SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
In the rapidly evolving landscape of affiliate marketing, staying ahead of trends and leveraging emerging technologies is crucial for success. Eugene Ravdin, the Communications and Marketing Manager at MightyTips, brings a wealth of experience from his previous role as a sports journalist and editor with UEFA.com.
Since joining MightyTips, Eugene has navigated the shift from traditional media to digital brand promotion, focusing on SEO, content creation, and innovative marketing strategies.
In this insightful interview for the Affiliate Leaders series, Eugene shares his journey in affiliate marketing, discusses the impact of AI and content diversification, and offers his perspective on the future of the industry.
He also highlights the importance of building personal relationships through brand-to-brand partnerships and provides a glimpse into MightyTips’ growth in Eastern Europe. As a panellist at the upcoming SBC Summit Tbilisi, Eugene aims to contribute his unique insights on content creation and marketing strategies, drawing from his rich background in sports media.
SBC: Can you give us a brief overview of your role at MightyTips and your experience in the affiliate marketing industry?
Eugene Ravdin: I’ve been working as the Communications and Marketing Manager at MightyTips since March 2023. It’s my first role in affiliate marketing, having spent most of my professional career as a sports journalist and editor with UEFA.com, the official site of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Initially, my role involved leveraging my connections in the football world and using an individual approach to boost our brand awareness and generate backlinks by securing partnerships with football clubs, individuals and sports media.
Since then, my responsibilities have changed. I am now focused on digital brand promotion. This includes creating engaging written content, individual social and forum posting, drafting and publishing press releases, applying for industry awards, speaking at conferences, and seeking fresh, creative ways to market our brand.
SBC: What are some of the latest trends in affiliate marketing that you’ve observed over the past year and have these trends impacted your strategies at MightyTips?
ER: The first thing that comes to mind is AI, of course. It’s everywhere, and it’s here to stay. Let’s just hope it won’t be a Skynet scenario. While it hasn’t impacted our operations on a strategic level, we do use it daily to help with research, generate content ideas, create visuals, etc. However, we resist the strong urge to use AI for content writing. For us, AI serves as somewhat of an understudy who can get the “dirty work” done, allowing us to focus on bigger and more important tasks.
What has impacted MightyTips the most, at least in my department, is content diversification. We’re experimenting with new formats like weekly sports columns and other “natural” sports and betting-related articles, employing a measured approach to SEO and keywords. We’re about to launch a MightyTips newsletter and a podcast. Although we cannot compete with proper sports or iGaming media, this is something we want to develop to engage new audiences and increase our visibility.
Another area we’re investing in is brand-to-brand partnerships. Brands are our natural partners, and while maintaining standard business relations in providing affiliate services, we also build personal relationships with their representatives. This helps us promote each other through press releases and social media.
SBC: Which affiliate marketing methods and strategies are currently proving to be the most effective across different regions, including Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and which are becoming outdated?
ER: Regardless of the region, having proper SEO, a strong website with a clear and convenient UI/UX, and quality content is always a good idea. SEO is our core tool at MightyTips, and the rest is not just marketing strategy but pure respect for your potential customers. Treat people with respect and give them what is useful, and they will eventually appreciate it.
If we’re talking outdated affiliate marketing techniques, then it’s spamming. Spamming anyone with anything on any channel. Besides the development of antispam filters and spam detection algorithms, bombing people with generic emails or messages does only one thing – it repels and scares away potential customers.
Posting obvious links to your website (unless it’s a backlink published for link-building needs) is obsolete too. It doesn’t matter if you publish them on social media, messengers, or the web; people just don’t like clicking on links. Think about engaging them first.
SBC: What do you see as the future of affiliate marketing? Do you believe it will be heavily influenced by streamers and influencers?
ER: One doesn’t need to be a prophet to predict that AI will play an increasingly substantial role in all our lives, including affiliate marketing. Not only shaping strategies but implementing them, perhaps? Buying advertisement space and social posts, scheduling publications and distributing press releases? I’m sure it will be in ways we cannot imagine today.
I’m not sure about the streamers, although streams are, of course, a format with great potential. What we see now is that micro-influencers are becoming more relevant. While they have fewer followers, their audience is highly engaged. I believe this trend will continue.
SBC: What role does content play in your affiliate marketing strategy at MightyTips?
ER: Content is key for us. With SEO being our core strategy to generate traffic, we have to ensure that our content is human-written, top-quality, helpful, and long-lasting, especially after the latest Google update.
SBC: Which markets within Eastern Europe and Central Asia are currently experiencing the most growth, and why?
ER: We practically do not operate in Central Asia, so I’m not in the position to comment on that. As for Eastern Europe, we are witnessing steady growth in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Serbia. The affiliate market growth here reflects the sports betting market growth, which in turn reflects the general market growth caused by continuous economic development and increased prosperity. We expect this trend to continue, and we have dedicated websites in Polish, Romanian, Hungarian and Serbian to cater to these regions.
SBC: What inspired you to participate in the SBC Summit Tbilisi, and what do you hope to bring to the discussion on the “NextGen Affiliate” panel?
ER: We want to make a name for ourselves; we want to be heard and seen. And what better way to achieve this than by taking part in conferences such as the SBC Summit Tbilisi, where you accomplish over two days what would normally take a month of writing emails and making calls? I’m flattered to be on the panel with C-level industry titans, but I hope my media background allows me to share a thing or two about content creation and related marketing strategies.
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Ravdin will appear on the “NextGen Affiliate: New Trends & Marketing Evolution” panel, taking place from 11:00 to 11:40 on Wednesday, 26 June, as part of the “Strategy & Growth” track. He will be joined by Sean Bianco (Co-Founder, GainChanger), Teimuraz Pataridze (Founder, Slotstate), Viktorija Ratomskė (Co-Founder & CEO, PartnerGap), and moderator Lasha Gogiberidze (Founder and Managing Partner, BraveRave).
