The results of an seo- and content-driven marketing strategy at AIB Merchant Services

The October Digital Thursday event saw Nick Biggam, Commercial Director UK and Ireland, AIB Merchant Services, talk about a content- and SEO-driven marketing strategy that is delivering real results.

The Background

Every time we use a credit or debit card to purchase something we generate an electronic transaction. This occurs in-store, over the phone or via the Internet. Increasingly, we are also purchasing from mobile devices and through contactless payment systems. AIB Merchant Services provide the technology to make this happen quickly and securely. So now you know.

The Challenge

Nick and his team were faced with the challenge of finding new routes to market to add to the more traditional routes such as the AIB branch network. The also faced the challenge of working with an organisation that was nervous of digital marketing, and social media in particular. If we are honest, they also faced the challenge of working with a sector that has suffered serious reputational damage in recent years.

Introducing TransactionAge.com

The solution was to set up an independent website www.transactionage.com, which was created to become an centre of industry knowledge and expertise. The central idea was to use content marketing to build profile and drive traffic to the AIBMS website. It also moved them away from the AIB brand. How did they go about doing this?

1. Writing 3 to 6 independent, non-biased articles a week to showcase their expertise. This was done using a team of independent journalists as well as articles supplied by other industry players
2. Serious SEO work involving 141 key words of which they rank first for 90
3. Backlinks to the AIBMS website for additional information
4. Sharing content via LinkedIn and Twitter
5. Monthly email

Did it work?

Nick was very definite that this strategy has shown real results. For example:

• a significant increase in leads
• a direct correlation between SEO work and enquiries
• the new website has become the 2nd largest referrer of visitors to the main AIBMS site

It was very interesting to hear of a content-driven approach that really delivered results. It was also heartening to hear that Nick and his team have now been asked to talk to the AIB corporate marketing team about their experiences in digital marketing. This may be a classic case of it being easier to get forgiveness than permission…

Victor Coleman, Marketing Institute Breakfast Committee

Digital Thursdays are hosted in partnership with ebow, a leading digital agency specialising in web design, social media and digital marketing, and winner of ‘2012 Web Agency of the Year’ at the ICT Excellence Awards.

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