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Factoring Company Marketing
Strategies: Effectively Marketing Accounts
Receivables Financial Services on the Internet
For financial services firms, whether they are a
accounts receivables factoring company, a Bank, Credit
Union, Automobile lender, Mortgage Company, or a
specialized firm like ours, an effective internet
marketing presence has never been more important than it
is today. |
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Introduction
United Capital Funding Corp provides cash flow
funding and working capital to entrepreneurial
companies via the collateralization of
commercial Accounts Receivables [otherwise known
as factoring]. Invoice factoring and other
financing companies need to ensure that their
marketing efforts on the Internet are not only
effective, but profitable.
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In the last 5 years or so, our firm has utilized
the Internet as a primary marketing channel for
gaining new factoring clients, along side more
traditional tools in our industry such as
referrals from independent brokers, lawyers,
CPA’s and bankers.
The exciting part of this effort has been that
we needed to adapt to a rapidly changing
industry, economy and client expectations; and
at the same time, straddling explosive changes
in the size, complexity, and risks of marketing
accounts receivables factoring online.
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The purpose of this article is to outline
several of the techniques that we have found
successful in our quest to market factoring of
accounts receivables and other specialized
business financial services online. I hope that
what has worked for us can be adapted to assist
your firm in becoming a master at marketing
online, locally, nationally and even globally.
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Effective Internet Marketing Strategies
for Factoring Companies
1. Use your Website and Internet presence to
educate, not just “market” your funding services
to your clients.
It seems to me that too often, many
firms/websites on the Internet are unfortunately
nothing more than a reworked commercial about
the product or services provided by the firm.
Many appear unprofessional or border on the
offensive. As a result, the prospective client
is turned off quickly by the lack of education
or information on the website.
Consider this approach: use your factoring
company online presence to educate the
prospective working capital client about your
industry, sector or trade. Help your prospective
funding client to become and feel like an
“expert” by putting information on your website
[in clear, simple English] and allow them to
spend their time making sure that the financial
services you offer is really what their company
needs. Doesn’t it make sense that the more
educated your prospect is, the less they will
feel confused, and the more likely they are to
purchase your invoice factoring service? It has
been our experience that an educated cash flow
funding client is a long term client.
In this day and age of Information overload, any
marketing strategy for financial services and
funding that is built on a platform of doubt,
incomplete information or even fear is doomed to
fail. As Tony Robbins is often quoted as saying,
“A decision made from fear is always the wrong
decision.” This proactive approach to marketing
business financial factoring promotes exactly
the path that you want your prospect to take:
instead of using a hard sell, you want them to
feel both comfortable and educated about their
decision to select your accounts receivables
factoring firm.
How can you use your Website to encourage your
prospective factoring client to become educated,
in charge and feel like they have made an
informed decision for an important financial
strategy ? I have listed a few ideas below to
think: |
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Provide invoice factoring clients information
not only on your professional financial
services, but data from industry sources
[including Industry Trade Associations, etc.]
that show the size and frequent use by firms of
similar size/characteristics that are
successfully using the financial services and
tools you are marketing.
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Present financial information in an easy to
understand format: a comparison of the
professional cash flow funding services you
offer to other financing services that your
prospect may be considering as alternatives.
Make sure that you list both the positive and
negative aspects of your funding services in
this comparison.
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Never
assume that a prospective factoring company
client understands jargon or terms that are
unique to the invoice factoring industry. A
simple way to ensure no confusion is to post a
list of “key terms” used at the beginning of
your presentation on your website. This
education process again allows your prospective
client to master the learning curve and feel
much more in control of the decision making
process.
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Build
a business resource library of factoring
industry related articles, links, and White
Paper presentations on your website that a
prospective client can read at their leisure.
This approach again helps your prospective
client make an informed, educated decision in
selecting a business financing strategy.
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Make
sure that your website is not only informative,
educational, but accurate and up to date. Never
allow the information on your website to become
stale or dated. Hard as this may seem to
believe, I recently looked at a website the
other day that still referred to the upcoming
Y2K crisis!
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*Many of these ideas have their root source in
excellent articles published by the following
sources: The Pew Internet & American Life
Project; CustomerParadigm, www.hg.org, and other
articles read over the course of the past 5
years.
Summary and Conclusion
One final thought about the education of your
prospective financial services client on your
website. The more objective, educational and
informative your factoring company website
presence is, the more likely you are to close on
the new relationship with a client. The business
entrepreneur today wants to make an informed
decision, having assessed the information
presented to them on a logical, rational basis.
The most precious commodity for the entrepreneur
is their time. So ensure that you do not waste
theirs by ever making them feel like they are
being pushed or uneducated. If you waste their
time, they are likely to simply walk away and
seek other factoring companies as a resource to
achieve cash flow and working capital needs. and
seek another more professional supplier for the
accounts receivables factoring service or
product you are marketing is greatly increased.
I hope that this short article sheds some light
on how to better utilize your Internet presence
when marketing professional financial services.
Please feel free to email me at any time with
questions, observations, comments or if you need
any additional information on the discussed
topics. I can be reached via email at:
mark@ucfunding.com
View and print this article (pdf format)
Factoring
Company Marketing Strategies |
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