Marketing in Europe versus Asia
5/13/2009 by Jeanette Kozlowski
With experience in both Europe and Asia gaming markets, Dimitris Karatzas, AsianLogic Ltd.'s director of online gaming, chats about the latest marketing challenges and trends in both regions.
With a robust background in European I-gaming, Dimitris Karatzas has used that knowledge to propel forward his understanding of marketing to a new audience in Asia.
As AsianLogic's director of online gaming, Mr. Karatzas says he applies and adapts his prior experience with companies like Ladbrokes and Expekt.com to suit the Asian market needs. Most recently serving as the managing director of Winunited.com, a Malta-based sports betting operator, Mr. Karatzas has a firm grasp on many of the ins and outs of the bookmaking business.
At the end of May, he will discuss product offerings and marketing efforts in Europe as well as in the East at BetMarkets Asia.
I'm assuming because of government regulations, marketing in Asia and Europe pose unique challenges. What's been AsianLogic's biggest hurdle with marketing efforts in Asia?
Asia is very different when it comes to executing marketing plans. In Europe and North America, your plans are supported by tools and resources to provide instant feedback and updates re: marketing performance.
In Asia, most media use their own ad servers and are quite restrictive on what can and can’t be done. Communicating with media partners and affiliates is also very challenging here in Asia. It requires a much more personal approach: more of a one-to-one interaction rather than a mass e-mail approach.
What are some restrictions in Europe that stymie marketing efforts?
The ongoing debate between a single European legal framework about online betting and gaming versus the State restrictions is still one of the major obstacles to effective marketing in some European countries.
How do companies work around these restrictions?
Most companies are investing in their own marketing solutions. You need to offer the best tools to your marketing team to enable them to generate the required results each company in the marketplace seems to adopt a different approach.
What's one major difference between marketing to Asians as opposed to Europeans?
There are some key issues that need to be addressed no matter the origin of your audience. The likes of reputation, quality of services and level of competitiveness are important across all borders and continents. Also despite the European Union, Europeans are quite different from country to country in terms of needs and expectations, which is the same in Asia. To be successful, this country-by-country marketing approach needs to be applied.
What's the biggest marketing or customer service mistake an operator can make?
Underestimate the actual needs and wants of your customer base. Stop listening to them, and instead design a strategy that fits the company’s existing internal resources and capabilities, which probably will fall short of satisfying the customer.
Across the board, what is the most effective marketing tool right now and why?
This varies depending on the product you are trying to sell and the region you are targeting. There is not such a thing such a "golden recipe." However, when it comes to delivering effective marketing strategies with the right return on investment, then it’s always wise to start broadcasting your messages through established industry-related channels.
I recently read that Paddy Power is moving a lot of their customer service online. How can moving customer service online be beneficial to companies? How about for the customers themselves? How can it be detrimental?
From a company’s perspective this makes absolute sense when you are trying to optimize your operations, reduce your overheads and offer customer services 24/7. The issue that needs to be taken into consideration is whether customers are ready for such a service, or do they still need contact via other channels.
There is a two-way catch here. In the eyes of a customer services manager, it would be ideal if you had optimal control over your department, the effectiveness of your team, the levels of customer satisfaction and the actual performance versus the set KPI’s.
In the eyes of the customer though, all that is needed is an efficient and speedy response and resolution to whatever problem it is. A common, often made mistake is to treat customers simply as numbers and to take speed as the most important measurement of service. A company shouldn’t simply encourage a fast answer if this would influence the level of service and subsequently customer satisfaction. You should treat customers as unique individuals.