Sasha Boerma: Old-School Tactics Still Thrive: Nigeria’s Road Shows and Street Kiosks Lead Player Acquisition

Can you share your journey into the iGaming industry and what drew you to affiliate marketing?

Fresh out of university I was thrown into an Advertising agency (that specialised in Digital), working in client service and project management. The next 20 years were spent navigating everything digital (or so it felt).

Coming out of COVID I accepted a project management role to set up, create, and age domains for Affiliate sites. That was the beginning of my journey in iGaming and I learned what it means to fall in love in the industry. My passion was found.

How does White Label Casinos approach integrating new technologies like AI in affiliate marketing?

With user-generated content in forums, and casinos seeing a boost in SEO, brings a unique set of opportunities and partnerships. I firmly believe that chatGPT is going to start driving more traffic, and focusing a strategy, and aligning content to make sure you’re utilising this gap, could yield massive results and would be ignorant to ignore.

What role does data analytics play in your affiliate strategies, and how do you utilize this data?

Analytics is key when sourcing traffic sources. Keywords, GEOs, and traffic numbers are just the basics when taking a “glance”. Using tools (for example humble.ai – this is not a sponsored post ha ha) to mine and discover quality sources found in, black hat PPC, SEO, blog pages, etc, that are not charging the typical exorbitant listing fees.

Paying a high listing fee on the home page doesn’t mean it’s the best-converting page or the highest player value on an affiliate site. Having tools and knowledge on how to use them effectively, is what sets Affiliate managers apart, in this highly competitive environment.

Can you discuss the importance of compliance and transparency in affiliate marketing?

I am a big believer that compliance and transparency is everything when building strong, quality, and long-term relationships with affiliates. As cheesy as the saying goes, “You are only as strong as your network’, is not truer. So much so, I have even left a role (que readers heading to my linked-in page), as I was being asked to enforce questionable tactics on the operator side, which I refused to do. My relationships with affiliates are where my worth lies.

How does White Label Casinos tailor its strategies for different markets, such as South Africa?

Localisation and unique content strategy are key. You certainly cannot master a GEO from the other side of the world. You will fail. Get locals to help you craft and pitch a unique and fresh approach. With at least 11 different cultures in South Africa, the landscape and need for tailored and niche content is immense but provides a huge opportunity to those who choose to invest in it.

What trends do you foresee in the iGaming affiliate space, and how is White Label Casino preparing for them, especially in the African market?

Go back to old-school marketing. iGaming as an industry has relied too heavily and found complacency in player acquisition using Google SEO/PPC and social media. The latest Google update was felt heavily, resulting in a mad scramble for what players are left, affiliate manager redundancies, and the dark cloud of despondence. Resilience is key.

Old school tactics work, and a prime example is Nigeria where road shows and street kiosks are still the biggest acquisition sources. It’s time to test and for good old marketing backed by digital tactics.

What strategies do you find most effective for player acquisition and retention in the iGaming industry?

It’s simple “localise your content and strategy”.