International iGaming Growth - 3 Steps to Grow on a Budget

In the ultra-competitive world of iGaming, when a target market becomes saturated and a ceiling in growth is hit - it’s time to expand internationally rather than battle with diminishing returns.

However, pursuing the wrong international strategy can result in wasted investment and missed opportunities.

International growth for the iGaming industry is a frequent topic of discussion as new markets open up - particularly the USA. 

The question is, how do you expand internationally cost-effectively and competitively? 

As a digital marketing agency that has been working for the past 14 years with the biggest brands in the iGaming industry such as 888, Bet365, Betway, Paddy Power and many more, we know what it takes to grow organically in international markets without losing control over costs. 

Choose Your Market Wisely and Research Your Competitors Carefully 

For those that overextend themselves or suffer from a misaligned strategy, we believe that problems most often start at the very beginning of expansion planning. 

The main question that iGaming brands should ask when seeking international organic growth is whether you can meaningfully compete within the market in terms of SEO. 

It’s true that the US (for example) is a massive market to aim for, however, with increased interest and investments comes great competition. 

For companies with smaller budgets, there are multiple smaller markets with lower competition where the ultimate size of the prize may be smaller, but ROI is faster to achieve. 

On the positive side, there have never been more tools available to assess market opportunities for SEO-driven iGaming businesses.

That said, it’s important to use multiple SEO tools to analyse competitors and develop a broader understanding rather than relying on insights from any one platform - identify their strengths and weaknesses, and continually keep in mind where your competitive advantage is in terms of SEO.

Invest in High-quality, Localised Content From the Start

Localised content optimised for search is one of the biggest elements when it comes to expanding internationally - so marketers need to carefully review their resources in terms of content creation, delivery and sustainability.

When it comes to content ask yourself the following questions: 

• To make an impact, can you keep pace with content?
• Is your content authentic and meaningful?
• How equipped are you to change in response to customer needs and Google updates?

Considering those elements can really make a difference to your global expansion especially since content marketing is very time-consuming. 

Take into consideration how “evergreen” your marketing content strategy is and don’t fall for quick solutions to jumpstart growth.

Google’s updates are becoming more frequent, broader in scope and less easy to fix (especially when it comes to sectors that impact and relate to “Your Money, Your Life”)  - so investing early in high-quality content that is based on Expertise, Authority and Trust will most certainly pay off.

If you want to find out more about content marketing for international expansion, have a look at this article about content localisation written by Zhanna Zaytseva, Director of our sister brand ICS-translate.

Create Goals Based on Budgets and Outputs, Not Competitors' Activities

When expanding internationally, it can be tempting to mimic competitor strategies, however, it’s more efficient to set strategic goals based on allocating budgets according to outputs that are based on the market opportunity of your specific brand.  

Smaller budgets invested in a smart way can prove to be more efficient than large budgets invested unwisely so consider what is achievable on your specific budgets. 

To make this step easier here is our guide to what is achievable when expanding internationally depending on different budgets. ‍

1. Achievable on lower budget

• Technical audits - not automated
• A content calendar to stay focused, aligned to multilingual keywords
• Translation and localisation of fundamental ‘money’ pages
• Internal linking strategy

2. Achievable on mid-level budget

• Fresh multilingual/new-market-focused content hubs
• Base level link acquisition - topically relevant, and locally sourced links
• Lightweight, tactical digital PR to earn local market links
• Comprehensive localisation

3. Higher budget opportunities

• Local brand ambassadors and sponsorships to drive awareness and media links
• Comprehensive content strategy - planned and reactive
• Full-scale digital PR
• Multifaceted link acquisition - local and international publishers

Smart investment of SEO resources, matching them to market opportunities and assigning digital goals based on budgets and outputs can often be the most effective way of approaching global expansion.

Researching competitors using multiple SEO tools is often the best approach to ensure a holistic understanding of the SEO landscape. This is one of many crucial steps to identifying where your competitive advantages and opportunities are. 

Investing time into competitor research is essential to ensure that you carefully plan your SEO strategy. From there budgets should be allocated to outputs rather than mimicking your competitors’ actions. 

Of course, there are more elements to consider when expanding internationally, however, we hope that this blog post gave you some insight into what to think when expanding internationally on a budget. 

If you wish to find out more about international expansion or have a chat with one of our team members get in touch with us.