In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, launching a new brand takes more than just a great product; it requires a clear understanding of the target audience, a well-defined strategy, and rapid execution. AXS, an alternative investment asset manager, understood this as they sought to shift their focus from financial advisors to a new audience: traders. With the clock ticking and only 45 days before launch, AXS partnered with GK3 Capital to create Tradr ETFs—a brand designed to meet the needs of performance-driven traders.

This blog details how we helped AXS define their new target audience, build an engaging brand, and develop an omni-channel marketing campaign that drove rapid success, including a 300% increase in website traffic and a surge in trading volume within the first month.

The Problem: A Model That No Longer Worked

AXS was a successful asset manager, but they were finding it increasingly difficult to break into the advisor channel. Managing and distributing over 20 funds, they faced several challenges:

• High costs: With each fund requiring its own funnel and marketing effort, the digital marketing spend to promote 20+ funds was unsustainable.
• Sales complexity: Distributing the funds nationwide required a large and costly sales force to engage financial advisors and RIAs.
• Low margins: The expense of maintaining a large sales team and running separate marketing efforts for each fund squeezed margins, making the business model unsustainable.

Recognizing the need for a shift, AXS CEO Russ Tencer decided to refocus their efforts away from financial advisors and intermediaries, targeting traders directly with a line of cutting-edge ETFs that offered innovative leverage resets on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. These products offered traders a superior alternative to existing leveraged ETFs on the market, but with just 45 days to launch, they needed a full-scale brand and marketing strategy quickly.

The Solution: Defining and Launching Tradr ETFs in 45 Days

1. Defining the Target Audience

At the core of this rebrand was a thorough understanding of who the new target audience—traders—were and what mattered to them. We began with a series of workshops and strategy sessions with the AXS team, during which we analyzed key characteristics of traders. These sessions provided several crucial insights:

• Mindset: Traders view themselves as part of a “tribe,” united by a shared commitment to precision, speed, and performance.
• Tools of the trade: They rely heavily on specific tools—like candlestick charts—and want solutions that give them an edge in their trading strategies.
• Education: Traders tend to be data-driven, and their loyalty is won through deep understanding, education, and resources that help them make smarter decisions.

These insights formed the foundation of the Tradr ETFs brand identity and messaging, ensuring it would resonate with the new audience from the outset.

2. Building the Brand Identity

With a clear understanding of the target audience, we moved on to creating the visual identity. Through this process, we landed on a bold and dynamic brand identity that stood out in the financial services market.

The Logo:

Inspired by the idea of a tribe, the logo features a shield symbolizing strength and unity, overlaid with candlestick charts—a familiar tool for traders. This unique combination communicated both the identity of the audience and the core value of Tradr ETFs: giving traders the tools they need to succeed.

The Color Palette:

Moving away from the traditional blues and blacks of the financial industry, we developed a color palette that was bold and vibrant. The aim was to capture the energy and dynamism of the trader community, ensuring the brand stood out from the competition.

Taglines:

• “Sharp traders don’t use dull tools.”
• “It’s about time” (highlighting the innovative calendar reset feature).

These taglines further reinforced the brand’s promise to provide superior tools for high-performance traders.

The Omni-Channel Launch Strategy

With the brand identity established, the next challenge was launching Tradr ETFs with a multi-channel marketing strategy that would educate traders about the new products while driving immediate engagement and conversions.

Content Creation and Education

The primary goal of the campaign was education. As these were new products with unique features, it was crucial to clearly communicate why these ETFs were better than anything else on the market. We developed a comprehensive content strategy to support this goal:

• Blog posts: In-depth articles covering topics like leveraged ETFs, performance resets, and comparisons between daily, weekly, and monthly resets.
• White papers: Educational resources that provided traders with a deeper understanding of the benefits of Tradr ETFs.
• Animated videos: Explainer videos were created to visually walk traders through the features of the new products.
• Performance calculator: We developed a calculator that allowed traders to compare the performance of daily and monthly leveraged ETFs over different time periods, providing tangible data to help them make informed decisions.

Omni-Channel Promotion

We then launched an omni-channel marketing campaign to reach traders wherever they were engaging with content and conducting research.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM):

We targeted keywords related to competitor ETFs and products traders were already familiar with. For example, we bid on keywords related to leveraged ETFs like SOXW (a popular ETF) to ensure Tradr ETFs were appearing in front of the right audience. This strategy drove high-intent traffic from traders who were actively searching for solutions.

Influencer Marketing:

We identified key influencers in the trading and ETF space who regularly spoke to our target audience. By collaborating with these influencers, we were able to expand the reach of the brand and build credibility within the trading community.

LinkedIn Ads:

Paid LinkedIn ads were used to target traders with educational content, helping drive traffic to the Tradr ETFs website and increase engagement.

Programmatic Advertising:

We used programmatic ads to retarget visitors who had already engaged with the Tradr ETFs website, ensuring they remained connected to the brand as they continued researching. This strategy helped drive repeat visits and increase conversions.

The Results: 300% Traffic Increase and Market Recognition

In just one month after the launch, the results were highly promising:

These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the combined approach to brand creation and marketing. More importantly, they reflect the ability of GK3 Capital to execute a complete rebrand and launch in just 45 days.

The Long-Term Strategy

While the initial results were promising, this was only the beginning of Tradr ETFs’ journey. GK3 Capital continues to work with AXS to optimize and scale the campaign based on real-time data. By continuously testing different channels and messaging, we are refining the strategy to maximize conversions and trading volume over time.

The long-term goal is to solidify Tradr ETFs as a leader in the ETF space, leveraging the power of omni-channel marketing, ongoing content creation, and targeted educational efforts to maintain momentum and growth.

Conclusion: A Rapid, Successful Rebrand

Launching a new brand in just 45 days is no small feat, but with the right team, strategy, and focus on the target audience, it’s possible to achieve remarkable results. GK3 Capital’s collaboration with AXS to create and launch Tradr ETFs shows the importance of defining the audience, building a brand identity that resonates, and executing an omni-channel strategy that educates and engages.

With a 300% increase in traffic, increased trading volume, and significant media coverage, Tradr ETFs is well-positioned for long-term success—and we’re excited to continue driving growth for the brand.

Ready to learn more about how GK3 Capital can help you grow your brand? Contact us today to discuss your digital marketing needs.