The following is a guest editorial courtesy of Charlotte Day, Creative Director at Contentworks Agency.
Marketing your brokerage firm is becoming more and more complicated due to constant changes to Google’s algorithm, ever-tightening budgets, rapidly increasing competition, and complex regulations. As a financial services marketing agency, we’ve experienced firsthand the many obstacles you may encounter. And, over the past two decades in the industry, we’ve seen (and possibly made) some mistakes.
We asked our team to share some of their most embarrassing stories that also left behind some great learning lessons. Below are some of the biggest mistakes runners make so you don’t have to!
Strategy… What strategy?
Niki Nikolaou, director of the Contentworks agency
On the first day of my first job in the Forex market in 2006, I showed up at the HR department for orientation and asked for the department’s marketing plan. They looked at me as if I was saying “what planet are you from?” What amazes me is that, so many years later, I still come across brokers who have no marketing plan at all. None. Nothing. Nothing! I think it’s like getting into a car without knowing where you’re going, why you’re going, the route to get there, and what you expect to find at the end.
A solid marketing strategy for a broker sets goals and objectives, identifies and segments target markets, defines the marketing mix, and measures success. Creating a marketing strategy is crucial to ensure everyone is on the same page. It should be accessible and refined throughout the year. I have seen so many wasted resources due to a lack of strategy or a lack of consistency with the strategy created that is then filed away in the back drawer.
Expanding into new markets before you’re ready
Charlotte Day, Director of Contentworks Agency
As a broker, you are always on the lookout for new trends and emerging markets to enter. A few years ago we worked with a successful international broker who decided to enter the African market (as everyone does now!). They did a lot of things right. They hired a local team, segmented the continent into regions and created specific campaigns based on each country’s profile, worked closely with intermediaries and went on the road to meet their audience in person. Their marketing was perfect, they understood the messages they needed to convey, in what format and channel.
Where did they go wrong? They hadn’t set up solid payment systems to collect deposits and allow for efficient withdrawals. And if a merchant or affiliate can’t withdraw their funds quickly, you’ll hear about it, as will everyone else on social media.
It seemed like such a small detail that hadn’t been addressed before launching a massive campaign to enter the region. But once trust is lost, it’s hard to regain it. Trying to recover a tarnished online reputation is also difficult. My conclusion is simple: you have to put all the systems in place, from technology to banking, legal and compliance. Once that’s done, you can start implementing the strategy.
Looking to enter new markets? Download our guide to emerging regions for forex brokers.
Throwing money away on advertising
Milton George, Director of PPC, Growth-onomics
In my experience, the most common mistake brokers make in performance marketing and media buying is not targeting specific markets and not allocating enough funds for initial testing. Successfully entering a new market requires a substantial budget to effectively test your creatives and offers. Spending just $2-3K is not enough to draw meaningful conclusions. As a result, brokers often spend a small budget, see no tangible results, and wrongly conclude that their ads or offers are ineffective.
Another mistake some brokers make is to start with paid advertising before their website is functioning optimally. This means having quality, engaging content that is branded and that channels the traffic received towards the next desired action, whether it is signing up for a demo account, opening a real account, making a deposit, etc.
A big, beautiful place that doesn’t serve its purpose
Nick Malekos, SEO Director at Growth-onomics
The biggest SEO mistake is the overuse of Javascript, creating high-load, low-user-friendly websites that are difficult for search engines to read. These are beautiful, custom websites with very little usability, which often need to be redesigned from scratch to make them work for SEO.
The best solution is to work with an SEO expert early in the process or redesign or relaunch a new website to ensure it is built correctly, rather than trying to fix it at the end.
Thinking AI can do all your content
Kate Palmer, Senior Content Director at Contentworks Agency
There are plenty of AI tools out there that you’ve probably been using for years. For creating content, AI can be great for research and idea generation. But if you rely on it to generate all your content, you’ll soon see generic, non-compliant content that can be incorrect and damaging to your brand. I mean, how many times have you read emails that will “improve your operations”? And that’s just one innocent example.
I was editing an article on how to use Japanese candlesticks for a broker who was clearly using AI to generate the text, my job was just to check for spelling and grammar. However, since I understand the ins and outs of trading, I came across some misinformation. I was telling traders that the MACD is a leading indicator. I can understand why this mistake was made as one might assume that “leading” means leading. However, in the world of technical analysis, a “leading indicator” is a piece of data that helps forecast prices. The MACD is clearly a lagging indicator as any trader worth their salt will tell you.
So yes, AI is a great tool to help you do your research, but final drafts need to be reviewed by a human to ensure correctness, compliance, SEO, brand tone, and uniqueness. Google isn’t too clear on ranking AI-generated content, but it is clear on the EEA (Expertise, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) score.
If you are looking for fresh and relevant content, which is crucial to maintaining visibility and authority, book a 15-minute Zoom meeting with our team.
Assuming your Forex marketing strategy will work for self-trading
Johan Visser, Financial Analyst at Contentworks Agency
We are seeing more and more brokers offering proprietary trading, either under their own brand or as a separate brand. The most common mistake we are seeing is assuming that what you know about your forex trading audience can be conveyed to your proprietary trading audience. A typical forex trader is looking for leverage, fast trading, high volatility, risk management. A proprietary trader is typically younger, less experienced and looking for education and support from the community. Proprietary trading requires less funds up front and takes some of the mental pressure out of trading. This means a rather different psychographic profile than you might be used to.
As with all your target markets, segment, research and get to know them. Here are some quick facts to help you better understand proprietary traders:
- Because they are community-driven, property traders focus on YouTube, Discord, Instagram, and other community-driven networks and influencers.
- 95.7% of proprietary traders are men and the average age in the US is 43.
- Again in the US, the ethnicity of self-employed traders is Anglo-Saxon 66.1%, Asian 12.5%, Hispanic 11.6%, African-American 5.5%.
- Languages spoken in order: English, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese
- The property space in 2020 was worth $6.7 billion globally with a CAGR of 4.2% between 2021 and 2028
- Regulators, including the CFTC, are cracking down on proprietary trading, so make sure your communication is transparent and legal.
Support from a 360 agency
Overworked marketing departments are prone to making mistakes. Having the support of a 360-degree marketing agency will allow you to support different areas of your integrated marketing plan. It’s a scalable solution that can work independently or as part of your overall team.
Talk to Contentworks about marketing for your Forex or prop trading business.
