Marketing plan for Partnersgroup Ltd
1
Summary
Atria Landfor
Pteproviding
Ltd (Atria)tailor-made
and Sim & Les
Limited services
(S&L),
Partnersgroup BG Ltd, is a company
financial
for
personal finances in Bulgaria. It is a subsidiary of Partnersgroup SK in Slovakia and it
is said to develop even faster than the Slovakian company – established back in 2007.
Current Marketing Situation
There are a three or four competitors on the market - Wealth Effect Management
(also Slovakian subsidiary in Bulgaria), wealth departments of big banks on the
market and the INSTITUTE OF CERTIFIED FINANCIAL CONSULTANTS in
Bulgaria, which is more certifying body providing courses and membership of
individual financial consultants, than a real consulting services company. The sector
is set to develop rapidly due to the fact that incomes in the country are growing and
the financial and investment culture of the population especially in the big cities is
increasing. We believe that our business model is sustainable and has a bright
future.
Market Environment
Partnersgroup BG Ltd operates in the following microenvironment: financial services
partners (funds, insurers, retail banks), competitors – wealth management
departments of big banks and financial service providers, the public, and customers.
Public and customers are the most important group of players that can affect the
performance and development of Partnersgroup BG Ltd.
On macroenvironment level the factors that can have impact on Partnersgroup BG
Ltd’s development are psychographic, demographic, economic, political and
financial.
Objectives
Partnersgroup BG Ltd.’s marketing objectives are set using the SMART way –
specific,
measurable,
attainable,
relevant,
and
time-based
(https://www.targetinternet.com/how-to-set-smart-marketing-objectives/).
In
three
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years’ time, the company intends to be the leading and most recognized brand in the
county that provides financial planning for individuals.
Marketing Strategy
Partnersgroup BG Ltd. has the following competitive advantages: 14 years of
expertise and in-house developed system for calculation of personal finances and
investments, as well as, world-leading financial institutions as partners.
We believe that people shall not pay directly for the optimization of their financial
needs and costs. Therefore, we have decided to implement a tax and fees free
strategy where the customer does not pay anything for financial consultations,
portfolio optimization and second pension, directly out of his pocket. Through the
“pay zero” strategy, Partnersgroup BG Ltd will attract the majority of the customers
approached.
Segmentation
Partnersgroup BG Ltd’s target market is people with income above the average.
Therefore we have used market segmentation based on geographic, demographic,
psychographic, and behavioral qualities.
Positioning
Our services are tailored to the specific customers’ needs and we make free portfolio
evaluation for each customer when we first meet. Customers do not pay us directly
and we promise to save them money each out of their monthly costs and bills. In
people’s minds we are not selling them services we earn them money and financial
freedom.
Product and Brand Strategy
Partnersgroup BG Ltd brand is not strongly recognized on the market yet. We will try
to fix this issue with promotion and marketing campaigns via non-traditional media. In
other words, we will use You-tube and Instagram channels and a famous local
person whom people have trust.
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1.
Current Marketing Situation
1.1
Introduction
Partnersgroup BG Ltd is a limited company registered in Bulgaria 4 years ago and is a
subsidiary of Partnersgroup SK in Slovakia (established 2007).
Partnersgroup BG Ltd is providing financial services for personal finance of individuals
thus optimizing customers’ monthly costs, savings and investments. We work with one
of the most renowned banks, investment funds and insurance companies in Europe.
Amundi Asset Management, Eurobank EFG, Met Life, NN, Generali, Unicreditbank,
Raifeisenbank, KBC bank.
1.2
The financial services sector
The expanding local economy that still has a lot of potential has caused a swift
change on the labor market in the recent year. Incomes of individuals and
households have increased together with inflation, which imposes that people shall
look for alternatives in order to enhance their wealth and protect it against inflation.
Real estate’s loans and investments are only one part of the wealth portfolio.
Nowadays, we have second pension investment, life insurance, university for
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children savings, stocks and investment funds portfolio. These kinds of investments
and services are broadly known in Slovakia and Western Europe. In Bulgaria
however only 5% of the savings of individuals are invested in life insurances, pension
funds and mutual funds or stocks. In Western Europe the percentage is around 25%.
We have a 20% more potential of the savings in banks of Bulgarian citizens (EUR
4.75 billion deposits of individuals, according to the National Statistics Institute) to be
invested for pension, insurance or wealth creation.
Partnersgroup BG Ltd value proposition is SMART INVESTING. It is a proven way to
enhance people’s wealth at a zero fees and no monthly taxes.
1.3
Competition
There are few financial advisory companies currently in Bulgaria – Wealth Effect
Management and individual financial advisors that charge fee, lastly some wealth
management departments of big banks. Most companies either charge fee per
month or are somehow connected and have interests in selling some of the products
they offer. For example Eurobank EFG branch in Bulgaria is interested to sell to
customers their own investments funds. We discovered great business opportunities
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and huge growth potential when making our research in the financial services sector
in the country.
Partnersgroup BG Ltd has an advantage because, we can choose which life
insurance company to work with, we can choose which investment funds to be
present in our portfolio and we can choose and negotiate the conditions of
mortgages with various banks. Furthermore, we do not charge any monthly or hidden
fees and we monitor the partners we work with constantly so that we know what is
best for our customers at any given moment.
Analysis of competitors
1.4
Customers
In the past decade, the incomes of individuals especially in the capital city of Sofia
and in other big cities are thriving. Bulgaria was and remains top destination for
outsourcing services in the IT, financial and health sectors due to the low corporate
tax
rate
and
the
fixed
rate
of
the
local
currency
against
the
Euro
(https://ponticasolutions.com/great-destination-for-outsourcing/). Professionals and
business people are having excess of funds to be invested. Most of the people do
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not rely on the government to take care of their pension and would like to have
additional one. Therefore, more and more people are looking for diversification of
their wealth, especially now when interests in banks are all-time low or even
negative. They need protection against inflation and real estates and apartment
investments in the capital city or on the sea-shore are only one part of the process.
The mentality of the people is changing and they are looking for new ways to
improve their wealth. This is a great opportunity for Partnersgroup BG Ltd. We
believe that the local market for financial services has great potential in the next
decade.
1.5
SWOT Analysis for strengths and weaknesses
We have decided to make a SWOT analysis to summarize the internal strengths and
weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Partnersgroup BG Ltd.
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2.
Marketing Environment
2.1
Microenvironment
There are other factors that affect the performance of our company, besides the
efforts made by our team and our marketing department. Those factors are
summarized below.
Out of them, public and customers are the most important group actors that interact
with Partnersgroup BG Ltd marketing and performance. One happy customer brings
5 to 10 new customers; therefore it is crucial that we provide them with the best
services possible.
2.2
Macroenvironment
After the Covid-19 epidemic, Bulgarian economy is back on track and there is a huge
demand for qualified employees especially in the capital. Many people work from
home and the money for rent can be saved for investments or even buying a real
estate. Lower interest rates are making the real estate market flourish. Prices of realPage 8 of 23
estates in the capital and the big cities have increased by 30% since the start of the
Covid-19 epidemic.
Covid-19 has brought more new opportunities and new business sectors.
Furthermore, Bulgarian exports have recovered and are now at all-time high
(https://tradingeconomics.com/bulgaria/exports). It seems that the epidemic did not
harm the economy so badly, tourism and restaurants and bars are heavily affected,
as a matter of fact. Below are shown the forces making up Partnersgroup BG Ltd’s
macroenvironment:
3.
Marketing Objectives
Partnersgroup BG Ltd’s mission is to provide the best financial services for
individuals and to keep that performance in the years to come by constant
monitoring, research and improvement.
The marketing objectives that Partnersgroup BG Ltd. plan to achieve in the next
three years are presented in the SMART analysis below:
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4.
Marketing Strategy
Financial advisory business is sustainable as there will always be investments,
loans, insurances. Our competitive advantage is the knowledge and expertise
we have and the fact that we are a subsidiary of a foreign company (local
people trust more foreign companies and finance is a business of trust).
4.1
Market Segmentation
Partnersgroup BG Ltd’s target market is millennials born between 1977 and
2000, but also older people (age until 55) who need second pension or have
enough funds for investments. Millennials in the country are more open for
financial investments and definitely would like to have their own house or
apartment instead of paying a rent. They are more informed and the number of
young professionals with incomes twice above the average is increasing. Those
are mostly young or middle age people working for international or foreign
companies in some of the big cities.
Target customers by age
20%
15%
above 55 years of age
40 to 54 years of age
30 to 39 yeard of age
30%
35%
24 to 29 years of age
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We are also targeting the market of expats living and working in the country as,
their incomes are above the average and they are already familiar with financial
planning. They can use the 10% flat rate if they become Bulgarian citizens or
receive permanent staying permit and tax residence in the country.
(http://www.bulgariancompanies.com/bulgaria-tax-resident/)
4.2
Market Positioning
We at Partnersgroup BG Ltd reduce the need for direct meetings with
customers due to the software we use for online meetings and our internal
calculation tools that can be presented online. Later on we will implement Smart
execution contracts in order to be fully independent of Covid-19 lockdowns for
example. We will be positioned as the best financial advisor in the country with
biggest market share. We are also delivering more for less in terms of value for
customers, due to our no fees and monthly taxes policy and the ability to select
the best partners and service providers for us and our customers.
5.
Segmentation
To formulate an effective marketing strategy for Partnersgroup BG Ltd, we will
divide the target market into four segments as below:
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Geographic:
-
Citizens in 10 biggest cities;
-
Expats and foreigners that live in Bulgaria
Demographic:
-
Aged 25-55;
-
Monthly income over 3000 BGN
Psychographic:
-
People with modern lifestyle open to western trends;
-
IT, tech, fintech and outsoursing companies employees
Behavioural:
-
People who seek financial freedom which is the main benefit of our services
6.
Positioning
In order to attract customers and their attention we have the promise of fully
tailored financial services package that optimizes personal finances and it is
absolutely free of fees i.e. the customer does not pay us any fees directly.
Customers love when they do not pay monthly fees or up-front taxes and when
they are able to see their finances optimized and save real money each month.
Partnersgroup BG Ltd’s market positioning summary is below:
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7.
Product and Brand Strategy
Partnersgroup BG Ltd brand awareness is not so popular or strong. We plan to
change this by our traditional via recommendation strategy and by cooperation
with the following popular channel on Youtube – The Clashers.The channel has
over 1 million subscribers and its strategy it to present information for
interesting and less known facts for the world and not only. It is also very
educational and we believe it will suit our branding strategy best.
A study shows that:
-
84% of Millennials don’t trust ads coming from traditional media campaigns
-
58% of young viewers say they won’t mind ads featuring their favorite
personalities (9 Effective Financial Services Marketing Techniques by Codrin
Arsene)
7.1
Product branding
As we live in turbulent times we shall stress that we are a new product on the
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market with no alternatives. Our moto could be in times of cRISES you can
trust us to take care of your finances. We shall stress that we are together
with our customers in bad and good times. This will make our brand even
stronger when the Covid-19 epidemic is over. Customers will remember which
company they relied on when having financial difficulties or a great financial
portfolio or advice given by us to save their funds and helped them retire early.
7.2
Pricing
We will and we are getting our main database of customers via the channels of
our partners (via recommendation). We pay zero for this database and this will
leave more funds for additional marketing channels. We have fully flexible and
tailored pricing regarding the needs of each customer. We are priced as free
financial advisory services that best suits the needs of our customers. We do
not have the traditional low price, middle price or high price package, we simply
optimize each customer need and investment and show savings and
usefulness in each aspect of the financial portfolio that we create. In other
words we attract price-sensitive, rich or middle to high income customers.
7.3
Distribution
We will use the current network that we have in Slovakia and replicate it here
locally. These are banks, financial institutions that we work with and insurance
companies. We can implement a referral bonus at a later stage but very, very
cautiously as this means that there might be a conflict of interests. In the
beginning it might be valid only for our loyal and happy customers.
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Finally, because services differ from tangible products, they often require
additional marketing approaches. (P. T. Kotler and G. Armstrong, Principles of
marketing (Pearson, 2016; 16th edition)
We will use the Service Profit Chain:
This is why our company is called Partnersgroup BG, because we value our
employees and take them as partners not just hired workers!
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*Media materials:
*Ivet Lalova for Partnersgroup BG Ltd example of what a marketing campaing
could look like.
Famous you-tube channel – The Clashers by Slavi – a potential cooperation.
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References:
https://www.partnersgroup.bg/en/about-us
Wealth Effect Management: https://wem.sk/en/about-us/
Financial Advisors Institute: https://idfk.org/about-us-english/
https://ponticasolutions.com/great-destination-for-outsourcing/
https://tradingeconomics.com/bulgaria/exports
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0737678289900325
Millenial Marketing, Available at:
https://www.millennialmarketing.com/2018/11/how-college-debt-is-changingmillennial-lifestyles/
Solomon, M. et al., 2014. Marketing: Real People, Real Choices. 3rd ed.
s.l.:Pearson Australia.
Financial advisors in Bulgaria: http://www.investbulgaria.com/Bulgarian-FinancialServices-Companies
Wealth banking departments:
https://www.postbank.bg/en/PostbankPremium/PremiumBanking
SMART marketing examples:
https://www.pepperlandmarketing.com/blog/marketing-goal-examples
IT outsourcing in Bulgaria: https://ponticasolutions.com/great-destination-foroutsourcing/
Bank and deposits savings of individuals:
https://money.bg/savings/spestyavaniyata-na-balgarite-v-bankite-rastat-s-barzitempove-nay-mnogo-pri-depozitite-nad-200-000-leva.html
Marketing strategies and techniques:
https://www.digitalauthority.me/resources/financial-services-marketing-2019/
P. T. Kotler and G. Armstrong, Principles of marketing (Pearson, 2016;
16th edition)
David, F. R. & David, F. R., 2016. Strategic Management: A Competitive
Advantage Approach, Concepts and Cases. Global ed. s.l.:Pearson
Education.
Govindarajan, M., 2007. Marketing Management. 2nd edition ed.
https://www.instagram.com/ivet_lalova/?hl=en
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+clashers
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