Marketing your brokerage without a budget

Let me get this out of the way first; online trading is a competitive industry and if you do not have a unique proposition or much marketing budget, chances you are going to get significant traction are slim. That being said, being creative and resourceful can get you a long way. So, let’s get started with some of my tips (in no particular order) for bootstrapping a brokerages’ marketing.

1: Be active on Forums

Some companies get significant business from being active on forums related to trading. While being spammy or trying to influence people under the radar will most likely get you in trouble, a genuinely helpful presence on forums can go a long way.

2: Interact on Social Media

While organic reach on social media is on the decline (ie companies need to buy their way to peoples’ feeds), much can still be done on social media to get in front of potential customers. In specific, go for interaction instead of just pushing out messages. Any personal interaction that is perceived to be helpful will go a long way towards getting attention

3: Find affiliates and introducing brokers

With a good affiliate program and similar great conditions for introducing brokers to work with you, you might be able to get in business without the initial outlay. This costs you in terms of margin, but lowers your risk and budget required. The best affiliates, in my opinion, are those that own and operate their own publishing operation (so industry sites). They might be hard to convince to work with you on this basis though.

4: Run a small retargeting campaign

Retargeting with vendors such as Adroll is easy and cheap in terms of total outlay. If you have a small budget, you need to make every cent count, and retargeting those people that have visited your site with banner advertising is a good way to increase conversion.

5: Build links to your site

Getting some links to your site means you might get visitors from those links and when your SEO value increases, from Google. Ask to include your site in all free broker listings, financial directory sites and industry resource pages.

6: Write lots of good content

Good content can show your target audience that you are to be trusted and know what you are talking about. Writing and producing good content (videos for instance) can be done on a shoestring budget as long as you put in the time. Post this content on industry sites if you can, and of course also on your own sites and social media.

Those are just some of the tactics brokers on a shoestring budget can use to get in front of potential customers. Have some additions or comments? Leave a comment below.