Bullish Marketing Strategies for Online Brokerages for 2020 and Beyond

The commercial environment for online brokerages has never been more competitive. With an ever-increasing number of operators entering the market, this means having an effective marketing strategy isn’t just important, it’s vital for survival. There’s no denying that this involves a number of challenges but, if you can manage to overcome them, it could mean a bright future for the rest of 2020 and beyond.

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Ensure a steady flow of new business

New business leads are the lifeblood of any brokerage, so ensuring that you have a steady supply of these is key. But it goes beyond simply having data about who to contact. The more you know about them, and the greater the confidence you can have that the data is accurate, the better it will be. This is why it’s well worth investing in a service that will provide some B2B lead enrichment. At the most basic level, this will avoid the possibility of getting details wrong, on a more advanced one, it will allow you to create more targeted and relevant sales pitches.

Adopt the role of educator

While the emergence of online brokerages has undoubtedly made trading and investing simpler for many people, it is still a very complex area. This presents a great opportunity for any business to position itself as an educator. This can range from anything from providing a glossary of trading terms, to explaining complex investment strategies and concepts. This kind of information can be given prominence on a website, either as blogs or even part of an “education zone”; which can be gradually built up over time to create a comprehensive resource.

Maximize your presence on social media

Social media has become increasingly important for all kinds of businesses in all kinds of sectors in recent times, a trend that’s only going to increase. So, it’s hard to overemphasize the importance of maintaining a presence on all of the major platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Also critical is the nature of your content. This can include the topical and timely, for example when there is important financial news, or links to some of the education resources mentioned above.

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Harness the power of affiliate marketing

The growth of the internet has led to many sectors becoming crowded with competing businesses. This has inevitably led to a potentially confusing situation for clients who have found themselves literally spoiled for choice. It has also led to the rise of affiliate marketing – sites that list a number of businesses within a sector, along with a review and a direct link to the site. The affiliate sites get paid for each introduction that converts into a client, and the business gets a new customer. It’s proving to be a highly successful method and one would be unwise to ignore.

Operate a loyalty scheme

Among the features of a brokerage that an affiliate site is likely to mention, is any loyalty scheme that it runs. This is because offering clients an incentive to continue using services is a tried and trusted method of retention. While loyalty schemes undoubtedly cost money to operate and administer, they can be well worth it, especially when compared with the costs and effort involved in acquiring new clients. These have been estimated as being up to five times greater when recruiting rather than retaining. The scheme itself can take a number of forms, including reducing brokerage fees for valued clients or other financial incentives. Obviously, the more generous you can be, the more effective the scheme will be.

To conclude, keep things simple

One key principle that runs across all these recommendations is to keep your marketing plans as simple and straightforward as possible. There will be time enough to get into the complexities of trading and investing once that you’ve recruited the client. But making your offering clear and accessible is what is going to get them to sign up in the first place.

So, avoid confusing messages and make sure that you have a clear positioning. Do both these things well and the rest should look after itself  - not just throughout the rest of 2020, but well into the future too.