Exclusive: Helen Astaniou appointed Interim Chief Marketing Officer at FXPRIMUS
After almost two years at FXPRIMUS, Helen Astaniou is promoted to Interim Chief Marketing Officer. We take a look at her leading edge initiatives that emphasize branding, optimization and value proposition
Retail FX brokerage FXPRIMUS has today appointed Helen Astaniou as Interim Chief Marketing Officer, following the recent departure from the company of renowned FX industry marketing expert Laoura Salveta.
Ms. Astaniou was promoted from her position as PR & Communications Manager, at the company’s headquarters in Limassol, Cyprus.
Since joining FXPRIMUS from IronFX Global in April 2015, where she was Senior Marketing Communications Officer, Ms. Astaniou has been responsible for emphasizing FXPRIMUS’ value proposition among retail FX brokerages, having devised some innovative initiatives.
In the early part of this year, FinanceFeeds took a close look at the development by a British company that is developing a virtual reality trading platform, however by the summer, retail FX brokerage FXPRIMUS had begun to put virtual reality headsets to use by providing educational anecdotes and references to the company’s services via the Google Cardboard solution.
At its launch, Ms. Astaniou explained “It allows you to be transported into a 360 degree environment anywhere, you could even be on the moon!”
Rather than offering a trading environment from the virtual reality headset from the outset, FXPRIMUS is introducing its audience to the concept via a series of videos which are specific to retail traders wishing to gain a further understanding of products and services in the retail sector.
“It is a symbolic representation of our services” said Ms. Astaniou. “We are using it to augment one of our USPs which is technology. This virtual reality system facilitates learning, and you can learn about products and services through it.”
“If you wanto learn about a specific point regarding FX trading, we have developed a video for it, which has different elements. This operates in the form of, for example, a virtual version of our Head of Research Marshall Gittler speaking and introducing, and then when he finishes speaking, a video follows that concentrates on a specific subject, then the client can go to our website to learn more” she said.
I am sure that people remember more of what they have seen via a 3 dimensional virtual reality system than if it had been viewed on a standard computer. In some respects it is how we all viewed Star Wars in the 1980s in that wherever I look there is something different, something moving” said Ms Astaniou.
In conclusion, Ms. Astaniou said “We have reached a plateau over the last few years with what are now widely accepted devices, however virtual reality is the way all big communications services are headed, so why not with trading too?”
This is a clear representation of using new technology and extra dimensions in a marketing capacity.
Recently, during a discussion about client acqusition, one of the key considerations for brokerages these days, Ms. Astaniou explained “Just as the only constant is change, one must stay ahead of the game by being ready to adapt, improve or optimize a campaign at the flick of a switch. This year we will be focusing heavily on reporting mechanisms for every facet of our marketing campaigns and business as a whole, so that we can fully understand our weaknesses and strengths, in order to continually improve our services and offerings.”
Image: Helen Astaniou demonstrates the Google Glass virtual reality headseat for FX tutorials
