Don’t Build Your Brand!Show who you are.
Our Roots
Our Pitch
Our Brand Building Activities
Our Holvi Brand
The Illusion of Virality
The Controversy of Building a FinTech Brand
From Brand Building to Customer Acquisition
Lessons learntAgenda
Our home is Europe, our roots are Finnish.Our roots
Our rootsFounded in 2011 in Helsinki
Started off by creating a banking service to manage the finances of events and projects
First prototypes built on top of PayPal
After validating the idea started to build a full platform independently from the ground up
Connecting Holvi to the local startup ecosystem since day one - Slush.org
Secured seed investment (including Austrian Speedinvest)
Approval of official application of PSP licences at the FIN-FSA, Helsinki
Passporting of our own licence to the EEA under the EU directive
NEW product focus: the era of Makers and Doers
Full localisation for 3 core markets (FI, AT, DE)
The Big Year of 2014
Holvi is banking for Makers and Doers.With Holvi you can send invoices, collect payments or sell your products online with the built-in online store and get bank transfers to your Holvi IBAN account. All in one simple to use offering. Holvi is built by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.
How we build our brand.Telling our story.
Brand Building
Our Holvi BrandHolvi means ‘vault’ in Finnish expressing
our highest priority: security.
The Holvi BrandWe are not building a brand, we are telling who we are!
Nothing happens unless it is REAL.The Illusion of Virality
Brand Building in a Nutshell
Process of brand building
Your brandPRODUCT & SERVICES
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
DAILY ADMINISTRATION
RECRUITING
PEOPLE
CULTURE
once manifested hard to changedetails matter
bigger than its single partsmind thermodynamics
A plan without execution is just a dream. #LeitmotifWhy?Purpose
Who?Target audience
How?Which platform
What does this mean for Holvi being a fintech startup?
Completely rethink the way we handle our day to day business affairs and money transfers.
Momentum - real demand and no existing value adding service providers out there!
Makers and Doers are on the rise all over Europe - they are independent, educated and already forming the new backbone of the European economy.
Platform does NOT matter! It is actual value that dialogue with your customers will bring along.For example, over 80% of all people contact us via FB for support inquiries.
Assumptions about branding that do not apply in FinTechBetter done than perfect! ”Whoops, I sent only 87% of your money”It just has to work
Let’s do live testing! ”We tested transferring money to your account, strangely it did not work. Maybe next time…” There are no such thing as test users in FinTech
The easiest way to learn is to copy!”Hey we’ll pay you 100 if…”Applying the same acquisition strategies like traditional banks would not work a single day.
Disrupting established industries will get you attention!”We are disrupting banking!”Do not only disrupt - focus on the value your solution will bring
Customer acquired, product sold. You are finished.You are never done. Never.
From Branding to Customer Acquisition
Engage. Share. Listen.
#1: PRFirst publication: WIRED Magazine 2013 Holvi chosen the Hottest Startup in Finland = lucky coincidence - there was no active approach
know your journalists personally, share thoughts and build a relationship PR still is effective leverage short time = will generate peak not levelsetup of a editor’s planrecognise all channels, put a focus on those that match your audience’s behaviour do not send mass emails to your journalist lists - they won’t be opened
#2: Demand First, Product SecondBuild the momentum, hype your service and allow people to signup and share the news
continuously iterate how you can optimise your lead generation flowhandle this interest with care - nobody likes spam & people forget youSoMe is the place to be, focus and master the channels you’re in set up a google analytics workshop each month to measure tracking and define relevant KPI’s to continuously improve performance at all fronts Content is king, content distribution King Kong!
#3: Co-operate & Co-operateYour company does not exist in a vacuumDon’t build networks, build relationship.Find credible partners that communicate your values (e.g. PR)
What works best? = REFERRAL! aka word-of-mouthCommunity approach functions equally well in all marketsthere is not such thing as sustainable affiliate programmes money should not be your primary focus but reward
#4: Entering A New Market Micro Vertical ApproachDig, Find, Promote and EngageExclusive pricing
First Class Support and Services, average personal response time (weekdays) = below 3 hours. Consulting included.Put a face to your company. Nobody will ever trust their money with an anonymous internet company.
What we did when we didn’t know anyone and no-one knew us ?We asked Vienna which exciting ideas are currently cooking, visited those startups and published a video about them.
#5: You should know how!
blog.holvi.comBlog article of the weekMakers and Doers profiles, tips & tricks for business owners and the self-employedBuilding your audience by building your expertise
#6: Keep in touch - do not spam!Help Center article of the week (according to the top requested support issue)New feature releasesMakers and Doers insights, stories and profiles
5-10 times higher openings and clicks than industry average, works very well to engage users
#7: Shut up and Tweet!Nobody cares about your brand as such. You have to show it day to day by sharing valuable insights and also telling what you are doing in real-time. Rise beyond the average noise! Be faster, wittier and louder.Attend events and appeal to emotions - one way or another.
TOA BERLIN
Lessons LearntMake and do!
Brand building and customer acquisition is a dialogue!
NEW approaches can significantly convert into 10 times better results - forget what you know
Don’t create content, tell your story!
Keep costs at bay - also micro budgets need macro attention
Your tone of voice has to be apart of each and every communication pattern of your company. It starts with your ads and ends with your customer support questions.
In between are operations, product, key notes and lunch conversations.
As cliché as it is - everyone has to walk the talk at all times.
Help your customers shine and you will catch some light as well!
@Holvi #Holvi #MakersAndDoersFollow us!
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