As the mercury rises and city workers scuttle into the air conditioning to keep cool, forex brokers should be turning up the heat in terms of marketing and strategy. Summer can prove a great distraction. But as traders get in the mood for a holiday, agencies like Contentworks remain poised to ensure forex brokers hit their targets. Of course, everyone likes an ice cream or two, but it’s important to keep your eye on the prize during the warmer months. So, summer in the city for forex brokers … what does that look like?
What Should Forex Brokers Look for This Summer?
Trade volumes and liquidity tend to be lower in the summer as fund managers and big institutional traders go away. One of the most famous sayings in the stock market reflects this trend stating: “Sell in May then go away – don’t come back to St Ledger Day.” This calls on traders to sell in May and buy back in September with St Ledger referring to a famous September horse race held in Britain.
So, what can you learn from this trend? And what should you be doing? Let’s take a closer look at some summer slump solutions:
#1 Don’t panic
First and foremost, don’t panic if business slumps. It’s to be expected as the early summer sell-off helps to mitigate the risk of keeping a trade open during a vacation.
#2 Stay social
Did you know that 74% of people look at social media when travelling? With this in mind it’s a good idea to stay active and relevant across your social platforms. Attractive offers can help reel in day traders looking for quick and cost-effective ways to continue watching the markets without holding long-term or overnight trades.
#3 Be a go-to source of knowledge
Traders are a dedicated bunch. While they may not be monitoring two or more screens, those passionate about finance will want to stay in the know. Therefore, becoming a source of knowledge for those in the industry is a great way to improve brand loyalty throughout summer. Giving people some holiday reading isn’t a bad idea either, particularly if it caters to their interests.
Top tips: Use relevant hashtags to ensure your posts are easy to find. Join in trending topics such as #Brexit as these tend to generate a lot of attention. Tweets with images as visuals can boost reshares by an impressive 34%.
#4 Prepare for September
Summer will come and go in a flash so being prepared for the upcoming months is absolutely essential. When traders return, you want to be a key contender for their money don’t you? Come September, summer is also a whole year away so you can start using content to streamline trading behaviours and educate your followers while they settle into a dedicated trading period.
Creating a content hub
Create a content hub for your website packed with useful trading tips and information. This is a great way to boost SEO and set you apart as industry thought-leaders. Your content should be tailored for forex traders of different abilities and be completely on brand for you.
Developing your blog
Having a blog instantly showcases your knowledge. Think of relevant topics and start writing fact-filled, useful and engaging articles that help to you stand out from competitors. Make it fun over the summer by sharing stories of employee vacations, charitable initiatives and fun in the office. Can you tie your promotions into a summer sporting event? If so then definitely do it!
Embracing video content
When formulating your summer content strategy, keep in mind that 55% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support. Video marketers also get 66% more qualified leads per year with the average internet user spending 88% more time on a website with video.
Tweaking your website
Is your website up-to-scratch? Do people know exactly what you’re offering? Is access to your trading platform simple? Use summer to refresh your website and get your web tracking approach up to scratch.
Optimising for mobile
Major brokers not only have trading apps making on-the-go trading simple. They’ve also optimised their content for mobile helping to tap into an increasingly demanding market. To avoid constantly remaining in the shadows and losing out to big names such as TD Ameritrade and Robinhood, why not spend summer increasing your mobile presence or developing your app?
Analysing data
The quiet summer period is a great opportunity to analyse your demographics ready for a post-holiday season segmented email send. When it comes to content consumers want to see, almost half (46%) would prefer an email over other content forms so it’s really important to know your clients.
Top tip: Don’t leave everything until the last minute. Stay ahead of the game and stick to a well-defined strategy.
Regulation Rundown: What’s Coming Up?
Of course, regulatory bodies never take a summer vacation. They’re always governing the industry, so as a broker it’s really important not to relax the rules. Things to keep an eye on include:
CySEC’s risk-based approach on leverage
Cyprus-based regulator CySEC is proposing a risk-based approach on leverage. What does this mean? Well clients with various experience levels will be tiered and able to use different leverage. To access upper levels, traders need to have a gross annual income surpassing €40,000 or net liquid assets of at least €200,000. Different clients could use between 20:1 and 50:1 on major forex pairs and between 10:1 and 30:1 on major indices. While it’s too early to say how this will affect brokers, it’s important to be aware of any developments regarding this issue.
FATF to finalise international crypto regulation standards
Many brokers have a crypto offering these days and therefore need to pay attention to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and their international crypto regulation standards. Under revised rules, customer information must be passed between service providers when transferring funds. This goes beyond the Know Your Customer (KYC) policy of simply keeping and verifying user records.
Summer can be challenging for forex brokers. Contact the Contentworks team for content marketing support during summer and the rest of the year.