In today’s online environment, digital marketing strategy is paramount to success, and the retail FX industry is undoubtedly one of the most prominent business sectors in which the correct approach to attracting new customers and retaining existing clients, and keeping them engaged in the face of burgeoning competition and high acquisition costs.
Indeed, many retail brokerages can safely consider that their highest spend is on sales and client acquisition, the cost of which is ever increasing, whilst client life time value remains a concern, especially in these times of low spreads and narrow margins.
In order to explore a novel and cost-effective means of attracting the attention of a potential audience within just six seconds, Founder and co-CEO of digital marketing company Blue Thread Marketing Ahron Glazer explains the Vine.
Three years ago Dollar Shave Club introduced the world to a whole new style of digital marketing with this incredibly simple, yet unbelievably clever, super viral video with more than 17 million views to date.
Companies have since tried to follow this trend, and many failed, but some succeeded. K-mart for example succeeded in creating a comeback with this hysterically viral video, Ship My Pants with 21 million views.
Today, if brands want to keep up, it’s not a matter of how anymore, they need to consider video marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy. Since 2012, we have seen an influx of video making its debut in digital marketing but now, video is taking center stage for a few different reasons:
SEO
SEO is not just the description of videos anymore, but also text found within videos can be measured for keywords and tagging.
Visually appealing
Short and simple, people love watching stuff.
Story telling
Video is a great way to express your story. Kevin spacey, in his keynote address at the content marketing world 2014, said this beautifully (I know he’s not a marketer, but he’s an excellent story teller).
Now in 2015, what are we expecting? The answer, video, and more specifically, vine.
Vine officially stepped on the scene in late 2012 but only within the last year or so started garnering popularity. People love using vine as an outlet to display their oddities, unique talents and silly moments. However, for the viners who figured out how to tell stories in their 6 second slots, many have found success and millions of fans and followers.
The reason why viners like King Bach have over 10 million followers is due to their creative talent to share stories. The challenge that brands will face in using a platform like vine is being able to maintain their brand narrative, while telling a story, while promoting their brand.
Not an easy task, but not impossible, and an essential consideration in an industry which has such high turnover as the retail FX business, which is totally reliant on online methods of attracting new customers, retaining existing ones and managing the high churn rate whilst keeping the cost of client acquisition as low as possible at a time when it is more expensive than ever.
Here’s an example of how large corporations are engaging this new methodology. Starbucks and Chrysler teamed up with Zach King, a viner with 7.4 million followers. He’s appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show and has created quite the name for himself using comedic magic and camera effects to express himself and engage with his fans.
In these examples, see how he incorporates brand promotion without deviating from his unique storytelling.
Other brands that found success using vine are T-Mobile and HP who teamed up with David Lopez, with more than 4.2 million followers, and famous for his character, Juan.
For brands looking to improve and upgrade their performance, move towards video. However, don’t assume that just because you put yourself in the hands of millions on a smartphone screen or tablet that you will see success; brands still need to consider that when shooting your video, the art of video marketing is to:
1. Share your story
2. Engage with your followers and fans
3. Don’t lose what keeps you authentic
Happy filming!
This is a Guest Editorial, compiled and written by Ahron Glazer, Founder and co-CEO, Blue Thread Marketing