Casino Techniques
Winning Casino Marketing Strategy: Database Marketing. Like any other businesses, casinos compete for the disposable dollars of adults, specifically disposable dollars that adult may choose to use for entertainment. Casino marketers are asking for a not-so-insignificant part of that entertainment budget. Your casino design must make it relatively easy for employees to move and work in the building. The Casino Journal noted how Walt Disney Parks and Resorts set the standard by setting-up “utility tunnels that allow employees to freely and discreetly move throughout the workspace” and, in turn, improve productivity levels without harming. Look for extra slot bonuses and casino comps. Play traditional slots with minimum features. Study paytables and choose slots with the highest payouts. Play at first slot machine you find at a casino. Relax and have fun when playing slots. Get frustrated or angered when you lose a spin.
You may (or may not) know that most of my work history has been in the casino industry. It has been a career that has allowed me to grow in my skills as a marketer. And though I work in other industries now, I often rely on the lessons learned “taking a gamble.” There are five casino marketing strategies any business, large or small, can adopt.
Winning Casino Marketing Strategy: Database Marketing
Like any other businesses, casinos compete for the disposable dollars of adults, specifically disposable dollars that adult may choose to use for entertainment. Casino marketers are asking for a not-so-insignificant part of that entertainment budget. While a trip to the movies with popcorn and soda could easily top $50 for two people, casinos are looking for that spend from one adult. So, how they identify and target is worth a look. In my opinion, few companies leverage a database quite like a casino. They have been collecting information about customers for years and are now able to leverage that information to determine who the most valuable customers are today and will be tomorrow. They have learned to understand the triggers that drive visits during targeted times. And, given the explosion of technology, they continue to use snail mail in successful ways. You can do this too! CRM and sales tools about from free starters great for small businesses to rock star business intelligence tools.
Winning Casino Marketing Strategy: Personalization
You’ve seen the movies. You’ve seen HIM. He’s the slick smooth-talking casino host. Wrong! Let’s bring that time machine back to the present. Today’s casino host is part salesperson, part customer service representative. The primary functions of the casino host are to create experiences for high worth customers by providing the complimentary perks that make their visit truly personal. At the core of this function is the understanding that casino customers – indeed all of us – want the businesses we patronize to know who we are and what we like. Years ago, I dropped a dress off to my usual dry cleaner. I walked in and place my dress on the counter as usual. The young lady behind the counter greeted me and proceeded to complete my ticket and letting me know when my dress would be ready. Notice anything? She didn’t ask for my name. She knew it even though I barely stopped there every one or two months. To this day, that little moment is still memorable. Jim White is vice president of customer experience for Symphony Post Acute Network. As one of the most innovative providers of post acute care, Symphony looked to him to create an environment that would differentiate them. Sure. “In the Medical Resort model that we have created, a personalized experience is truly the only way to differentiate yourself from all the other businesses that do what we do. It’s all the the little extra touches – in addition to the excellent clinical care we provide, that causes more people to recommend us and make us their provider of choice.”
Winning Casino Marketing Strategy: A Chance to Win
Ever wonder what makes people buy lottery tickets when the odds are stacked against them? Psychologists will tell you that our brains can’t really compute probabilities that are that high. They might also argue we mere humans fall into a trap of “near miss”, in other words, “If I was that close this time, I could be the winner next time.” But what about freebies? When 7-Eleven gives away free Slurpees, people line up by the hundreds and thousands. Whether it be free or a gamble, people want a chance to win something. Casinos understand this and build calendars of events that use drawings, free spins and tournaments to create multiple chances to win.
Winning Casino Marketing Strategy: Value
Anyone with a dollar to spend wants to feel they are getting something of value for that dollar. Casinos understand pricing and value like few other businesses. Thousands of focus groups have repeated the same feeling. Gamblers know the odds of winning are not in their favor, but the want to be able to play a sufficient amount of time with the budget they have. That’s how they interpret value on the casino floor. Additionally, casinos price certain food venues to appeal to that need for value. Value is not a dollar amount, it is the relationship to your customer’s wallet. So, as you look at your offerings and customer experience, think about those moments you add value and where you take it away. Sometimes, something as easy as using a POS system that easily emails a receipt can add value to a checkout.
Winning Casino Marketing Strategy: Community
Let’s be honest, when casinos came to the area, many looked forward to the fun and excitement. Few really believed the operations would enhance the community. At the last company I worked for, employees performed over 14,000 hours of community service in only one year. Perform a simple search on the American Gaming Association site and you’ll see example on top of example of how the communities were enriched by the hard work of casino employees. And, yes, I am aware that some people are unable (through their own control or forces beyond their control) to game responsibly, but this story is amount being a part of the community and encouraging your employees to use their time (and perhaps a day or two of yours) to be a part of this beautiful city and the surrounding parishes. Get involved. There are too many needs and I bet given the opportunity, your employees would love to get involved.
As a marketer, I constantly look to all industries for examples of best practices. These are the five casino marketing strategies that can easily be adopted by you.
The field of casino marketing abounds with smart, resourceful mavens. I recently had the opportunity to ask a few of them for their go-to casino marketing strategies.
A 25-year veteran marketing strategist Mary Loftness has spent a career driving the measurability of marketing and the need to track everything. Mary is ever-focused on yesterday. That is, she looks to beat last year’s revenue each and every day. She suggests, “Compare the similar day and look to creatively improve the promotion, special event, or direct offer to increase revenue. Keep a detailed library of business drivers each day with notes for successes and failures. Continuous steady improvement wins!” This daily focus makes big goals achievable as you look to improve step by step rather than through leaps and bounds.
USE YOUR DATABASE
My Casino Marketing Boot Camp co-founder Nicole Barker is a database and loyalty specialist committed to improving the industry’s marketing skill set to court customers effectively. Her go-to strategy is to create a unique program for the customers that somehow seem to be off the competition’s radar. “Every database, be it large and small, has a gaming budget tipping point. $100 ADT is that tipping point. Programmatically, your competitors set their player development (PD) sights much higher. Mine the doldrums in between $100 ADT and your PD threshold for your greatest incremental revenue potential. The players will be delighted. Your reinvestment won’t be that much. Moreover, long-tailed loyalty will abound.”
Lynette O’Connell has been both a co-worker and a friend for years. She is a fan of the classic Recency, Frequency, Monetary Model, commonly referred to as RFM
“One of the first places to start when leveraging your database is the RFM model. Sometimes, I also include Locality. These figures are critical in ensuring you are reinvesting in your players accurately. I have been to locations where the sole focus is on Monetary (usually ADT)” which does not account for the multitude of influences on a visit.
How to start? O’Connell suggests, “My first recommendation is to add Frequency/Trip. Why? Let’s look at two players: Player A comes in twice a month and plays to an ADT level of $100. Player B comes in 20 times a month and also plays to a $100 ADT. Which player is more valuable?
Obviously, Player B. However, if ADT is the only criteria in a segmentation matrix, then they are both being treated the same. To resolve this, I suggest looking into the database to find the average number of trips for your active players. Often, this is around four trips. If you have a highly frequented property, then it could be higher. Once you know the number, anyone below the Average Trip gets segmented by ADT, anyone above the Average Trip gets segmented based on Average Monthly Theo (AMT). With this in mind, you can begin treating the more frequent loyal players based on their true value and spend at your property.”
This is only the beginning. In addition to reinvestment, you can also begin to look at the goals of each of these segments. For lower frequency players, you may try to increase trips. For the higher frequency players, you could attempt to extend their length of play (since you probably won’t get more trips out of them). Build your marketing offers around these goals to entice the behavior you are looking for from your customers.
“There are several more layers to segmentation, but this is a good place to start,” continues O’Connell. “I always suggest doing an A/B test when you are making strategic changes to validate what is (or isn’t) working. This will further aid in quantifying and reporting the ROI you see from the modifications.”
THERE IS GOLD IN YOUR DATABASE
Your decliners and inactive customers might be your best source of revenue. For whatever reason, you have a segment of customers that have chosen to visit less often or not to return. It’s fair to assume they experienced something unsatisfactory in their past visits. But, ask yourself, “How much revenue can I bring in if I get only 1% of those customers back for a visit?” What if you can get 2%? 5%? 10%? This will take time and will likely be a test of your general manager’s patience. To regain this customer, you may first need to do an internal audit of your offerings, services, facilities, and staff — an honest one. Then, audit your competitors. You must identify both the improvements you have made since their last visit(s) and the upgrades you can make now. This should be done before you drop an offer in the mail. Once you have a new story to tell, then bring in your direct mail team to understand what the optimal offer might be. Combine that with the right message to see an improvement in this segment.
REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEONE
Casino Shuffling Techniques
From “across the pond,” player development expert Jackie Parker recommends a warm welcome.
“We can all agree that a high-worth customer should be assigned a host and immediately go into the direct mail programs to keep them coming back,” starts Parker. However, should this be the first step in the relationship we are only just starting to build with them? “We’ve become very proud of our industry processes and procedures, but too much reliance on automation can overshadow the value of a friendly voice. The key term to remember is relationship. Frankly, that requires a human touch,” stresses Parker. “There is a big difference between a direct mail welcome and personal one.”
Parker continues, “A valuable new player should receive a phone call within 24 hours if they met the threshold theo on the day that they enrolled. These top players expect personal recognition and to feel special; it isn’t good enough to wait for the direct mail programs to catch up with them.”
These welcomes don’t just have to fall on the shoulders of your host team. You can probably set up an easy report that can be split up between the players club staff, or anyone who would love to be a part of the welcome wagon.
Parker offers a second strategy: keep in touch. She says, “You want your player development team to remind customers of your casino when they are missing events or you haven’t seen them in a while, but you can’t just call and ask, ‘Where y’at?’ Hosts need a reason to call (RTC) because otherwise, the phone call is just a begging request to come back and play. You can take a strategic approach and include outbound calls in your overall marketing plan. For example, if you upgrade or add an amenity, then give your hosts a list of coded players that have not been in for 90 days along with a script. ‘Hey, Julia! I know you haven’t been in for a while, so you haven’t see the new seafood buffet! It is really special. We even have fresh lobster on Thursday nights. We have a special for the opening week, and I would hate for you to miss it.'”
Another idea Parker offers is to double-down on your inactive offers to previously valuable players. “Give the hosts a list of names and phone numbers, and a script along these lines: ‘Hey Julia, I know you get a lot of mail, just like I do. I would hate for you to miss your exclusive $50 midweek hotel offer. Plus! We have added a new Seafood Buffet that is amazing! When could you come in this month? I’d love to get you booked in.'” encourages Parker.
Online Casino Techniques
ANOTHER CASINO MARKETING STRATEGY? TAKE A PAGE FROM THE BOOK OF MEZCKA.
It’s not enough to know WHO your customer is and what they are worth. You must understand their needs and desires to identify ways to keep them coming back time and time again. Mezcka Marketing Research Consulting President Michael A. Meczka has worked extensively with a variety of perspectives specific to the casino gaming industry, including those of patrons, governments, regulators, operators, and suppliers. The consistency in needs and desires expressed by patrons over many years has been astounding. They need to know there is a sliver of a chance of winning. Patrons repeatedly lament the inability to spend the same budget in the same way as they have in the past. I recognize there is a more significant discussion here regarding slot hold and pay tables, but the fact is casinos are in the entertainment business. Are we still entertaining customers or just providing quick ways for them to spend through their budgets?
“In a casino… The cardinal rule is to keep them playing, and keep them coming back! The longer they play, the more they lose. In the end, we get it all.”
GET FOUND ONLINE
With over 1500 casinos nationwide, standing out in a crowd is a daunting task. Alamaphetic President Matthew Capala recommends a results-focused online marketing strategy that incorporates digital marketing best practices combined with industry expertise to get noticed. “The gaming industry often doubles down on traditional marketing media channels when the real jackpot is online,” says Capala. “In a world where 80% of consumers search online before purchase, invisibility is a fate much worse than failure.” Having a website – even one with bells and whistles – is no longer enough. You must understand the target customers and begin crafting the keyword strategy that is relevant to them. Do you know the intent of a customer’s online search? Have you buried the exact content they are looking for? Capala recommends you give your visitors what they want on your website. Answer their questions. Develop a robust content strategy powered by SEO and data-driven audience profiling and a keyword strategy based on their needs, questions, and concerns.
EXPERIENCE FIRST
Try this fun audit. Think about your customers and the experience you WANT them to have. Ask yourself how often a top tier customer should be able to eat in the buffet or the coffee shop/cafe or steakhouse without opening their wallets, in other words by using comps, points or offers. Now, ask yourself what about the experience a $75 customer should have. What about a $25 customer? Then, look at all of your amenities. How are they being utilized? Who is using them? An exercise like this will help you identify motivators and detractors. They will help you identify the opportunities to create a great, well-balanced experience for both your operation and the customer.
OPERATIONALIZE YOUR BRAND
Most casino marketing plans include a section on “the Brand.” This section might consist of a plan to tweak the logo or the tagline. Seldom does it involve making the brand consistent from the back of the house to the sign out front. Quite often the culture of the organization never makes it into marketing communications, and when customers visit, they may experience a pleasant surprise or a complete disconnect. Your external and internal messaging and experiences should be mutually reinforcing. Development of your brand should be an inclusive process rather than one reserved for the executive suite. When MGM Resorts adopted a strategy to reposition itself, it was more than an ad campaign. It was a story the company could tell consistently to all of its stakeholders. They transformed the culture first and then reinforced it with the messaging to external audiences.
There you have it ten easy, low-cost strategies to start driving revenue. Try one. Try them all. Let us know how they work out for you. Moreover, if you have your own favorite go-to strategies, let us know.