clients. In return, they get logo displays on jerseys, website presence and publications once their teams perform well.

Having Digital Landing Pages

Landing pages are not so popular in eSports campaigns. They are however a great means of acquiring new customers or brand loyalty. Creating a landing page using eSports is a great move as this channel is currently not overcrowded by marketers. Ensure the landing page attached is fully functional and the content is relevant and sees your conversion rates skyrocket.

Brands Currently Involved

There are several major brands currently marketing on eSports including some who are part of the Fortune 500. The main brands according to Wikipedia include:

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is probably the most involved company in sports-related ads and sponsorships. They are currently the major sponsor of the League Of Legends who is also sponsored by several other major brands. Together with IGN, they have managed to create the eSports Weekly campaign where related content is posted constantly.

Red Bull

Second in place is Red Bull energy drink. It is no surprise that Red Bull has created a whole new marketing strategy based on this industry, where they sponsor teams and create content for the fans and followers.

ESPN

In a move to attract customers from within this field, ESPN has dedicated a whole segment from their website dedicated to relating eSports content. This move attracts pro gaming lovers from all over the world.

However small or large your business is, it has become impossible to ignore the emerging marketing opportunity on eSports. Get involved before it’s too late; you will not regret it!

Published by Kidal Delonix (1200 Posts)

Kidal Delonix is a contributor to Mr. Hoffman's blog. The views and opinions are entirely his/her own and may not reflect Mr Hoffman's views.