Edward Simpson
The financial industry was a little late getting into the digital marketing arena, but they have been quick in catching up. Well, many of them have…
One of the most common lines I have heard from companies based in offshore centres is they only have a website because their competitors have one too. They tell me all of their business is based on referrals and any new business comes via this referral network, often these sites don’t progress further than an ‘online brochure’ it is this ‘brochurial site’ which creates the first impression of your brand.
Well, things have changed. Your clients are already looking online to investigate whether they can get a better service for less elsewhere, and unless you are competing online you will start losing business. The moment one of your referral network decides to test another provider, your business will slowly start to shrink.
Due diligence is part of everyone’s working life these days, but so many businesses forget about this when it comes to marketing.
If you have been advertising in the same publications for the last decade, I want you to ask yourself why. If you can say that you gained clients as a result of this advert in the last 12 months (and can actually name these clients) I would recommend continuing advertising there. But if you are one of the many businesses out there who cannot say for certain how much business your advertising budget returns, I would ask you to stop spending now. From display advertising to professional directory listings, if you cannot show for certain how that investment has been turned into solid business for you, you are almost certainly losing money.
If you pay to contribute editorially to industry publications for “thought leadership” talk to me as we work with our clients to be their own publisher’s why pay to publish?
The likelihood of that article turning into a piece of real business is too slim. You first have to hope that the right person picks up the publication in the first place, then you have to hope that they chance upon the page with your article, and then you have to hope that they have time to read the whole article!
Let me save you time and money when I tell you that your website can be stronger than any industry publication ever can be when it comes to generating new business and better still, you already own the platform.
Too often an ‘offshore’ service provider works on a referral that has generating via say New York, to London then to say Malta. The large offshore firms invest in push marketing – sending out for example newsletters, content and so forth, this is a well trodden path given little or no response, if your ‘inbox’ is full of similar unrequested brochures/newsletters/updates etc then like our clients do, its time to break out from the traditional offshore marketing mindset, and develop ‘inbound’ marketing strategies…
Many marketing companies will tell you that it will take two years and a large investment to see proper return on investment from your marketing efforts. We present clients with measurable results and are accountable from the very start.
Our team have over 40+ years of experience with traditional and digital marketing within the offshore sector, we would be more than happy to pass on to you some tips to help you achieve success to boost your visibility online, no commitment is required!
Edward Simpson emds@finscoms.com
