Esports are exploding, and so are the marketing opportunities they encompass. It might have sounded crazy 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago, but esports is a booming industry that gets followed by millions of people around the world. Finding a piece of the esports marketing pie is an exciting new part of some businesses’ marketing strategies. It is especially effective when an esports agency is hired to make it happen.

What are Esports?

Esports, or electronic sports, are organized events based around competitive, multiplayer video games. The biggest events are viewed by hundreds-of-thousands to over a million viewers worldwide. Not only do they garner a lot of eyeballs, but they also keep them hooked for hours. The League of Legends World Championship logged 137 million hours watched. These are mind-blowing numbers, and they are incredibly exciting to any esports agency.

Esports are growing quickly. In 2019, the industry boasted $1.1 billion in revenue from media rights, ads, and sponsorships. It is estimated that this figure will rise to $1.8 billion by 2022. Brand investment makes up 82% of that total revenue. Many companies are hiring esports agencies to get an early foot in the door on a marketing opportunity that is more accessible and more international than some mainstream sports.

Here are a few steps to help in de-mystifying the complicated esports marketing world:

1) Hire a team

To successfully launch an esports marketing campaign, the first step for any company is to hire an esports agency. They know what they are doing in this relatively new landscape. Businesses must find an agency that has prior experience marketing their products or services in the esports market.

2) Know your audience

An esports agency helps their clients figure out their preferred target market. Figuring out desired demographics is the first step towards a successful esports marketing campaign.

Esports audiences are made up of mostly young men ages 18-34. They make up around 75% of the overall audience. Experienced esports agencies know how to target this demographic and create an impressive esports marketing campaign.

3) Know where to find them

Each league has its own demographics. Just like in traditional sports, different types of people are drawn to different gaming leagues. An esports agency will know the demographics of each league and will be able to help a business decide which league they should target. Esports cover a variety of games, including fighting games, first-person shooters, sports games, racing games, and multiplayer online battle arena games.

4) Target the Right Platforms

Not only are the demographics of each league different, but so too are the demographics of the different streaming platforms used to reach the viewers. Esports agencies can figure out which platforms will deliver the best return on investment for their clients. Popular streaming gaming platforms include Twitch and YouTube Gaming.

5) Don’t discount the power of influencers

Mega and micro-influencers are extremely popular within the esports culture. A well-connected esports agency can help connect their clients with an appropriate influencer for that brand. Esports enthusiasts and esports influencers have a particularly close relationship compared to other influencers. This can make a more authentic experience for everyone involved.

6) Content marketing

People who love watching esports also love to read about esports. Perfectly placed and well-written content marketing can be a valuable way to reach the esports market. Esports agencies should be well-versed in everything to do with digital marketing.

7) Be Flexible

It is important that a business stays flexible with their marketing plans. Esports amplifies this need. The world of esports is changing so quickly that plans might need to pivot just as fast. Working with an esports agency that is able to move as fast as this market is essential.

Marketing companies that are experienced as esports agencies are not as common as other types of marketing firms. They are getting more common as the popularity of esports explodes.

Esports marketing can be quite complicated. Finding a business’s target audience in the many leagues and gaming platforms is tricky. As it gets more complicated, any business will be happy to have enlisted a competent esports agency to figure out the best way to reach the right people.

Marketing, the act or business of selling and promoting services or products, is highly versatile and widely used by most, if not all, corporations across the world. Marketing is a broad enough term to cover many areas, such as advertising in print, radio, television, or even on social media. A term that is occasionally used to define the crucial components of marketing is called the “marketing mix”, which is comprised of the “four Ps” – product, price, place, and promotion. Alcohol marketing makes excellent use of the four Ps to its advantage!

Alcohol Marketing – What is it?

Alcohol marketing, simply put, is the action of marketing alcohol over a wide variety of platforms in an attempt to have people purchase the product! What makes alcohol marketing so interesting is its ability to aptly make the fullest use of the four Ps of marketing! For example, marketers of alcohol are able to exploit large-scale opportunities simply from the design of the product itself (for example, flavorful coolers with lower alcohol content); price promotions are used as a strategy to get more sales; tactics are employed at the place of sale, such as aesthetically pleasing liquor store promotions; and promotion tactics are used across media platforms (like social media) and through sponsorships of cultural or sporting events. After all, who hasn’t seen a commercial for beer during a sports game? How about free promotional items at a sports game or concert, like t-shirts with beer logos, hats, or even blow-up pool floats? Alcohol companies know where to spend their money on advertising to get their promotional messages out there.

Of course, alcohol companies aren’t the only ones doing alcohol marketing. Other companies can get in on the game by using alcohol to promote their own products or services. For instance, a company could have its own beer crafted and named after itself, and this can help get that company’s name across in a positive and engaging way. You could also have a custom drink made at an event you are hosting to ensure your message about how fun and exciting a company you are is hitting home. And the advertising benefits can go both ways. As one example, a Canadian bar was saved when the stars of a local TV series decided to buy it. They then began creating drinks and menu items from the show, and the success of their efforts boosted interest both in the bar and its new menu items (the new beer in particular) as well as in the TV series.

The Four Ps:

As mentioned earlier, alcohol marketing certainly knows how to capitalize on the four Ps of marketing. However, what is it precisely about these four aspects of marketing that make advertising so successful? To arrive at an answer to this question, the four Ps need to be discussed in a bit more detail:

Product: like many things, the design of a product can directly influence who will want to buy it. The designs of certain alcoholic drinks, for instance, appeal more to adolescents than adult audiences. For example, the design of the packaging used for ‘alcopops’ was demonstrated to have higher demand amongst adolescents than adults in an Australian study, which simultaneously showed that the alcopop design had a higher demand amongst females.

Price: promotions and discounts are an essential marketing tool for any company, including alcohol retailers. There have been many studies on the fact that consumers will purchase greater quantities of products when they are discounted if the discount applies to large amount-based offers. In fact, a study done by Alcohol Focus Scotland found that discounts and promotions offered by supermarkets on alcohol heightened sales by twenty to twenty-five percent! One can also assume that people who purchase larger quantities of alcohol also increase their consumption levels.

Place: the location where alcohol is sold can impact the volume and amount of alcoholic purchased. Factors that contribute to this include the accessibility of alcohol retailers and the hours that these stores are open. With an increase in the number of alcohol retailers and a lengthening in the store’s operational hours, more people can purchase alcohol, and subsequently, more alcoholic consumption is taking place. Additionally, the positioning and placement of alcoholic products in the store can also be an encouraging factor for people to buy more alcohol than they initially intended to.

Promotion: this covers quite a few activities, such as sponsorship and advertising. Alcohol is increasingly being promoted on social media, and celebrity sponsorships, PR-generating activity, and viral marketing strategies are also being employed to promote alcoholic products.

In other words, if you are looking for an advertising method that has seen sure success, alcohol marketing may be the way to go.