Category: Online Marketing

  • 16 Small Business Ideas for Men in 2021 (That You Can Start Right Now)

    16 Small Business Ideas for Men in 2021 (That You Can Start Right Now)

    What are the best small business ideas for men in 2021?

    Let me guess. You are in your mid 20’s to 30’s and you want to find several business ideas to generate more money.

    Don’t worry. I’m not here to judge and as a matter of fact, I totally believe that you NEED to run at least some small businesses on the side just to stay afloat (while building financial freedom). Giving you an example, the Covid-19 pandemic had created so much chaos around the world with people losing their jobs. Having a freelance job would give you at least one stream of income that you can count on—not just the income from your day job.

    The thought of starting one or more home businesses certainly struck your mind at least more than once (I’m sure). If your mind is telling you that “you can’t do it” or “it is too risky”, here are some facts from USA Today before we dive into the top small business ideas for men.

    • ​The average American gross household income is $71,258​
    • ​The average American household with debt owes $132,529
    • ​The average personal savings rate in the U.S. is 5.5%

    Let me ask you something. Are these stats worrisome?

    How do you expect to live better than an average person if you are NOT making enough money?

    ​Are you ready to make some serious progress in your home-based business project and make money?

    Continue reading the below for some of the best small business ideas for men.

    ​Note from the editor

    ​​The small business ideas for men that I am sharing in this article are designed to help you to get started with:

    • ​The business ideas take the shortest time available to launch
    • These are one of the best business ideas for men in 2021
    • Different types of full time and part-time business ideas to make money
    • Least investment (or no investment at all)
    • Doesn’t require more than two hours a day (of course, you can go for full time like me)
    • Possibility of making at least $50 a day through home based businesses
    • Quick and moderate ways to earn extra cash

    If you’re feeling stuck for business ideas or want to come up with more, here are the best ideas for a home business in 2021.

    ​What Are The Best Small Ideas For Business In 2021?

    The Internet is the powerhouse that can be very profitable for you in running a small business at home. Choosing the right ideas for a small business will make you good money, and the best ideas for small businesses will help you get paid without needing to have a job work.

    Here is a list of small business ideas for men (with the focus of making at least $50 a day) and that you can start right now at home. Yes, you don’t require to go to business school or capital investment to get started.

    If you are looking for the best starting businesses or the best businesses from home, pay attention because what you are going to get are the best business ideas at home for men than you can work on right now, with little to no investment at all.

    ​Make ​Money ​Through ​Blogging Business

    small business ideas for men 2018

    Blogging is a good small business idea for men (and women)

    Blogging is one of the most overlooked methods when it comes to small business ideas for men (and making good money). Many people had been doing blogging as a form of online business to help them make ends meet.

    I started blogging back in 2004 and starting a blog is by far the most lucrative make money businesses idea that I had ever invested on.

    Here is some very serious misconception about blogging:

    • ​Females are much better at blogging​
    • Females make more money through blogging​
    • Men couldn’t be good bloggers
    • Starting a blog is hard

    There are many men who I know are great bloggers. More importantly, they make money (like thousands of dollars each month) from the Internet using blogging!

    Need some name dropping to convince you further?

    • ​Neil Patel (co-founder of CrazyEgg)
    • ​Pat Flynn (founder of Smart Passive Income)
    • Larry Kim (former co-founder of Wishpond)

    These are the people that used the blogging platform to skyrocket their business (either on the side or their own business). Their success in blogging started with a small blog, that grows by the day. These men take blogging seriously and they even consider this as a profitable business for personal and business.

    Take Neil Patel for an example. He uses blogging as a tool to stay visible online while generating hot leads to his work and business. And you know that his consultancy business is not cheap. That’s like $3-5k per hour just for a consultation session!

    Sure, blogging won’t make you a billion dollar anytime soon, but it is will be one of the best home online business ideas that you can start right now.

    How to create a blogging business that makes money?

    Want to start a blog? ​Watch this video to understand why blogging is one of the best great small business ideas for men.

    ​Of course, this leads us to ​several important questions.

    Where do I start? How can I start a blog?

    ​Don’t worry. I got you covered in the infographic below (you can also read this step by step guide on how to start a blog).

    How To Start A Blog [Infographic]

    If you want to start a blog as a side hustle, here are some of the best blogging tips for beginners:

    • ​Start small and cheap (you don’t need premium domain names, expensive hosting and expensive plugins to get started)
    • Find a specific topic and build an authority around the topic by discussing (and publishing) detailed information
    • Avoid any direct sales or selling heavily in the first 10 posts

    Blogging is one of those easy startup businesses for 2021. Do you know that you can start a blog as low as $2.79 per month? Yes, that’s inclusive of domain name and hosting!

    >> Click here to take a look at this deal. <<

    ​Dropshipping ​Business ​Ideas

    One of the most popular small ideas of business is dropshipping. But wait.

    ​You probably heard about dropshipping but you have no idea what it is all about. The idea of dropshipping is really simple. Take a look at the image below by Oberlo.

    dropshipping small business idea

    Related read: Here’s how I went from $0 to $100,000 thanks to dropshipping and ClickFunnels.

    The whole business idea is that you run an online store promoting a specific product – minus the inventory. Without inventory and stock, your risk factor in dropshipping is literally zero. This makes dropshipping an easy business to start.

    Once a sale is completed, the supplier will ship the product(s) over to the buyer and you will get a cut at the end.

    Pretty cool, right?

    ​How to start a dropshipping business like a professional?

    There are only 5 simple steps and they are as follow.

    1

    ​Create an online store

    ​I recommend Shopify online store creator because this is the cheapest option for dropshipping. It offers everything you need to run an online store successfully and it is extremely beginner friendly. ​Get started here.

    ​2

    ​Integrate with a dropshipping partner

    ​In other word, this is your product supplier who handles all the shipping and product images. Oberlo is the best in the market and it integrates perfectly well with Shopify. A huge advantage using Oberlo is that it is absolutely free to use. Create an account here.

    ​3

    ​Finding the right products

    ​This is where the fun begins. The success of finding the right product on Oberlo is by understanding the demand. The easiest way is to choose products that you use on a daily basis (technological items, kids items etc.). There are thousands of products that you can find on Oberlo. Therefore, the sky is your only limit.

    ​4

    ​Importing the products to Shopify

    ​Once you have selected the products on Oberlo, you can easily import them directly to Shopify in just a few clicks.

    BONUS: Leverage Oberlo’s bulk importer to import multiple products at once.

    ​5

    ​Promote your online store

    ​This small business idea for men will not work if you are not putting effort into it. The starting up phrase is probably the hardest where you will need to constantly promote your online store. If you have the budget, I recommend you to run Facebook ads at least several times a month. Alternatively, you should share the store and products on social media platforms to gain visibility.

    The process of dropshipping business is fairly straightforward and simple. It does take a little time to grow this small business idea for men and you should be able to see the profit after a few months managing it.

    Also, it is important to understand that dropshipping is an evergrowing business. The current technology makes dropshipping as one of the top businesses easy to start.

    Quick tips for those who want to launch eCommerce business idea

    ​Do you know that you can triple your eCommerce earning using sales funnels? Click the button to learn more!

    Become A Respondent

    How To Become A Respondent And Make Money At Home

    Welcome to the craziest small idea on small business — becoming a respondent. A full-time respondent or survey participant makes at least $150 per hour, and that’s really crazy. Yes, money making with surveys is one of the most popular business ideas you can start in 2021.

    A respondent’s job is quite similar to filling out survey forms, except that you have to do them in market research studies. In return of your time and effort, you will be paid rather well which makes this an excellent and high in demand profitable business.

    You will need a PayPal account for this work from home task as well since most of the sites that provide or hire respondents bill using PayPal.

    Becoming a respondent can be one of those profitable businesses because it is easy to start, offers a high payout and doesn’t take much of your time to complete.

    Make $100 A Day Doing Survey On Respondent.io

    How ​to ​start a business with completing surveys with Respondent?

    The easiest way is to sign up for Respondent.io as it is the most legit survey site for beginners.

    Next, fill up all your particulars and be as detail as possible.

    From time to time, you may require to provide more details to be invited into some specific surveys.

    Last week I received an invite to participate in marketing research: $50 for 20 minutes of my time! Not bad as a creative way to make money by answering some questions!

    – Small Business Ideas For Men –

    Freelancing ​Businesses For ​Quick ​Income

    Starting A Freelancing Business

    ​Freelancing businesses that are easy to start for men are not limited to content writing, website development, social media marketing and data entry (to name a few).

    Before you think that you are unsure if freelancing business for home based is right for you or not sure what type of freelance services you can offer, allow me to throw you a question.

    What is the ONE skill that you have right now, that you can make money with?

    ​It can be proof-reading, writing, data entry, web designing, marketing, consultancy and many more. All of these are marketable in the freelance world.

    ​The concept of freelancing works because anyone can be a freelancer (zero investment) and business owners can save money when hiring freelancers.

    ​How to get ​started with freelancing?

    1

    ​Create an account

    ​There are many freelance platforms that you can choose from and most of them are free to join. I recommend you to choose either Freelancer or UpWork as both of these sites have high and great reputation.

    ​2

    ​Creating a professional portfolio

    ​Branding yourself professional is critical. Your portfolio doesn’t need to be like 10 pages long, but it has to be detailed enough to convince potential customers to discuss the project with you.

    ​3

    ​Bid for projects

    ​The last step is to bid for projects. There are several things you need to take into consideration. For example,the bidding pricing, number of bidders (overall), number of high value bidders (great in reviews) and entire project length will affect your bidding price. Therefore, try to outbid your competitors as much as you can to secure the project.

    ​Freelancing is a great small business idea for men and you can easily make $50 a day from freelancing as long as you constantly deliver and perform.

    Paid Content ​Delivery ​Services

    Start A Subscription Business

    If you are looking for a small business idea for men to earn money, consider using paid content delivery services. For starters, it is an easy business to start with little to no hardship at all.

    The whole concept relates to delivering critical information to a segment of the audience who are willing to pay for it. The information can be related to stock prices, cryptocurrency news and other important information that will impact their success.

    ​You can easily start this small idea for home business by sharing information that you are extremely familiar about (and not many who knows it)

    ​​Education and information are two important segments that people are willing to spend money on. You should leverage this by creating a paid content delivery that you send out a daily/weekly basis while charging a flat fee for it.

    ​Apart from having informative content, you should also use an affordable email marketing solution to ensure that emails are delivered at the right time without fail.

    I recommend you to start with AWeber or ConvertKit as both are extremely ​reliable when it comes to deliverying paid content via emails.

    Building And Selling ​Online Courses

    Sell Online Courses

    ​Online courses relate very closely to the freelancing business idea. The majority of people are willing to pay a little price for information. This business idea for men is proven with the launched of online courses platforms such as Udemy, Teachable and Skillshare.

    Do you know that you can validate an online course idea by starting with a free Teachable account? It allows you to sign up for 10 students (without charge) and you can use this to validate your golden idea.

    People had been spending thousands of dollars on education every year and make no mistake as you are never too old to learn something.

    Imagine you are teaching an online course on the Spanish language for $19. You are required to upload the content only once and the course will be available to everyone until you decide to take it down.

    ​This is a one-time effort for recurring income!

    Expert Secrets

    ​Do you want to share knowledge for money?

    ​Here’s a free book (you just pay for handling and shipping) by Russell Brunson, where he teaches you how to become an expert in your field. Click to watch the video.

    Starting A Freelance ​Business ​Consultancy

    Business Consultancy

    Do you know that an average freelance business consultant earns an average of $500 from a business consultation session?

    If you are knowledgeable in business and marketing, there is a good chance that business consultancy can be one of the best businesses to start in 2021 for men!

    I even started up a digital marketing agency to help entrepreneurs and small business owners with marketing-related matters.

    What is it needed to start a freelance business consultancy?

    • ​Find a problem that is constantly faced by local businesses ​
    • Create a solution that solves the problem ​
    • Outreach to local business owners (or whoever your target audience is) and promote the services

    Once you have your business consultancy running, you may also consider turning the business ideas into a much larger scale—such as starting your own consultancy agency.

    A good example is Neil Patel. He started Crazy Egg as a case study and when it is massively successful, he launched Neil Patel’s Agency which made him responsible for the success of several billion dollar companies around the world.

    ​How do you price your consultancy business?

    ​I often go 25 to 50% of the full price of what established companies are during my target area. Pricing your rates at least half of your competitors will give you a huge edge and is a great way to build your reputation. From there on, go with a 3 to 10% increase year on year for a higher profit.

    Of course, this business idea is all about profit. So, feel free to put a price based on the location you are in. Not two places are the same!

    Starting a consultancy business from home takes time and effort. You will always need to have a strong understanding of the market conditions and how you can position yourself when competing with the bigger boys (larger consultancy businesses in your area).

    Video ​Club ​Business

    If you are a movie addict and collect movies, you can easily run a video club business right from your backyard.

    The market for video club is very competitive but there is still an avalanche of clients that you can attract.

    Video Club Business

    ​The idea of a successful video club business is that you have got to have the latest collection of movies so that you do not come across as stereotyped.

    Important note: Video club may not be a good profitable business beyond 2021 as Netflix and other online streaming services are taking over the industry. However, if you want to stay afloat and use this as a part time gig, this can be a good strategy to create a passive income stream.

    ​Make Money With Airbnb Business

    How To Start Hosting On Airbnb

    Do you have a spare room to spare or property to rent?

    Well, most of us do – seriously. If you don’t need the spare room or the extra space, you can easily put it for rent on Airbnb. Renting an unused place is a great way to make some extra money for your rent or mortgage.

    In order to make money quickly in every sale, it is important to ensure that you work with a cleaning company to get your house clean and nice after every stay. Sure, if you can also clean yourself if you want to increase the profits.

    ​Note from the editor

    ​Make sure you are in the state or country where it is legal to become an Airbnb host.

    ​Start Up A Cleaning Business

    Cleaning Services Biz

    ​If you love to clean stuff or like to see things spic and span, then you can look at starting a cleaning business.

    ​Putting the cleaning matter into context, everyone loves to have a clean place to stay and work. Having a business in the cleaning niche could easily be the best small business ideas for men.

    Wait, men?!

    Now, hear me out on this. You may run a cleaning business as an owner and don’t have to be cleaner yourself! Or, you can be the middle person to arrange the cleaning services and get a cut from it.

    How to get sales for my cleaning business?

    Social media such as Facebook Groups is a great way to boost leads and sales for cleaning businesses. All you need to do is be honest and less salesy. If the business is just starting up, you may even offer free trials or a discounted price to get some quick sales.

    Now, do you think that this is a simple way to start a project on the side?

    Freelance Graphic ​Designer

    Graphic Designer Gig

    ​Graphic designers are very popular and in-demand occupation. ​You can make quite decent money just by doing freelance graphic designer.

    While graphic designing is one of the most popular small business ideas for men, not everyone is successful being a graphic designer.

    For starters, you need to have a passion for graphic. By combining passion with the right graphic creation tools, you can start your freelance graphic design company.

    ​Here is a list of tools for freelance graphic designer:

    • ​Adobe Photoshop
    • ​Canva
    • ​PicMonkey
    • Burst by Shopify
    • Unsplash
    • ​Gratisography

    ​On average a freelance graphic designer makes around $30 to $100 per project. Graphic design is one of those small businesses ideas that you can work from home (all you need is a computer and Internet connection).

    Not bad for a side gig, right?

    If you are looking to create great graphic works without spending much money on tools, I recommend you to use Crello or Canva as the pro versions are much cheaper and affordable. Plus, there is lower learning curve which means that you can easily create more artwork while learning the trade.

    Freelance ​Content ​Writer

    Content Writer Biz

    Do you have a flair in pen and writing? If yes, freelance content writing might be a great business to start up in 2021.

    Content writing is simple and in most cases, it is one of the most lucrative side business you can do at home. In today’s work from home gig, content writers are making rather decent especially with the current pandemic. Anyone who start a business knows that they need great content writers to craft the best content forward.

    On average, a ​freelance content writer earns anywhere between $10 to $500 per content (depends on experience and length of the content).

    Plus, you can make money by offering a full website writing service too!

    Did you know that content writing is one of the best side hustle jobs when it comes to home based businesses? I know many people who started freelance writing and ended up making it a permanent gig from home.

    Sure, not content writing is not for everyone but it is by far my favorite profitable side business that you can start with minimum investment.

    How to start a freelance writing service with no investment?

    Sign up for freelance writing sites such as UpWork and you will well on your way to making some decent money (with some writing skills under wraps).

    Data ​Entry ​Works

    Data Entry Freelance Works

    No, data entry is not for women entirely. Data entry works can be a good fit for you if you ​are looking for a straightforward side hustle that doesn’t take a lot of your time and has zero startup investment.

    The best part about data entry is that you don’t need any skills, literally. All you need is basic computer knowledge and decent typing skills.

    ​There are many companies hiring data entry workers and on average, you can earn around $10 to $50 per hour depending on the type of data entry work you are doing.

    What does data entry work involve?

    I’m glad you asked! Data entry is all about taking data from one location or source and input it into another. One of the most common examples is taking data from Google and input them into an Excel sheet.

    If you think that this is a super easy job, you are right! Data entry is easy and I know this is one of those excellent ideas for men who want to make some money at home.

    On average, data entry will earn you around $10 to $30 per hour, depending on the complexity of the task.

    Translating ​Business

    Translating Biz Services

    If you are able to converse in more than one language, translating business is one of those perfect at home business ideas for you!

    ​The translating business can range from translating a document, content or even spoken language. Translating business is another popular side business idea for men because the demand is extremely high.

    ​Did you know?

    ​There are 7,106 living languages in the world today. How many languages ​are you well versed in?

    Not many people go into the translation business because they don’t see the potential in making money from it. Trust me when I tell you this.

    Translation business is one of the top starting business you can do it from the comfort of your own home without spending any money.

    Translation work doesn’t involve any expensive gadgets or tools. All you need is knowledge and of course, some persistence.

    Web​site Development

    Web Development Projects At Home

    ​Most web developers will build incredibly valuable skills that are in extremely high demand especially in the digital age that we are living in now.

    ​If you have interest in web development, here are 45 places that you can learn ​coding for free.

    But wait!

    What if you just want to start a web development business from home and build passive income from it? Is that even possible?

    ​The answer is ​”Yes”. It’s possible for you to build a website without coding knowledge.

    Here are three resources that you can start with.

    Freelance website developers make at least $80 per hour and a single project can earn them anywhere from $500 to over $3,000.

    This is an excellent business idea for men because the world is moving towards online and eCommerce. By the way, gambling-related websites are growing in recent years. You can try to create the best instant play casino and earn a lot of money. If you are unsure if website development is right for you, start with a part-time job and decide for yourself!

    Website development doesn’t require much business skills—all you need is passion, the right web design mindset and the ability to craft beautiful website layouts.

    Podcasting

    Podcasting As A Business Opportunity From Home

    ​I ain’t kidding when I said podcasting. Podcasting is the next big thing that is happening in the digital marketing world.

    If you can create a regular audience for your podcast on a specific topic, this is a great way to get sponsors and fund this side business idea.

    ​Top podcasters such as John Lee Dumas from Entrepreneur On Fire had proven that podcasting is an effective business idea. You can listen to his podcast here.

    ​Want to start podcasting? You only need ONE tool to start, which is a good mic. I recommend you to get this ​mic from Amazon (which I’m personally using it).

    ​Free Guide: ​The Best Podcast Equipment For Beginners (That Does Costs A Bomb)

    How to start a podcast business?

    Podcasting is all about having the right audience and the numbers. Most podcasters fail to make any income from it because they are not passionate enough.

    Podcasting is like blogging. It is a business idea which requires work, effort and passion. The more effort you put into it, the faster you will see the results.

    Related: 151 new business ideas that works in 2021!

    ​Summary: Small Business Ideas For Men

    I’m sure that there are many other small business ideas for men that you can find on the Internet or think of. However, these are the top 16 business ideas that you can start today (like close to immediately) and doesn’t cost you a whole lot of investment.

  • 5 Guerrilla Marketing Strategies for Cheap Customer Acquisition

    5 Guerrilla Marketing Strategies for Cheap Customer Acquisition

    When traditional marketing strategies aren’t cutting it or when you just want to make a big impression without breaking the bank, it’s time to bring in the guerillas. Guerilla marketing can be an inexpensive and highly effective way of promoting your brand, growing awareness of a new product, or hyping up an upcoming release.

    What is Guerilla Marketing?

    Guerilla marketing, not to be confused with gorilla marketing, is a creative (and sometimes unorthodox) marketing tactic used to create a big buzz around a product or brand. Originally popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book, Guerilla Marketing, the term, and the book have been used extensively since then to great effect.

    Sometimes described as the perfect bridge from online to offline, guerilla marketing is all about ditching the usual and thinking outside the box. This ain’t your regular promoting your business online type of thing. At its heart, guerilla marketing is a way of connecting with your audience in a lasting and memorable way, by creating a strong and usually unexpected impression.

    #1. Occupy & Pop-Up Events

    Occupy and pop-up events are key strategies in guerrilla marketing. These types of events bring the point-of-sale (POS) directly to your customers, rather than having them come to you. Although events may sound expensive, they can be done on a small budget if you’re able to negotiate free space, use an existing shop, or even build your own space as part of a tactical PR stunt.

    #2. Giving Away Free Samples of a Product

    Free samples are a surefire way to get your product into the hands of consumers. Depending on your product, this could be quite inexpensive, as one product could be turned into a handful of samples for potential customers.

    This strategy works for two main reasons:

    • People love free stuff
    • People often feel obligated to do something for you when they’ve received something for free. This might mean that they’re willing to listen to a short talk about the product or even make a purchase.

    One of the most famous examples of this was when Samsung decided to give away free Galaxy S9 units to the inhabitants of a small Dutch village called Appel. Using a slogan, “Appel Community Switches to Samsung,” they may have gotten under Apple’s skin, but definitely got some attention.

    Free samples can be a part of your marketing strategy at a festival or event or can be incorporated into an influencer strategy: giving samples to influential people to distribute on your behalf. Either way, your samples need to be great and need to give potential customers all of the information they will need to find you later.

    #3. Urban Art, Graffiti, Posters, and Street Propaganda

    Let’s face it, advertising space is expensive. For small businesses and companies on a budget, getting creative with visual marketing can be a great way to get the word out to lots of eyes without spending a fortune.

    One of the most successful forms of this type of advertising is called event ambushing. Even if you’re not having your own event, there’s no reason you can’t utilize the space outside the event to get your brand or promotion in front of lots of eager eyes.

    Businesses can get extremely creative with visual advertising of this kind, creating street art, outdoor installations, or urban hacktivism like Dublin’s Park(ing) Day.

    #4. No Deposit Codes

    Online casinos of all sizes are always on the lookout for new players. One of the best ways to get new players through the “door” is offering no deposit codes. These codes usually come as part of a Welcome Bonus (or Signup Bonus) and allow new customers to try sites or games without having to make an initial deposit.

    Two key elements made no deposit so successful. Firstly and most important is that it’s 100% free and has no strings attached and second, is its simplicity of use. Offering customers the option of testing out a product or service with no risk to them, while at the same time, costing the operator very little, is a great example of low-budget marketing with tangible results.

    #5. Sticker Marketing

    Sticker marketing goes hand-in-hand with giving away free stuff. With a great brand, an attractive design, and a nice adhesive, you can transform regular people into walking billboards for your company.

    People love to put stickers on their laptops, helmets, video game consoles, and street signs — showing off the places they’ve been or the products they use. Their possessions become a canvas for advertising your brand, a freakishly effective and inexpensive marketing technique.

    Cheap strategies that pay off

    Finding the best ways of promoting your business online can be challenging and, quite often, expensive. The benefits of guerilla marketing are its incredible reach and virality, although usually on a smaller, localized scale.

    The key to guerilla marketing is to get creative, transforming everyday spaces and things into powerful messages for your audience and brand. With the right message, a great location, and a little luck, guerilla marketing can help you to achieve the maximum exposure your business needs.

  • Online Casino Advertising Tricks that Work on Us

    Online Casino Advertising Tricks that Work on Us

    Aggressive marketing is an integral part of the online casino business. With the low margins and intense competition, the smaller casinos are caught up in a never-ending quest to find new players. And dozens of new websites launching each year makes things even worse.

    This forces casinos to put out ads that oversell the online gaming experience to a great extent. And a lot of it has got to do with the way they deal with bonuses and promo offers. While some of these tricks are benign, others can have real monetary impact on players.

    Why casino ads focus on bonuses

    Online casino ads are constantly vying for our attention. But they all face a central dilemma – how to stand out from the crowd? Big Vegas casinos have plenty of ways – celebrity shows, luxurious rooms, prime locations, restaurants, and other forms of miscellaneous entertainment.

    But at online casinos, what you see is what you get – hundreds/thousands of slots, a few table games and video poker, maybe a live casino room or two. And many casinos even share the game catalog, especially if they use the same software service.

    So, they have to focus on features that are not shared, especially those that matter to players. And bonuses matter to players, quite a lot. Everyone loves freebies and discounts. And this is what a casino bonus does to a player – give them a bunch of stuff for free.

    Virtually all online casino advertising deals with welcome bonuses – the promotional offers exclusively kept aside for new players who join a casino. But they only show a massive headline, like “$1000 welcome bonus” or “Hundreds of free spins” without mentioning the fine print.

    Here are some of the more egregious ways in which casino advertising tricks us.

    The bonus amount mentioned is not for everyone

    A casino welcome bonus is usually a match deposit bonus – you deposit a certain amount of money and the casino will match that amount by a percentage mentioned in the bonus terms. Now, if the ad says 100% welcome bonus, that’s accurate and to the point.

    But when it prominently highlights a particular amount as the welcome bonus, usually thousands of dollars, it is not revealing the full story – to get those thousands of dollars as bonus money, you also have to deposit a similar amount!

    If you make only the lowest permissible deposit to claim a bonus, usually $10-$20, the most you will get as part of that attractive welcome bonus is $60 or $100 max. To get the big bucks, you need to have some big bucks to spend.

    The bonus is saddled with high wagering requirement

    This is perhaps the most controversial of all bonus-related issues at online casinos. All promotional offers at online casinos come with a wagering requirement. It is a kind of insurance policy maintained by the casino to protect its business.

    A freebie or bonus cash is a potential liability for a casino. If they give it away willy-nilly to all, there is a huge risk of loss. Imagine a thousand players sign up and use the free bonus. Many of them will win cash while some of them will be huge wins. There might even be a massive win or two out there.

    All that money has to come from the coffers of the casino. And remember, this is money being paid out to players who haven’t spent much at all at the casino. This can lead to players taking advantage of casino bonuses for easy money.

    Wagering requirement prevents all that by demanding that you wager the money you win a certain number of times before demanding a payout. The more you wager, the higher the chance of the casino getting back that money.

    Some bonuses come with inordinately high wagering requirements, like 60x on bonus+deposit. Imagine this scenario – you deposit $100 and get a $100 bonus, you played some slots and won $300 in total. Based on the wagering rule, you would have to use that $300 to place bets worth $60,000! (60 X $200).

    This essentially means that any bonus cash you get will result in your winnings getting lost in an endless round of wagers. It certainly takes out much of the attraction from that tasty bonus, doesn’t it?! Many players have wisened up to this tactic – they are looking for casinos that offer low wagering bonuses.

    Some casinos have even started offering zero-wagering  bonuses. The easiest way to be sure that there is no wagering on a bonus is to use specialized sites covering online casino bonuses.

    No talk about cashout limits

    This is another rule that does not get any screen space on a casino bonus add. The casino may promise you a thousand dollars in bonus money. But sometimes, that offer comes with a $50 or $100 max cashout limit.

    What this means is that even if you win $2000 using that particular bonus, you will only be allowed to take out a paltry $50 or $100. The rest of the money is written off by the casino. And remember, this limit kicks in after the wagering requirement, like an additional step to further limit the amount of money you can gain from a bonus.

    Be aware of what is being sold

    These are just a few of the ways in which casinos can mislead you with their flashy advertising tricks. The wagering requirement issue became so perverse, authorities in the UK had to step in to warn online casinos about deceiving players with unfair and convoluted bonus rules.

    The lesson here is quite simple – do not judge a casino by its advertising! Do some research, read the casino terms and bonus terms thoroughly before putting your money down. That is the only way to avoid getting tricked!

  • Customer Acquisition Strategies in the Online Casino Industry

    Customer Acquisition Strategies in the Online Casino Industry

    The iGaming industry has become even more competitive in the last twelve months as the COVID-19 global lockdown caused online gaming traffic to increase exponentially. iGaming operators are always battling it out to get ahead of the competition and capture more market share by using different customer acquisition strategies.

    The top gaming operators continue to experiment with different strategies while the smaller gaming operators pay close attention to what the big boys are doing and then follow in their footsteps. We take a look at some of the tried and tested customer acquisition strategies in the online casino industry below. 

    Online Casino Bonuses

    The most attractive customer acquisition strategy for iGaming operators comes in the form of casino bonuses. Online casinos try to distinguish themselves from the competition by loading up their welcome bonuses. These welcome bonuses usually come in the form of match deposit bonuses and no deposit bonuses.

    Chloe Wilson from AustralianCasinoClub.com comments: “By far the most efficient value propositions at online casinos is the casino bonuses. That is the hook that starts the funnel.”

    The most popular bonus with online players from around the world is the no deposit bonus. Players gravitate towards casinos that have heavy no deposit bonuses. As the name suggests, a no deposit bonus does not require a player to make a real money deposit of their own.

    No deposit bonuses can come in the form of free cash or free spins or both depending on how generous the casino wants to be. If the casino is loaded with slots, you are more likely to get free spins as a no deposit bonus. If the casino has a good selection of table games, you could also get free cash as part of the no deposit bonus

    Match deposit bonuses is when the casino decides to match a certain percentage of deposit bonus. These bonuses are also attractive but require the player to make a real money deposit of their own to claim the match deposit bonus.

    Do keep in mind that the best no deposit and match deposit bonuses not only have a good bonus offer in the form of free spins or free cash but also has a low wagering requirement. A few casinos not only give you a no deposit bonus but also don’t impose any wagering requirement, making it easier for players to win and cashout.

    Social Media Marketing 

    Social Media Marketing for Online Gaming

    iGaming operators spend a lot of money on social media marketing and use multiple platforms to reach their audience. Social media advertising can be a costly affair when the ads are run on a daily basis. The top gaming operators who have big marketing budgets do not shy away from social media marketing.

    The top gaming companies have special social media marketing departments who know how to run these ads without falling foul of the terms and conditions of these social media platforms. They monitor the conversion stats of these ads and ensure that they get a strong ROI.

    Brand Ambassadors 

    Top casino and poker room operators have used brand ambassadors for decades to get their brand in front of a gaming audience. Over the years, top gaming companies have experimented with different brand ambassador strategies.

    Some brands have engaged the top poker players to represent their brands, others have engaged top sports stars and celebrities to endorse their brands while a few have experimented with using social media influencers and YouTubers to boost their brand presence and acquire more customers.

    The only way to test the success of the brand ambassador strategy is to engage different brand ambassadors from different fields and then measure the increase in customer acquisition numbers. This strategy is mostly used by top players in the industry and it takes a fat bankroll to be able to sign top brand ambassadors.

    Television Ads

    Television ads are one of the traditional methods of getting new customers but can be a very expensive affair. The top gaming brands in the industry do not shy away from spending big sums and advertising their brands during prime time television.

    Television ads continue to be successful for gaming operators but it is becoming more difficult to advertise gambling on TV due to the pressure from advertising and gambling regulators who are concerned about the increase in problem gambling.

    Gambling operators who have primarily relied on television advertising as their main customer acquisition strategy will have to quickly change their tactics, especially if their main market in the United Kingdom.

    Affiliate Marketing

    Gambling operators have relied heavily on affiliate marketing for years to bring in new customers. Most online casino operators continue to rely on the affiliate marketing strategy and are happy to pay their affiliates a percentage of new customer spends in exchange for them taking on the responsibility of marketing and bringing in new customers.

    Affiliate marketing in the online gambling industry can be a very profitable experience for both the online casino and the affiliate if done right. However, gambling regulators in different jurisdictions have started to crackdown on gambling affiliates who do not toe the line of gaming compliance.

    iGaming operators can continue to use affiliates to help with new player acquisition but need to be very picky about who their affiliates are. This is because an online casino operator can be fined by the gaming regulator if their affiliates are found to have breached gaming regulations.

    iGaming operators will continue to use the above tried and tested methods for customer acquisition but will also be keen on experimenting and testing new ones as the market continues to evolve.