How do I market this on the internet??

10 replies
Hey everyone...



Aside from working as a futures and options broker, I am also an equity raiser for our managed futures fund. I just got notice that our returns on our two funds from 2009 were 30.08% and 37.2%. I figured this would be a great selling point to show prospects when I speak with them...but there's one thing...prospects for managed futures are hard to find!

I want to apply some IM to my equity raising. I currently have a blog setup for my brokerage services in order to get prospects(not doing too well with it though, I get about 1-2 visitors a day). Do you think I should set-up separate page in my blog dedicated to advertising managed futures?:confused:

I was also thinking of setting up a different blog(but there is not too much content to write articles and post in the blog for managed futures). I found some keywords for managed futures that have about 1600 monthly searches, low competition, and less than 500,000 results.

I was looking into forum commenting on different trading forums, but none really allow any type of links and managed futures is rarely discussed.

I'm sorry if this has rambled on, but I am just stuck between what to do...
#internet #market
  • Profile picture of the author aaron_nimocks
    I dont understand the whole futures and options stuff so I could be compeltely wrong saying this.

    What you can try doing is give away partial or complete information on how you are getting these returns. Are you trading something often? What are you trading? Why are you trading? Give your readers some good content.

    Then use social websites to spread the word on your posts.

    I dont know if you buy/sell stocks though.
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    • Profile picture of the author JEL0221
      Originally Posted by aaron_nimocks View Post

      I dont understand the whole futures and options stuff so I could be compeltely wrong saying this.

      What you can try doing is give away partial or complete information on how you are getting these returns. Are you trading something often? What are you trading? Why are you trading? Give your readers some good content.

      Then use social websites to spread the word on your posts.

      I dont know if you buy/sell stocks though.
      No, I don't work with stocks at all. I work purely with the commodities markets.

      I have been giving readers to my blog good content. Very good educational information that will target potential "full-service" clients, but I am just not getting the traffic...if I was getting good traffic to the site then I think developing a page separate about managed futures would be a good option.

      I have been making blog posts every day, submitting an article everyday and it is not working...maybe it will take time I suppose. I have heard of people using web 2.0 sites, pinging, but I don't really know any of that stuff or how to really use it so I have been mainly sticking to article marketing.
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    • Profile picture of the author FredFarnes
      This won't exactly give you some easy answers, but may give you some ideas.

      If you are registered with the NFA (as I am) as a CTA or introducing broker, you will have severe restrictions on your advertising and on your target market. You'll have to ensure that those who sign up are qualified, knowledgeable, and wealthy..

      If you are not registered, and are "flying under the radar", you have more options as long as no-one sues you (or until someone does).

      There is so much hype and BS on the internet, that only a few people will pay attention to your results. Many readers just block out that type of advertising, since they regularly see irrational statement of thousands % return per month with no risk etc... So you are putting yourself into the BS category when you focus on your performance. Sure you can make money selling to newbies and idiots, but those are probably not your target market?

      The phrase "managed futures" gets about 5400 exact searches per month (google) which is respectable, though there are about 664,000 web pages with that exact phrase, so your competition is a bit high. You have a difficult job if you want to rely on SEO, but it is possible.

      Over the years I moved from stocks and physical metals, to futures and minis, and finally to forex. Most investors/traders have now gravitated to forex. That's where the traffic is, the biggest market. Government regulations have made the other vehicles unattractive, and there is so much marketing in the forex world that the customer/investor is already pre-sold.

      My internet marketing success in the forex realm relies on building email lists and maintaining a relationship with list members. In addition, I have several informative websites, some blogs, a forum, and also a presence on facebook and twitter. Offer free information, let the reader discover your talents.

      Throw everything at the wall, something will stick!
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      So, you want to sell me another way to easily make "X" dollars in "X" days? ROFL too funny! IM success requires hard work and lots of time. Most newbies do not survive the steep learning curve. Anyone who says otherwise is probably selling you a fantasy.

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      • Profile picture of the author JEL0221
        Originally Posted by FredFarnes View Post

        This won't exactly give you some easy answers, but may give you some ideas.

        If you are registered with the NFA (as I am) as a CTA or introducing broker, you will have severe restrictions on your advertising and on your target market. You'll have to ensure that those who sign up are qualified, knowledgeable, and wealthy..

        If you are not registered, and are "flying under the radar", you have more options as long as no-one sues you (or until someone does).

        There is so much hype and BS on the internet, that only a few people will pay attention to your results. Many readers just block out that type of advertising, since they regularly see irrational statement of thousands % return per month with no risk etc... So you are putting yourself into the BS category when you focus on your performance. Sure you can make money selling to newbies and idiots, but those are probably not your target market?

        The phrase "managed futures" gets about 5400 exact searches per month (google) which is respectable, though there are about 664,000 web pages with that exact phrase, so your competition is a bit high. You have a difficult job if you want to rely on SEO, but it is possible.

        Over the years I moved from stocks and physical metals, to futures and minis, and finally to forex. Most investors/traders have now gravitated to forex. That's where the traffic is, the biggest market. Government regulations have made the other vehicles unattractive, and there is so much marketing in the forex world that the customer/investor is already pre-sold.

        My internet marketing success in the forex realm relies on building email lists and maintaining a relationship with list members. In addition, I have several informative websites, some blogs, a forum, and also a presence on facebook and twitter. Offer free information, let the reader discover your talents.

        Throw everything at the wall, something will stick!
        I am registered with the NFA/CFTC, and the severe restrictions and how strict they are with advertising puts a low ceiling on how I can advertise...On my blog I have to have disclaimers after every page and post submitted, along with articles submitted to e-zine.

        Speaking of unregulated forex markets...I have heard through the grapevine they will soon be under regulation from the NFA and CFTC, I think if this happens it will take out a lot of the crooked marketers that "guarantee" 2,000,000% returns on robots and stuff....that will get rid of a lot of the big competition for you

        I would still like appreciate any other opinions on how I may be able to market this managed futures fund.
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  • Profile picture of the author Oxbloom
    At the risk of appearing to be a complete ignoramus (which I assure you, I am), is it possible you could give quick answers to the following Q's?

    1. What is a managed future? Layman's terms, please.
    2. Who is your target audience?
    3. What is it that you're trying to get them to do?

    Bear in mind, even if this seems to be wasting your time, that people are by and large befuddled when it comes to technical financial matters. Meaning both (A) explaining to a lay-audience could expand your potential market, and (B) explaining to a lay-audience could expand the number of people on board at the forum here who might be able to help you out with ideas.
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    • Profile picture of the author JEL0221
      Originally Posted by Oxbloom View Post

      At the risk of appearing to be a complete ignoramus (which I assure you, I am), is it possible you could give quick answers to the following Q's?

      1. What is a managed future? Layman's terms, please.
      2. Who is your target audience?
      3. What is it that you're trying to get them to do?

      Bear in mind, even if this seems to be wasting your time, that people are by and large befuddled when it comes to technical financial matters. Meaning both (A) explaining to a lay-audience could expand your potential market, and (B) explaining to a lay-audience could expand the number of people on board at the forum here who might be able to help you out with ideas.
      1. Managed futures acts like a mutual fund, but with the commodity markets. A CTA(commodity trading advisor) trades the money you give him at his/her full discretion. You then receive monthly statements on trade mades and profit/loss on your account.

      Managed futures is not for someone wanting to trade or learn to trade, it is for someone who is purely looking to supplement their income with an investment.

      2. The target audience is mainly high net worth individuals looking to invest their money or diversify their portfolio, some mid net worth. We have two accounts that have a minimum funding requirement, one is $15,000 and the other is $50,000. These are relatively low, as some managed futures funds can have minimum funding requirements up to $1,000,000.

      3. What I am essentially trying to get them to do is give contact information, e-mail address or phone number, so I can get a qualified lead in order to sell them on the fund.


      I actually should have explained this earlier as the futures commodities industry tends to be lesser known than stock market/forex, thank you for asking for this
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  • Profile picture of the author Oxbloom
    So if I'm reading you correctly, you're looking for people who want to earn money on investments, in a hands-off fashion (letting you, the pro, be the hands on guy), and may or may not understand what it is you do before first contact.

    Do I have this right?

    From context above, I gather there are also rules and regs about where and how you can and can not advertise. How restrictive is that?

    I would imagine, for instance, that you could advertise a "free report" on how to best employ that extra worth/income that isn't currently doing any work for the consumer, with a headline that would appeal to ANYONE who fits that broad market.

    Then, you could leverage the keyword traffic from MANY more areas of inquiry. People who are looking for specific stock/forex terms are probably mentally invested in finding stock/forex solutions, of course.

    But those looking at simpler, more introductory terms may very well be open to any sort of investment vehicle. People looking for articles about "how does this whole FOREX thing work, anyway?" would very likely respond to a well-written, but cautionary article about that very thing...and then, just as they had their bubble burst, could be drawn in by your report banner offering a saner solution through the miracle of managed futures.

    I'd have to think by investigating that sort of slightly off-topic keyword source, you'd open your funnel options by a factor of ten or more. Even if there was a slight decrease in clickthrough rate, the raw numbers would still go up considerably, which would seem to be the goal with something like this.

    The key to broadening keyword possibilities is to understand which "off words" might still be open to your message, even though it's not precisely what they searched for.

    Then, once you've got their attention, free report >>> the basics of managed futures >>> the risks & rewards >>> vs the stock market & forex >>> how to contact me to set up a consutation.

    Just spitballing, here, of course.
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    • Profile picture of the author JEL0221
      Originally Posted by Oxbloom View Post

      So if I'm reading you correctly, you're looking for people who want to earn money on investments, in a hands-off fashion (letting you, the pro, be the hands on guy), and may or may not understand what it is you do before first contact.

      Do I have this right?

      From context above, I gather there are also rules and regs about where and how you can and can not advertise. How restrictive is that?

      I would imagine, for instance, that you could advertise a "free report" on how to best employ that extra worth/income that isn't currently doing any work for the consumer, with a headline that would appeal to ANYONE who fits that broad market.

      Then, you could leverage the keyword traffic from MANY more areas of inquiry. People who are looking for specific stock/forex terms are probably mentally invested in finding stock/forex solutions, of course.

      But those looking at simpler, more introductory terms may very well be open to any sort of investment vehicle. People looking for articles about "how does this whole FOREX thing work, anyway?" would very likely respond to a well-written, but cautionary article about that very thing...and then, just as they had their bubble burst, could be drawn in by your report banner offering a saner solution through the miracle of managed futures.

      I'd have to think by investigating that sort of slightly off-topic keyword source, you'd open your funnel options by a factor of ten or more. Even if there was a slight decrease in clickthrough rate, the raw numbers would still go up considerably, which would seem to be the goal with something like this.

      The key to broadening keyword possibilities is to understand which "off words" might still be open to your message, even though it's not precisely what they searched for.

      Then, once you've got their attention, free report >>> the basics of managed futures >>> the risks & rewards >>> vs the stock market & forex >>> how to contact me to set up a consutation.

      Just spitballing, here, of course.
      These are very good ideas. I currently offer a free e-book on trading futures but do not have anything on managed futures...I think you may have just given me an idea.

      We are HIGHLY regulated by both the NFA(National Futures Association) and the CFTC(Commodity Futures Trading Commission). They are very strict when it comes to advertising. Any type of article I write, any content I post on my blog MUST have a disclaimer on it describing that futures trading is a risky investment and is not intended for everyone.

      We are not allowed to insist that you will make a profit and are always supposed to mention how you can lose money(although I would do this anyway because I believe in being completely upfront and honest with clients/prospects).
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  • Profile picture of the author warrice7
    I would start witha keyword search but not just the ordinary search whwre you type in managed futures and see what you get. you get into the mindset of the people who would be interested in managed futures. What do these people like to do for recreation? What periodicals or books do these people like to read? What other types of products do people who would be interested in manged futures utilize or be interested in? etc. Make a list of all the answers to these questions and this will be the makings of your intial keyword list. Then go to google and check the traffic. Don't get caught up on the number of searches becasue it is the quality of click that realy matters. You ar in a very specific niche and the people you find will be people who are looking for you. If you start there I think you will find keywords that bring clicks that you have never thought about.

    Good Luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author JEL0221
      Originally Posted by warrice7 View Post

      I would start witha keyword search but not just the ordinary search whwre you type in managed futures and see what you get. you get into the mindset of the people who would be interested in managed futures. What do these people like to do for recreation? What periodicals or books do these people like to read? What other types of products do people who would be interested in manged futures utilize or be interested in? etc. Make a list of all the answers to these questions and this will be the makings of your intial keyword list. Then go to google and check the traffic. Don't get caught up on the number of searches becasue it is the quality of click that realy matters. You ar in a very specific niche and the people you find will be people who are looking for you. If you start there I think you will find keywords that bring clicks that you have never thought about.

      Good Luck.

      Awesome idea!

      I pretty much just have to look for keywords rich people would search.
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