CFA Institute

Raising the Bar for Investment Management Professionals

The CFA Institute swings a lot of weight in the financial sector. But convincing busy professionals at different stages of their careers to volunteer to prepare for and take exams is a tall task. CFA needed to call in the big guns to bring financial advisors back for more education, so they enlisted our help to bring them in.

The goal.

We came to the table with a plan of building highly customized, multi-channel demand gen programs that identify and target key prospects across multiple industries and locations. Because these prospects are all at different points in their professional journeys, we needed to generate content that felt tailor-made to their experience to help increase exam registrations and keep them active across all three programs.

The challenge.

In previous years, fewer than 30 percent of active candidates registered for a CFA certification exam, while those that did register did not have any meaningful contact with the institute after their exam. Outside of the Institute, the recruitment of non-society members had slowed to a trickle.  These three groups: unregistered members, registered members, and non-members all needed to be uniquely nurtured in order to achieve their desired growth.

The plan.

After conducting exhaustive research, facilitating interviews with key stakeholders within the institute, and getting inside the mind of CFA members, we began mapping out how each digital journey for our various targets would be structured and how to make them ring true for each group. These journey maps evolved into full-funnel engagement programs within all three CFA programs, outlining a high-touch demand gen strategy that serves thoughtful content across channels with over a dozen unique touch points for each of our target audiences.

The execution.

We delivered new content across email, social media, paid media, and dedicated landing pages to help keep members and prospects in the loop with all things CFA. We delivered content on everything from exam prep and continuing education through interactive tools, to reminders of key dates and deadlines, and even taking a deeper dive into CFA values and connecting members through video content from high-profile alumni.  Ultimately, we helped transform a stale, stuffy sales message into a journey filled with tangible benefits and a community to help guide the way.

The results.

Through our efforts, we were able to reach over 800,000 candidates and prospects while helping to gain over 90,000 exam registrations across the three programs with a staggering average engagement rate of over 60%.

90K

exam registrations across 3 programs

800K

candidates and prospects reached

60%

average rate of engagement

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