Marketers fumble to esports, making virtual events memorable and using email to drive revenue
Watching other people play video games might sound crazy — especially if you’re of a certain generation.
But with the loss of professional sports during lockdown, esports has seen a jaw-dropping jump in viewership. Viewing on streaming platform Twitch is now at 1.645 billion hours watched per month.
Naturally, this has led to a massive surge in brands interested in reaching audiences via esports. The challenge is most brands are unfamiliar with the esports space, its reach, efficacy and how to connect with audiences in a market generating more than $1 billion in revenue.
Brands that are used to flashing logos on stadium LED screens are now struggling with how traditional marketing activities can be adapted to reach this hard-to-engage audience.
Lawrence Chan, the managing director at MyRepublic Singapore, says the key is to focus on engagement because people can use a number of filters to bypass logos or ad placements.
“If you’re talking about a gaming community – which is a surging community during the COVID-19 period and I suggest it’s going to be for the long term – focus on what you need to do to reach that audience. It’s a big market. And it’s a big base of consumers who are very interested in consuming your products if associated with the things they care about.”
Watch the panel interview with Chan here.
Making your virtual event unique — and memorable — starts with your audience.
For Marcelo Alba, lead events and experiences strategist at Google, you have to answer and align these three things for your virtual event if you want to stand out:
- What does your audience need, and what would be the most valuable thing for them right now?
- What does your business need most and how does it overlap with audience needs?
- How do you show up as a brand? Playful? Sophisticated?
Triangulate these three points and you will have a virtual event that is uniquely yours, and something the audience will value. Learn more from Marcelo in this interview.
Need help? We do live, virtual and hybrid events. Here’s what we think, and some examples.
Face it, email is a strong marketing channel.
Embracing email and investing in it for consumption and monetization is critical as you are investing in a channel you own that performs with real people, says Kerel Cooper, SVP, Global Marketing, LiveIntent.
And the proof is in the numbers:
New data from LiveIntent shows revenue is up 103% among shopping newsletters, 55% for home and garden and 31% for business.
While the data comes from publisher newsletters, the key takeaway is the same for marketers:
“Email has replaced newspapers and, from a digital perspective, it is the new homepage. It’s a smart publishing strategy. Newsletters are key to continuing relationships with readers.”
Are you investing in an email relationship with your audience?
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