There are competitive and fast-moving markets, and then there is the online gambling market, an industry that takes things to the next level. The fact that FanDuel has emerged as one of the most recognized and trusted names in American online gambling is incredible.
What were the steps that the company took between 2009 and now to become such a respected and formidable brand? Read on to find out.
Full-funneled Marketing (FFM)
FFM is a strategy that relies on engaging customers at every stage of their journey with your company or product. It starts with initial brand awareness, applies extra pressure in the consideration and conversion stages, and then attempts to foster loyalty after purchase.
This was the strategy employed by FanDuel back in 2009 when they first launched. Why? Because they were playing the long game. Gaining a slice of the annual $30.4 billion fantasy sports revenues in the USA was a good short-term aim, but being first in line to stake a claim to the fair bigger online gambling revenues was the long-term strategy for FanDuel.
To get there, they focused on building a fantasy sports brand that could be trusted. FFM allowed them to build trust with their customers while establishing a high level of loyalty that would eventually be rewarded when the brand moved toward online gambling.
That meant that in 2018, when the Supreme Court struck down PASPA and opened the door to online gambling, FanDuel was perfectly poised to step into the market and bring its loyal customers with it.
FFM Tools FanDuel Utilised:
– Tailored messages: Users would receive emails and notifications specifically related to their interests. A common marketing technique now, but one not widely utilized back in 2009.
– Multi-Channel Approach: FanDuel didn’t just connect with its users via email. Instead, they used the full gamut of social media to interact with their customers.
– Excellent customer service: Nothing fosters loyalty like making customers feel valued, and nothing makes them feel valued more than excellent customer service.
Experimentation
Many forms of marketing are commonplace now that weren’t during FanDuel’s initial rise to prominence. One was the use of A/B online testing, which is a technique that the company used frequently.
For those not aware of A/B testing, it is quite simply the process of running slightly different advertising campaigns and then gauging their success retrospectively. Through doing this, FanDuel was able to pinpoint almost precisely the attitudes, characteristics, and habits of its intended audience.
This gave them a serious foothold in the market at a time when many companies were making their first tentative steps into it.
Media Exposure
FanDuel is not particularly active in the United Kingdom, nor should they be, considering the services that they offer. However, many people in the UK and other countries have heard of FanDuel thanks to the company’s aggressive media marketing campaigns.
Traditionally, this could only be achieved by high-profile and expensive television commercials or sponsorship deals. Whilst FanDuel has certainly partaken in more traditional forms of marketing, their genius has lain in the fact that they have embraced modern media.
Through brand deals and influencer campaigns, FanDuel has leveraged the modern world of social media to reach a far larger audience than a company of their size should really have been able to. What is even better for FanDuel is that the audience they are reaching through social media is their core demographic.
What began back in 2009 as a daily fantasy sports platform has evolved into a multi-faceted online wagering brand offering a number of services and products to American sports fans. Today, FanDuel holds a prominent position in the industry – it is one of the highest-ranking sites checked by Casino.org – but it did not get there accidentally, and looking back through their marketing techniques, you can see how they planned this.
In Summary
The reasons for FanDuel’s success are many and varied, and quite frankly, are too complex to explore fully in an online article. However, at the core of FanDuel’s marketing success has been a willingness and indeed an eagerness to embrace new and novel techniques, strategies, and modes of communication.
The company has always been forward-thinking and, as a result, ensured that they were at the front of the queue when online gambling began to be legalized on a state-by-state basis in the United States.
To read more content like this, explore The Brand Hopper
Subscribe to our newsletter
