Engage with Dutch culture to give your company an edge in the Netherlands
TBD.Media performance marketing manager Dennis ter Harmsel urges online gambling operators to look beyond the stereotypes when entering the market from October
The Netherlands, Holland, the Lowlands. Home of billions of bicycles, wooden clogs, real cheese, windmills, ‘coffee’ shops and of course endless fields of tulips. Although some of these stereotypes are true, there is a lot more to Dutch culture than meets the eye.
As we all know in gambling, a sure thing doesn’t exist. But with the country’s new gambling act in mind, here are a list of takeaways to consider for your marketing strategy on how to attract, convert and keep Dutch players.
Kijken, kijken, niet kopen
Historically speaking, the Dutch love to drive a hard bargain and try something before they invest in it. That doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. It depends on the way you look at it. You can either go for the ‘special price my friend’ tactic or try to be more creative and go for a more appealing way of selling your product or service. If you look at Dutch shop displays, you will notice the many Dutch variations of ‘free’, ‘trial’, ‘sample’ and ‘discount’.
Bear in mind that Dutch loyalty doesn’t come cheap. Investing in a free-to-play game, no-deposit offer, cashback campaigns or reward programme should all be something to look into.
Going Dutch
Tikkie, an app created for splitting the bills and sending payment requests to your friends, has been ranked as a popular app store pick for years. Does this mean Dutch people are cheap? Not always. It does mean that the Dutch take their finances seriously and love to remain in control of their bills.
When creating a marketing campaign or bonus, it’s worth the extra effort to triple check your T&Cs, because if there are any flaws, there is a good chance of being exploited. Never underestimate a Dutch bonus hunter.
Dutch is the same as Deutsch
Not everyone in the Netherlands has a natural gift for languages, but for the sake of this article, let’s assume everyone in the Netherlands is fluent in English and German. Does this imply that the Dutch are keen on being addressed in German or English? No. At the end of the day, even the Dutch feel love for their culture, language and country – maybe not as much as some countries, but still.
So how do you use this in your marketing strategy? Well, instead of trying to utilise Dutch symbols such as clogs, windmills and tulips in your branding, you could focus on what the culture is actually about and what the symbols represent in terms of cultural value. It will be worth investing in localising your product to prevent having a Dutchy conversation.
‘17 million experts’
A true story: the Dutch flew an airplane over the national team’s training ground to express their wish to play a 4-3-3 formation during Euro 2020 ahead of the manager’s 5-2-1-2. What does this tell us about the Dutch? They tend to be direct and speak freely without asking permission to do so. If it comes down to tactics, strategy or even an opinion about your everyday topic, be prepared to be advised or told what to do. On the bright side, this advice tends to be given for free.
Adding an element of skill and status to this discussion by awarding them with something to brag about could be a winning combination for your product and branding.
Everyone wears orange
The Dutch are obsessed with the colour orange. It only takes a royal birthday, or any type of sport event, and the inner orange lion reveals itself. Focusing on national and local events will be a must if you want to get on board with that true Dutch fever. It takes a lot more than adding a few orange buttons to a landing page. The colour orange has a long history, but I will not bore you with it.
The Netherlands is a progressive country
The Dutch pride themselves as being open minded, social and part of the best multicultural country in the world. While that does sound appealing, it’s not entirely true. The Dutch may have a positive attitude towards life, but at its core the Dutch are self-centred. They are goal getters, quality focused and picky when it comes to jobs, friends and pretty much everything else. That applies to cultural habits as well. What’s theirs is theirs and they will make sure to keep it that way.
Instead of complaining about this egocentric behaviour, why not implement it within your marketing strategy? If you allow the Dutch to ‘invest’ in your product and make it their own, there is a good chance that they will stick around for another day.
Search
From an SEO perspective, pretty much all the operators must start from scratch. Opportunities will be out there, even for operators, although it’s likely that affiliates will scoop up the majority of relevant (long tail) keywords. Getting a proper SEO and content strategy in place and investing in a competitive affiliate management programme will be a must.
Dennis ter Harmsel lives in Groningen and is a performance marketing manager for digital marketing agency TBD.Media, which specialises in player engagement and acquisition. Ter Harmsel boasts more than a decade of experience in digital and igaming having run affiliate programmes and performance marketing campaigns for many global gambling operators. He has also worked with one of the largest sports betting affiliates in the Netherlands.