We delivered a podcast content series for Thomson Reuters that captivated hedge fund managers and contributed to an 81% increase in website traffic.

Background

Our client needed to raise awareness about Eikon – a software tool designed to help hedge fund managers effectively analyse market data in real time.

Challenge

To position themselves as finance industry thought leaders, Thomson Reuters asked us to find a way to target hedge fund managers and drive targeted traffic to their Man versus Machine website.

Solution

We tapped into the complex psychology of traders with high-quality content that engaged listeners, while also promoting the benefits of Eikon. Our research revealed that hedge fund managers are heavy mobile technology users, likely to commute to work and regularly seek insight from industry experts. We recommended developing a short series of high-quality podcasts to help our client establish credibility with their target audience and regularly drive listeners back to the website for fresh content.

Our approach to the production of the podcasts was simple: deliver great content to savvy traders in a way that didn’t feel like a sales pitch. We created a series of six 15-minute audio programmes, each featuring a respected industry insider giving their take on a key industry issue impacting the UK financial sector. To establish continuity and increase interest, each podcast was hosted by one of the client’s key financial experts, Axel Threlfall, and provided a preview of the next episode.

We housed the podcast content on a bespoke landing page, created to match the look and feel of the Man versus Machine website. Each episode was highlighted via direct mail and email to the target audience throughout the 6-week campaign, increasing awareness and creating a sense of urgency among listeners.

We worked directly with our client at their London studio to record the podcasts, and our award-winning producer ensured that the podcast content featured exceptional sound quality and had the impact of a radio programme or audio magazine. Integration with SoundCloud also allowed us to track the number of listeners for each episode and, based on the data collected, adjust the campaign as we went along.

Listen to a sample of our podcast below:

Result

The strategy, aided by the direct mail and web key elements of the multi-channel marketing strategy, helped our client achieve their goal of increasing website traffic: a staggering 81% uplift in monthly website traffic throughout the campaign period.

“It was refreshing to work with Parker Design on our Man versus Machine campaign – the team really challenged us to think differently about the brief and ask ourselves what we wanted to achieve strategically.

They went above and beyond to help us approach the campaign from a different angle so that we were getting the most out of the campaign and hitting our desired KPIs.”

Marketing Manager, Finance & Risk Europe, Thomson Reuters