Paradigm has announced the launch of its annual ‘Summer School of Marketing’ which supports advisory businesses in developing their marketing activities to enhance customer engagement.

Starting this week, and running over the six-week Summer period, Paradigm will publish a range of marketing-focused materials and resources in the form of guides, blogs, articles and videos, to aid firms in generating increased business.

Each week of the Summer School has a different theme, beginning with ‘Getting Started’, moving on to ‘Using Social Media’, ‘Building your brand’, ‘Using emails’, ‘Improving your website’, and finishing with ‘Creating a Strategy’.

The Summer School works for those who want to up their marketing activity providing easy-to-use information, including those firms who already have a marketing strategy and those seeking to start from scratch with their marketing output.

Key parts of each week include:

• Getting Started – finding your audience and the best free marketing tools.
• Using Social Media – best platforms for advisers and tips.
• Building your brand – details on brand awareness, personal branding and also insights from OSB around their rebrand of Precise earlier this year.
• Using emails – GDPR compliance and best practice.
• Improving your website – a range of ideas including search engine optimisation (SEO), using chatbots and AI
• Creating a strategy – planning your activity with a six-week marketing plan template, and how to measure success.

In addition, for the first time, a number of Paradigm lender and provider partners are also involved with the Summer School providing their own marketing insight via audio soundbites which will be released throughout the Summer on social media.

Riona Mulherin, director of marketing & operations at Paradigm Mortgage Services, said: “If the summer has started then it’s definitely time for our annual ‘Summer School of Marketing’ – a six-week opportunity for all intermediary firms to brush up on their marketing activities, to see where they can develop their output to deliver greater engagement from their existing and prospective clients, improve their communication and enhance their brand profile.

“We know how busy advisers are, and many struggle to find time to invest in marketing activities. Over the course of six weeks, we aim to guide firms through the most effective methods to achieve the right results. The six weeks of content have been designed for those who are looking to make a significant splash in terms of their marketing, those who simply want to refresh their activity, or those who want to get involved but don’t know where to start.

“Different avenues and channels will work for different firms depending on their audience and their business goals, so with the ‘Summer School of Marketing’ Paradigm aims to identify all of these and to provide hints, tips and suggestions on what might work best, presenting the business and its proposition to target customers, and providing them with clear sign-posting so they can turn leads into clients.

“The Summer School begins this week with a Getting Started ‘module’ and will continue for the next six weeks, featuring industry experts sharing their insights as well. We are sure there will be something in this for all firms, regardless of the level of their marketing experience and activity.”