Marketers Pounce on the Opportunity to Pinch Competitors' Clients during Times of Difficulty

The World Wide Web has changed the world for the better, with access to news and information at our fingertips. The same notion has been transferred to the world of advertising, online marketing channels allow firms to take advantage of events in real-time, and the practise is being used by certain FX and CFD brokers who are looking to seize the current opportunity of vulnerability in the financial markets space. Forex Magnates' research shows that brokers are competing against troubled providers in a bid to redirect their clients to a new abode.

News of IG and FXCM facing considerable losses during the midst of the crisis, and Alpari UK's insolvency, has been welcomed by some broker-dealers who are looking to take advantage of defenceless clients. Data shows that marketing executives at financial services firms have reacted in a timely fashion and rolled out marketing collateral that sends out a clear message, that not only are they open and ready for business, but they aim to be the preferred provider for trading in volatile markets.

Search Marketing

Google Adword comes under the commonly used Pay-Per-Click marketing approach. It’s a pay as you use type method whereby firms can bid to capture users from search terms. The practise is widely used in the forex industry with brokers spending several thousand dollars on the approach.

Search terms in Google on FXCM, IG and Alpari show that competitors have pounced on the quick opportunity. When searching Alpari in Google, four of its core competitors appear in the results list, on the top is IG which focuses on terminology around trust.

A similar tag line is used by CMC Markets, however, they add volatility in the terms and their message states: "CMC Markets – Trusted provider in volatile times."

Followed by Core Spreads who follows CMC’s message and City Index joins the pact with a clever tagline: “Need a New Provider”.

The same practise is seen when inputting FXCM and IG into Google. Interestingly, Easy-Forex adds the phrase ‘Business as Usual – Use our Stop-Loss Option.’ Although Easy-Forex is fair to remind traders that stop losses are viable Risk Management tools, the recent CHF incident would not be able to take advantage of the stop loss as an effective tool, in turbulent market conditions stops would be executed at the next best 'available' price.

With overall consolidation impacting the retail forex markets and a decline in the total number of new traders, brokers are adamant to pick up the pieces when a rival fails. Similar marketing techniques were evident after the collapse of WorldSpreads where UK automated spread betting providers were using tailor made campaigns to lure traders over, with some using bonus and promotion to capture the clients.

Alpari UK joins the likes of PFG Best, GTL Trade-up, Refco, MF Global and many other derivatives brokers that have become insolvent for various reasons, although Alpari UK’s reason differs from the others as there is no current evidence of foul play.