Anemona Stanomir: PR’s role as an educational tool for financial companies

“Money” is a sensitive subject and, for this reason, the Financial Services industry is not an easily approachable topic of discussion in most cases. However, financial companies play an important role in our day-to-day life, and the majority of us tend to overlook this aspect.

It is a fact that nowadays most people have 20-30 year loans with one or more financial institutions and that, unless you do a thorough research on the product(s) you have committed yourself to (pay) for the rest of your life, you may find out too late that you have entered a “relationship” where it doesn’t take “two to tango”. It is also a fact that financial institutions seldom communicate in a language that the common consumer understands, mainly because our products are complex and most often customizable.

Therefore, before you commit to invest in your future, you first need to understand what your options are and how you can make the most suitable decision, regardless if you are an economist, a teacher, a doctor or a lawyer. Any company that offers financial products in good faith should want to have its clients fully understanding the products and the risks associated with investments. Thus, the need for educational programs is inextricably linked to our business scope.

As a brokerage house, our purpose is to offer retail customers the opportunity to build and grow their own investment portfolio through trading financial instruments. The role of PR is to find efficient communication tools that make information easy to understand for a diverse palette of professionals, by addressing issues that are of interest and that people can relate to in their day-to-day lives.  As Benjamin Franklin said “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest” and as mentioned earlier, financial education is a must nowadays, therefore, we need to make it appealing and easy to digest, so that our audience not only hears about our products, but also understands what their investment opportunities are. This is why each press material that we distribute, every PR action we make, is a “brick” brought to the foundation of the concept of personal investments’ portfolio that Romanians have (yet) to get acquainted with.

What is it that we do, concretely? Our spokespersons constantly draw attention on how important financial education has become nowadays and how being financially literate can help better manage your day-to-day life. We distribute periodical analyses on general (and easy to understand) interest topics, through which we inform about issues that cause important changes on national and international markets. To give an example, we released an analysis describing the impact of the decrease in the stock market price of sugar, explaining how this aspect can make you think twice before pouring sugar in your daily coffee.

Through our press releases, we not only describe our products and services, but we also inform our readers about the aspects they should take into account when choosing a financial company in case they are contemplating working with (or for) one, and the financial instruments they could, eventually, invest in. And because the financial world is not only about winning, we never talk about investment opportunities without mentioning the risks. We respect our customers and we are committed to making them aware that risk demands a certain amount of know-how and, as money is a serious topic, it should be approached with thoroughness and responsibility.

Our materials, whether they are published by an important financial publication, or just posted on our website, represent valuable sources of information for individuals, regardless if they intend to invest in a simple bank deposit or they are interested in complex instruments such as CFDs or margin trading.

The conclusion is that through PR activities we found a way through which we can generate awareness on the importance of financial education while, at the same time, transmit valuable information for acquiring financial literacy. Without PR, our educational activity would not have the same reach and impact. Without education, our business activity would be incorrect and incomplete. People should be given the opportunity to realize that financial independence can be acquired not only by quitting your job and opening your own business, but understanding that there are also other ways through which you can diversify your activities and income.

Column written by

Anemona Stanomir,

Communication and Business Affairs Specialist at XTB Romania