Marketing of casinos: Educating the player on new technologies

Zavalía pointed, in first place, the importance of the joint work between the operator and the manufacturers, and in the second place, the marketing of slots and not of the casino itself: how to attract players and how to teach them to play.

“We need the providers to bring solutions and to get involved in our business and that they understand: there is another way of doing marketing. To be aware of the problems they bring us, they should bring us more integral solutions”, pointed Zavalía talking about the relationship with providers.

In an analysis about the public that assist to the casino, the speaker concluded that most of them are between 49 and 75 years old, are reluctant to change, do not speak English, develops an affection with the machine and are not willing to spend money to learn to play. In this sense, Zavalía remarked that, when a casino introduces a new slot, there is a need of the operator to integrate with the provider: “They sell packages of products each time more advanced but I always wonder: “How much do our customers understand those products, which are the ones that bring us profits?”

Due to the change of technologies in slots, the speaker proposes to create a school for games: “We, as operators, should break the paradigm: It has no sense to expect a change if we keep on doing always the same; real marketing has to be performed”, he assured. “What I propose is to develop a corporate marketing plan, supervised by both parts, to assure the profitability of the business and the compliance of the goals with game metrics”, explained Zavalía.

According to Zavalía, in the plan, the presence of councellors is key. “I need counsellors, not partners”, he pointed. He explained that his idea is to be advised based in real facts, such as market research, training of employees, field actions, promotions, slot schools, awards to visitors and free games. “They do not do that, so we, as operators, should ask them to do it”, he remarked.

Each new machine must be available in the lobby of the casino so people can play for free, because, according to the analysis of Zavalía,  people do not spend money to learn, to know how the bonus or the mystery are. “People do not know how to play and we do not teach them, because the need to put the machine to start collecting money is stronger”, he assured.

The speaker concluded by saying that, from the operation, they must set out solutions “that do not leave us out of the new technologies, a mix of products. Supported by manufacturers, we should develop a marketing plan to teach customers how to play”.