Asian Business Matters #2
By Thomas Lim
Asian Marketing Specialist
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In these days, the demographic of the Asian population is changing rapidly. In the past, the only places with large Asian populations were in big cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.  But now the Asian population is more spread out throughout the country. In addition, you see smaller groups of different Asian nationalities like Hmong, Laotian, Thai, and Cambodian, at the side of high gaming profile Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean depending on your casino’s location. Therefore, wherever your casino is located, please remember Asian Casino business is here to stay.

I have many opportunities to visit casinos in the country due to my consulting business. And I was particularly surprised to witness that many casinos are taking a very reactive Asian marketing development approach, even where they have very healthy or the potential Asian business. Developing Asian marketing is no different than Domestic casino marketing; we have to develop & maintain Asian business with proactive marketing effort regardless of the volume of your current Asian business. That is the right marketing policy and rewards will support your bottom line performance.

The first step toward to developing Asian marketing is total understanding of the
nature of Asian business in your marketing territories, locally, regionally and nationally depending on your property location. Since the Asian population is everywhere and there are many Asian ethnic groups that exist in your marketing territory, understanding recognizing and identifying demographics of Asian population is must. Based on these analyses, you could establish your Asian marketing plans, strategies and goals as well as your Asian host language mix, and number of hosts/player development staff you need. Then, we could establish effective Asian marketing programs followed by developing your Asian marketing to next performance level.

Secondly, it is just as important that you choose the games which appeal to Asian players if you desire Asian business. Any casino needs to develop Asian market must offer Asian table games which appeals to Asian clientele; actually these games may be better described as Asian-preferred casino table games, like Baccarat, Pai Gow Poker and Tile Pai Gow (a traditional Chinese game which is found at major casinos where there is a large Chinese clientele.)

Another essential step is that your casino must have Asian hosts who speak the Asian language. Having someone who speaks the Asian language is a very basic marketing tool for developing Asian Marketing as well. There are some serious language barriers and cultural diversity issues with Asian players; it is critical to recognize these issues. Your casino needs to send a message to the Asian communities. That message needs to say “We speak your language”. Asian players do not expect Asian style decorated hotel rooms from the casino, but Asian players definitely expect an Asian host who could service them with their own languages. It demonstrates your proactive inspiration to service Asian players.

Another important basic is providing an Asian menu in your property. It is also one of the very basic marketing tools for developing Asian Business. Recognizing Asian patron’s dining needs is one way of saying “We welcome your business” and “We know how to serve you.” It creates a huge welcome to Asian customers. In order to effectively market to and continuously capture the Asian players, your property must create the high standard authenticity of Asian menus, environment and ambience that is necessary.

Finally, the core gaming business is providing a variety of casino games on the floor, and at the same time we provide a high standard of customer services to our customers. As we all know, Asian patron is here to enjoy themselves not be mistreated by anyone, just like any other customer. And understanding gaming related cultural diversity issues and managing language barrier problems will definitely help us to service Asian patron better. Therefore, some form of Asian customer service training programs will assist all employees: these include VIP Service, Player Club, Host department, Marketing, Tables & Slots Operations, Security department, hotel side and all supplementary customer service departments. Certainly implementing some form of diversity training program should not be ignored if you want successful Asian business. Without this customer service support from all departments, the best-laid marketing plan will fail. And training, educating your employees will definitely set your property apart from your competitors. Having different cultural background or not be able to speak English well or not at all does not make high gaming profile Asian patron any less a customer for our casino business. We must acknowledge the value of Asian customer services if you want to develop loyal Asian customers.

In summary, if you are not getting enough activity or you want to enhance your current Asian performance from these high gaming profile Asian players, please take proactive marketing approaches on developing your Asian market, not reactive one. Please remember, your competitors are enjoying the Asian revenue very much right now.