Winning Localised Search

In 2023 Craigs Investment Partners relaunched their brand to the positioning of “Truly Personal Wealth”, highlighting the strength of relationships as a key factor in success. By thoroughly applying a philosophy of true personalisation, we drove tight integration between strategy, website development and search, combined with the hard work of optimising hundreds of website landing pages, local Google my Business pages and search ads, to truly deliver on the brand promise - and on results. Overall we increased the amount of local advisor leads by 45%, while reducing the paid cost per click by 15%. 

INSIGHT & RESEARCH

Our strategic analysis revealed that 'Personalisation' was not just a brand attribute but a core expectation within the financial services category. From this, three main insights emerged:

• Personal Relationship Value: Craigs Investment Partners' advisors are known for their ability to forge strong, personal relationships with clients, understanding their unique financial needs and aspirations. 
• Customised Investment Solutions: Unlike competitors offering aggregated fund investments, Craigs offers personalised portfolio management, tailoring the mix to each client’s specific situation. 
• Regional & Rural Presence: The strength of Craigs' expansive network of local provincial offices differentiated it from competitors predominantly centralised in urban centers like Auckland. Localisation was critical for building trust with people, who want to have face to face conversations with experts who understand them in a meaningful way. 

STRATEGIC DIRECTION: 

Based on these insights, we recognised the need for a marketing strategy that mirrored this personalised approach at every touchpoint, particularly in search engine marketing.

• Brand Strategy Driven Search: Instead of leveraging broad, national-level keywords, we crafted a highly localised search strategy to leverage the core brand strategy of developing deep personal relationships. We created specific campaigns and landing pages for each local branch and, more uniquely, for each investment advisor within those branches. For example, a search in Rotorua for an investment advisor wouldn’t just bring up Craigs Investment Partners in Rotorua; it would also highlight individual advisors like Tom Davies, showcasing his 20+ years with Craigs and his involvement in the local community, to resonate on a personal level from the first interaction. 
• Integrated Execution: We needed seamless collaboration across multiple teams: The website development team tailored the site architecture to support hundreds of localised, advisor-specific pages that enhance user experience and SEO. Both the paid search and organic SEO teams worked in tandem to optimise these pages, ensuring they ranked well for highly relevant local searches.

In essence, the innovation in the Search Strategy was the shift from broad keyword targeting to a deeply localised, personal approach that aligns with the overarching brand strategy of personalisation. By focusing on local relevance and individual advisor profiles, we not only addressed the specific marketing challenge but also set a new benchmark for personal engagement in digital marketing within the financial sector.

This strategic framework not only responded to the identified insights but also significantly influenced the roles of communications and media planning, ensuring that every digital touchpoint conveyed the uniqueness of Craigs’ service offering.

EXECUTION 

Being able to offer a personal touch on a large scale, especially through regional customisation, was a major step forward. This strategy made the website more engaging and solidified Craigs’ reputation as a trusted community member. We executed this as an end-to-end approach, both SEM & SEO becoming a foundational integrated approach, the website upgrade, search optimisations, and ads complemented each other perfectly. Lastly the commitment to do this as an ongoing investment rather than launch and leave has paid dividends too.

Integrated with Website Development: Right from the start, our search strategy was intertwined with the website design. Using Research Tools focused on both volume & value, we planned around what potential clients might be looking for at each stage of their decision-making process, which helped us decide what content to include and how to arrange it on the site.

Advisor Profiles: Each investment advisor at Craigs got a personal page on the website. These pages include details about their professional life and their roles in the local community. We wanted to make sure that when potential clients are searching, they quickly feel a personal connection with their advisors, helping build trust from the first click.

We engaged a Multi-Channel Approach to both expedite the user journey as well as drive down the cost of Search. 

Google My Business Optimization: For every branch, we set up and refined a local ‘Google My Business’ page. This strategy was key to dominating local searches, allowing Craigs to appear multiple times in search results — from general info and maps to specific advisor details. For example, searching “investment advisor Rotorua” shows multiple entries related to Craigs, giving them great visibility without even needing a paid ad.

Targeted Search Ads: We revamped our approach to Google Ads by focusing on local regions instead of the whole country. This meant creating specific ads and landing pages for each area, which were more relevant and effective. We also tailored our budget to where it was needed most, based on regional demand and opportunities. Every layer had a bespoke approach within the region, akin to how Craigs Investment Partners approaches their overall business.

Boosting Local Presence: Our goal was to make Craigs more visible in local searches, to further build our trust and credibility in the regional market. Our six-month plan included: 

• Deep research into what competitors were doing, seeing gaps & opportunities to utilise
• Testing different ways to improve how often people click on Craigs’ links.
• Making sure pages related to specific services and locations were optimised.
• Enhancing listings on Google, Bing, and Apple to cover all bases.
• Improving the website’s technical aspects for better performance and speed.
• Updating content regularly based on the latest trends, volume shifts and optimising to align with Google’s rule changes.
• Tweaking the website design to make sure visitors have a smooth experience and are more likely to engage with the site. 

This approach not only brought our strategy to life but also established a new standard for personalised and localised search marketing, enhancing Craigs’ online presence and customer interactions significantly.

RESULTS

Our strategic overhaul was designed to meet ambitious objectives by increasing personalised interactions, boosting regional visibility, and driving high-quality leads. Here's how our results matched those goals:

• Increase in Personalised Interactions: By creating individualised landing pages and localised Google Ads, we provided a highly personalised user experience, leading directly to better engagement metrics.
• Enhanced Regional Visibility: Our targeted SEO efforts resulted in significant visibility improvements for each local branch, particularly in regional searches where Craigs had previously had limited presence.
• Growth in High-Quality Leads: The strategic focus on tailored content and local relevance directly contributed to an increase in valuable leads, demonstrating effective alignment with our objective to enhance lead quality and quantity.
• Our impact analysis showed the positive evidence in the numbers.

For SEM:

• Quality Score Improvement: Aligning ads, keywords, and landing pages more closely with user intent improved our Google Ads Quality Score from 4-5 to 7-8, showcasing the enhanced relevance of our campaigns.
• Cost Efficiency: The increase in Quality Score reduced our cost per click by 15%, allowing us to achieve more with our existing budget.
• Increased Click Traffic: This cost-efficiency translated into a 13% increase in click traffic, showing that our ads reached more potential clients without additional spending.
• Lead Generation: The combined effect of more relevant ads and improved landing pages led to a 45% increase in online leads (form submissions, email contacts and phone button clicks). This is a direct result of our strategy to make each interaction as relevant and personal as possible.

For SEO:

• Organic Traffic Growth: The implementation of our SEO strategy resulted in a 311% increase in monthly organic traffic from non-branded keywords, directly addressing our goal to enhance visibility beyond Craigs' existing client base.
• Keyword Ranking Success: 65% of targeted non-branded service keywords reached the top 3 positions on Google for the first time, significantly boosting our online presence.
• Local Branch Visibility: Each local branch page achieved first-page status on Google, fulfilling our objective to enhance local market penetration.
• Service Page Engagement: There was a 23% increase in organic traffic to service pages, improving engagement with potential clients interested in specific offerings.
• Extended Keyword Reach: 66 non-branded keywords entered the top 10 positions on Google, expanding our reach and potential client base.
• Enhanced User Engagement: A 22% increase in on-page clicks from organic traffic demonstrated improved site engagement, a direct outcome of our optimized content and user experience strategies.

Return on Investment (ROI):

The improvements in Quality Score and keyword rankings not only enhanced brand visibility and lead quality but also optimised our advertising spend. The reduction in click costs combined with increased traffic and conversion rates contributed to a more efficient use of the budget, yielding a higher ROI. Overall we increased the amount of local advisor leads by 45% while reducing the paid cost per click by 15%. This demonstrates that the campaign’s success was not incidental but a direct consequence of our focused and innovative Search Strategy.

"The integrated end to end approach and embodiment of our brand positioning at every level of our web/ SEM and SEO strategy delivered a measurable and ongoing step change in all our digital channels and footprint across our entire network. Results have been so visible that it has also generated huge pride and belief within Craigs" 

Tania Bui - Head of Marketing & Communications at Craigs Investment Partners