Elantil head of marketing Tereza Melicharkova offers advice on building an iGaming business from the ground up.
What marketing channels are important when starting up a new iGaming company?
There are a number of different marketing channels that all play a crucial role when starting up an iGaming company, but before you begin to look at the bigger picture, you first have to make sure that your website is on point. When you’re new to the market, this is essentially your #1 tool for communicating what your company does, so you really must get it right and ensure that you work either internally or externally to get a proper brand identity in place before it’s even launched.
LinkedIn has become an increasingly important tool for iGaming – and indeed any B2B business in the world – so you have to also set up a profile that will allow your company to hit the ground running. Beyond that, you should plan ahead to cover channels such as advertising, PR and social media campaigning through platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X and consider what events you’re going to be present at throughout the year and the kind of visibility that these will give you.
What is the best way to build up a brand from the start?
The most important thing is to have a vision that everyone in the company is aligned with. When you have this in place, there won’t ever be any doubts about how you want to be seen externally and you can start implementing a strategy for how you can achieve this perception – and this typically involves setting yourselves clear goals and expectations that can be managed internally.
Of course, you need to maintain oversight of all the different marketing channels that you’re using and ensure that you remain consistent and regular with your messaging. As your brand persona is effectively the result of all these channels working together, it’s important that your presence at events, appearances in the media and PR communications all convey the same feeling and send out a clear message to the wider industry that truly defines what your company is all about.
How did you help Elantil to stand out in a saturated and promotion-heavy market?
Honestly, when you have such an amazing team alongside you, you’ve already won half the battle when it comes to standing out in a crowded market like iGaming. I truly believe that any company is only as good as the people behind it, so having this talent at your disposal is a fantastic promotional tool and you just need to be a little bit strategic about how you leverage it effectively.
Basically, you need to be smart about giving the spotlight to the right people at the right time. Whether that’s putting someone forward for an editorial or having them participate in an industry roundtable, everyone is essentially an ambassador for your brand that can position you as thought leaders on any given topic. Our collaboration with the PR agency GameOn has definitely proved a great decision on that front, as has the work we’ve done with design agency, Boldbishop.
Is there a typical timeline for building a full iGaming brand from scratch?
I wouldn’t say there’s a typical timeline for building your brand, because basically the work never stops! Of course, there’s a lot of pressure on you in the first year when you’re just starting out, but arguably there’s even more pressure on you to keep that momentum going and ensure that you’re getting better and better every year, rather than stagnating and being stuck in the same position.
Those first few months after launch are obviously very important, as this is where you’re likely to see the biggest results. The goal is to gain as much visibility and general awareness as possible initially, while not losing sight of the fact that you’re trying to put down strong foundations that can be built off going forward. I think the big challenge is to try and deliver your best from day one, but also be aware there’s always room for improvement no matter how successful you become.
What is your approach to building a visual identity for a new iGaming brand?
At Elantil we always try to be unique – and creating something that truly stands out from the rest of the market is a big part of our visual identity. Through our collaboration with Boldbishop, we’ve been able to develop a logo and house style that’s not only striking and memorable, but also gives us a lot of scope to have fun and get creative in terms of how we go about promoting our business.
I think people will really see this creativity come to the fore at ICE in January, where we’ll be exhibiting at a 50+ square metre stand that showcases exactly what our brand is all about. On the one hand, the whole space has a cleanness that really represents Elantil’s efficient and modern solutions, but on the other, we’ll be adding a bit of fun to proceedings by hosting a marble races competition where the winners will receive a bespoke brick set to build our popular mascot, Elanbubu!
What success metrics can be used during a brand build and launch?
It’s always a challenge to measure success in B2B marketing, as quite often the intangible things are the ones that prove to be the most important. Having almost 4,000 LinkedIn followers after less than a year is obviously very flattering and being nominated for industry awards is also testament to the hard work of the whole team, but one of the best markers of success remains word of mouth.
Even though you can’t really quantify it objectively, having people talk about your company and compliment your brand identity is one of the most rewarding parts of the job. I remember when we attended our first show, I was blown away by the number of people who already knew who Elantil was and what we were trying to achieve. I believe having this buzz over your brand is still such an important tool in B2B marketing, even if it can’t be measured accurately.
How would you reflect on your first year of operations from a marketing perspective?
I’ve absolutely loved it! Being a start-up, there have obviously been a lot of challenging moments because the direction of travel can change so quickly. You have to be prepared to continually adapt to the demands of the market as well as operators’ needs, so it’s vital to remain agile and be ready to switch up your strategy as priorities move and new opportunities present themselves.
While this is obviously a huge challenge, it’s also one of the biggest advantages of being a start-up as you can swiftly pivot from one approach to another without going through any of the red tape that you’d find at a corporate company. So far, the feedback we’ve had from the industry has been overwhelmingly positive, and that gives us all the motivation to keep going and deliver even better results – so all in all, my first year as Head of Marketing at Elantil has been pretty stunning!