Marketing Consultant (March 2016 – March 2018)

About:

Trading Advantage is a leader in online trading education across multiple asset classes, including Stocks, Options, Futures, and Currencies.  They offer a number of different services through their innovative Trading Campus, Live Signal Rooms, and Fly-In Mentorships.  In March of 2016 I came on to serve as the Marketing Director.  My goal was to drive company growth through innovative advertising and marketing campaigns.  I was given a budget, and green light to create initiatives that would help sell more memberships.

Here’s a photo of me and Trading Advantage founder and President Larry Levin, who’s become a great friend, and mentor since we started working together.

Bittersweet moment today saying fair well to my mentor Larry Levin, as he takes his journey out to Cali. Great guy, even better businessman. I look forward to seeing you in the sunshine state soon my friend. @tradingadvantage #entrepreneur #entrepreneurlife #businessman #mentor #lifecoach #friend #greatguy

A post shared by Cyprian Francis (@cyprianfrancis) on Aug 18, 2017 at 9:44am PDT

My consulting responsibilities included the following:

Email Marketing:

Working and being successful in the financial space means being effective with email marketing. The audience is much older and so email marketing serves as one of the best ways to promote the business.  This was done through a number of campaigns to the tune of 10 Million+ emails per week, either in the form of a daily newsletter, promotional campaigns, or one of a different number of automated drip campaigns.  This work was primarily done through email service provide Act-On.

View Email Template Examples Here

Video Production:

One of my initial functions at the company was to help in the production of high-quality video content.  Both in creating education-focused content and promotional.  Over a span of 2 years I was responsible for the production and distribution of over 50 videos, which can be viewed inside the Trading Advantage Campus, and through a number of other digital products, including Forex Power Session, Options Power Session, Futures Power Session, and Stocks Power Session.

Here are two promo examples created to market Ever Webinars.

Forex Power Session

Stocks Power Session

Web Design:

Although I was not responsible for the initial Trading Advantage websites, I did inherit them and was responsible for their administration.  Combined traffic amongst all our sites was more than 100,000 per month.  Duties included creating new content, editing old content, updating back-end functions, and keeping things moving as smoothly as possible.  In addition to managing our larger pieces, I was responsible for the development of a number of other sites and landing pages.

Project Management:

I am certainly privy to taking on new projects, and that certainly was the case with Trading Advantage.  One of my main objectives when I first arrived, was to help take the company online.  In addition, my video producing skills were also put to good use.  This required me to assist in project management frequently, from brainstorming sessions to task outlines to working with third-party vendors and developers.  Some notable projects included a new upgraded version of the Live Signal Room, and four automated webinar funnels and stores:  ForexPowerSession, OptionsPowerSession, FuturesPowerSession, StocksPowerSession.

Social Media Management:

As a marketing director, the company’s social media was my responsibility.  This was a bit different than what I was used to, seeing as the target audience changed dramatically from millennials, baby boomers and beyond.  But the formula was the same, generate consistent, relevant, appealing content, that engaged users.  This was primarily achieved through video.  Short clips that promoted events, webinars, and daily content.  Audience and engagement substantially increased during my oversight.

Media Buying:

One of the most critical components of this business has been the consistent flow of leads.  The financial space is crowded and expensive, so in order to keep our sales department flush with leads, I had to get creative.  Because the demographic was older there were two main drivers of business; first, email marketing, and the second radio.  Two mediums that are still very relevant to the baby boomer generation.  These were used extensively, along with digital, social, co-reg, and a variety of other alternatives.  I was given a 1MM annual advertising budget to oversee, along with coordinating its execution through our third-party partners.

Graphic Design:

This has been placed at the bottom because as much as I don’t consider myself a Graphic Designer, I did much of the work of one.  This included designing and updating sales decks, online banners, web pages, landing pages, emails, and more.  I wouldn’t consider myself to be a very sophisticated designer, but I understand the basics.  My work is clean and to the point.  It gets done as efficiently as possible.  By being able to design my own work I was not left relying on anyone but myself.