One of our earlier projects, this client was a gambling operator in Asia. They relied solely on traditional marketing methods for 16 years and had just begun venturing into digital via social media. A lack of knowledge meant they were unable to work around digital advertising regulations and the small community they built online became dormant.

We were introduced and initially brought in on a consultancy basis. Our discovery meetings revealed many gaps in their strategy and approach, but the saving grace was their brand had already built up a reputation and positive brand association.

Once a plan was drafted, we were engaged under contract following its presentation to their board.

While their branding was strong and creative assets aplenty, these had not been adapted for digital mediums – so the first order of business was a branding refresh. Following that, we assisted with the pre-launch, soft launch, and grand opening promotional campaigns of their new dedicated website. We went on curate and coordinate fortnightly promotional campaigns, a 38-day campaign for the Lunar New Year, and managed all marketing during the development and subsequent launch of their companion mobile app.

Throughout the engagement, their social channel audience was reactivated and engagement levels increased from 3% to a steady minimum of 27% for new content. Baseline organic reach had also improved from a 3,000 peak to 8,000 on average while paid reach on a low-range 5-figure budget achieved a consistent minimum of 30,000 with an 18% conversion rate. Sales saw an average increase of 12% during non-promotional periods with an added 31 to 37% hike during promotions.

Our partnership eventually ran its course once the in-house team were trained to manage the different aspects of digital marketing.

The longest and among the most successful digital marketing campaigns we have managed involved a client from China. Being one of many channel partners for a major player in a fast-moving goods market, our client was under pressure to find a competitive edge and rightfully determined that digital was the only solution.

Social channels had been set up and activity was consistent, however it was not generating the desired response nor the expected traction for sales and KPIs to be met. While their content initiative was strong, poor strategy turned away audiences. Those not lost turned dormant and engaged alternatives.

When we were brought in, there was no doubt that the winning strategy was to focus on encouraging and cultivating user-generated content. We were able to adapt the digital marketing strategy to the new approach quickly and devised a year-long promotion featuring a sweepstakes linked to the Chinese solar terms. Doing so allowed us to not only remain consistent with the existing brand aesthetic but also tap on local interests and culture.

The curation of strategically timed special offers on a rotation, together with monthly promotional campaigns allowed our client to double their audience within the first 4 months and then doubled again by the end of the year. This also helped reduced the customer acquisition cost from $113 to just about $99 within the same timeframe.

User-generated content relating to the products had increased dramatically, with 37% of new content being attributed to our client. Our client’s primary operator benefited from an overall sales increase of 61% thanks to the viral success of our campaign, while our client personally enjoyed between 17 to 38% increased sales from the rotating and monthly campaigns.

As user-generated content and live-stream sales have continued to mature, the primary operator has since been consolidated into a larger group with key channel partners like our client being absorbed into the collective as well.

This Oceanic client remains among the most unique of our engagements for digital marketing. Hailing from a heavily regulated industry, an active online presence across multiple platforms proved to be of little use.

Our audit of their digital marketing strategy showed that they were set up for success but were struggling to reach critical mass. Minor amendments were suggested for the SEO, social media, email, and influencer marketing strategies but channel partner development was identified as the key area of improvement.

Securing local channel partners was the focus at the start in order to increase market penetration within the region and set up comfortably for market expansion. The first local partner signed on soon after we completed the design of an affiliate and a loyalty program. With a history of strong content production, it was just a matter of repurposing assets into new, bespoke formats as expansion efforts reached Europe, Asia, and the Americas. With regulations differing from region-to-region, expansion efforts were naturally accompanied by the adoption of an omni-channel approach for digital marketing.

A combination of promotions focused on user-generated content and channel partner marketing with ongoing channel partner development circumvented restrictions otherwise imposed by regulators. Attractive affiliate rewards and compelling channel partner arrangements are what allowed the programs to break 5-figure referrals within 2-months of launch. In the first 6-months, 52% of sales were driven by channel partners. The decision to invest in providing ongoing support for the channel partners incentivised them to do well and accelerated the effectiveness of our client’s B2B2C component.

Towards the end of our contract, we assisted in the production and publication of a white paper on digital marketing strategies for heavily regulated industries, focused on leveraging the strengths of new and social media.

The guide covered the formulation of digital marketing strategies, creation of a plan and ensuring both time and resources invested into defined tactics bring tangible benefits to the organisation. It also outlined best practices for B2B, B2C, and B2B2C in terms of generation and conversion of leads using an omni-channel approach. Over the course of our engagement, our client’s Net Promoter Score improved by 4 points.

One of our more challenging clients was a start-up looking to enter the online gaming space. They were limited both by funding and product versatility. We were introduced and engaged prior to their launch, initially on a consultancy basis and worked with them to craft their entire digital strategy and implementation plan.

Entry into the market was a major challenge with established local competitors already having strong digital initiatives. The client’s value proposition was weak by comparison and funding limitations forced us to strategically allocate investments over the proposed 2-year plan. Since it was not possible to win out in direct competition, we proposed the use rotating gimmicks to build traction at the start and thankfully the client’s team were willing to experiment. Fortunately, the client had existing connections which were converted into channel marketing partners ahead of the pre-launch and launch initiatives.

These partners, plus the pre-launch and launch initiatives combined with a steady rotation of gimmicks successfully broke 5-figure user acquisition over 4-months

The client teams’ ability to quickly adjust and implement changes to the platform was a boon once our digital marketing program commenced. As expected, the numerous well-funded and informed competitors were quick to notice the gimmicks and re-created their own similar initiatives; however, the agility of our client’s lean team allowed sudden pivots as we re-aligned and made optimizations to our digital strategy. Early successes and traction allowed us to ramp-up expenditure in the months that followed to accelerate growth, cumulative total of just over 10-times the initial investment.

Development and implementation of new features per user feedback was another key success factor, with 63% of total user acquisition being attributed to referrals in response to positive user experiences and ongoing development. Management of channel partners and ongoing provisions of support also contributed heavily to converting onboarded users into long-term, high-value customers with an ROI of 21-times.

Gaining such traction and growth over the course of a year would not have been possible without the cooperation of the client. Clear and consistent communication channels were established early in our engagement and was fundamental throughout the partnership. Our scope of work transitioned back to consultancy as the client matured and eventually got absorbed into a regional group.

Another challenging client from the online gaming space was an established player seeking growth. Their position within the market was already solidified and their value proposition clear. The primary challenge was breaking out of the local market and tapping into international audiences.

Following a discovery meeting, we were engaged on contract to assist with growth digital marketing strategies. Their social channels, content production and platform development workflows were well established and ready to pivot, allowing us to re-align quickly for capture of the international markets. With the amount of localization required for success, the client was convinced that expansion of the operational team was only natural.

Teams were set up and a campaign was run simultaneously across Asia and Europe, each utilizing bespoke assets suited for their respective regions. Acquisitions soared with 4-figure referrals almost daily for the first two weeks thanks to a multitude of new user incentives and promotions.

Established competitors within the new region, some of which were under larger international groups, responded with aggressive counter-promotions on all digital fronts. Sales fell sharply as a result, as much as 84% in the just second month, as customers were lost. Acquisitions and sales recovered over 3-months as channel partner development took hold and high-value customers were secured. These high-value customers made up just about 7% of the client’s international customers but contributed to 51% of the gross wagers. The channel partners responsible for referring these customers were later engaged under a specialised affiliate program to further incentivise them and manage the relationship.

The development of effective and reliable channel partners was critical to our client’s success and eventually allowed them to penetrate the Middle Eastern and American markets as well.

Since then, the client has maintained multi-million-dollar spending on digital marketing each quarter, with a consistent year-on-year revenue growth between 6 to 8% and steady 6-figure daily active users on their platform.