Brokers and new clients meet through many channels – search, social, TV, banner ads, conferences and trade fairs, webinars, videos and probably many more today and in the future. Yet, few of these top the excitement of a trading competition.
Brand Building Requires Time, Competitions Provide It
When a broker is serious about building a lasting business, he/she needs to build a brand with character. The more clients get to know that character in depth, i.e. experience the unique selling points directly instead of only reading about them, the more valuable the brand becomes.
Hence, at least one element in the marketing mix needs to provide the space and time for this comprehensive experience. It’s comparable to walking through a piece of real estate. Few people would buy real estate without the experience of walking through the property at least once and it’s ultimately the goal of every real estate agent to get prospective buyers to tour the house.
One of the most effective and efficient ways to achieve this in the real estate world is an open house. Trading competitions are the open houses of the financial world: You attract more Leads for the same ad spend. Admittedly, some people may only show up for the food, but even they may show photos to someone who becomes a serious prospect.
Competitions with Education Shed the Right Light on a Broker’s Brand
There is still a lot that can go wrong, especially if you have so many people showing up for the food and therefore cannot figure out who actually wants to buy or rent the place you are showing off. The typical competition ad reads somewhat like this:
$15,000 in prizes – 3x trading accounts worth $5,000
Powerful supplements and filters for trading competitions can be risk-adjusted measurements to identify winners rather than absolute rankings, an educational programme, a trading blog competition and special mini-competitions that require active learning on the part of the participant.
Why does all of this matter? It shows the participants and potential broker clients that the broker cares about the participants and that the competition is more than a collection of leads. It’s a meeting at eye-level for those potential clients who are interested in more than a Martingale way of extracting prize money from a brokerage.
Brokers Need to Partner with Other Companies for the Best Competitions
A great competition needs to be planned, organised and well executed, requiring focus, trustworthiness and reach. Therefore, it is best done as a collaboration between a brokerage, an education platform and a software provider. tradimo has previously organised a $100,000 challenge together with Varengold Bank and is currently co-Hosting the Tradable trading challenge with One Financial Markets, providing space for a trading blog competition and trading education.
