Welcome back to “Meet the Team Behind VIAINVEST,” where we give you an insider’s look at the people powering our platform. This time, we’re sitting down with Igors Prokofjevs, our Head of Marketing. He’s the mastermind behind our marketing strategies, shaping how we connect with our community in sharing the VIAINVEST story.
Join us as we peek into his team’s daily challenges, triumphs, and creative drive, which help keep VIAINVEST at the forefront of the fintech industry.
Can you share a little about your background and what led you to your current role as Head of Marketing?
My background includes over a decade of experience in management, marketing, media, and related disciplines, planning and overseeing the full scope of sales, marketing, and communication activities. My initial experience was gained from the largest media and advertising agency networks in the Baltics and Central Asia. Later, I led e-commerce activities for Samsung Electronics in the Baltic region and oversaw marketing for telecommunication company Baltcom, part of Bite Group.
I have been the Chief Marketing Officer for VIA SMS Group, a holding company for loan originators and VIAINVEST, for over 4 years. My daily responsibilities are primarily marketing, sales, and various business development initiatives with a clear focus on lead to customer acquisition.
What are the key responsibilities and goals for someone in your position at VIAINVEST?
We have several businesses and brands across multiple markets and a set of marketing channels, targets, and goals to reach. Therefore, we must “wear many hats” daily as we work in multicultural and multi-lingual environments with various marketing channels, including traditional media, digital acquisition, influencer marketing, etc. I find it quite challenging to keep the simultaneous and aligned growth of VIAINVEST and loan originators while considering legislation challenges and market dynamics.
Regarding VIAINVEST, we build our marketing on the company values of trust and transparency. I think, these are really important values to be accountable for, as every bank and reputable financial organisation would base their brand on.
How would you describe VIAINVEST’s marketing strategy, and what makes it effective in reaching and engaging your target audience?
From P2P lending to asset-backed securities, we are in a change management process. We currently are working on a brand update that will include a completely new website, both visually and technically. We aim to make it faster, more usable, and visually appealing. The brand’s touch and feel will change, so we have plenty on our to-do list.
As for marketing strategy, we’re trying to be as transparent as possible about who we are and what we do. Investing involves risks, and asset-backed securities might seem complicated for retail investors. Hence, our mission here is to explain our product well and find the right communication channels, whether it’s a Telegram post or collaboration with an influencer who can help us spread a message. This dynamic pace is what we’re excited about, here in the Marketing department.
What unique challenges do you face when marketing financial services, and how do you overcome them?‘
I would strongly differentiate regular financial services from IBF-licensed platforms. Legislation, a set of rules, policies, and recommendations, makes the environment challenging and increases the complexity of decision-making. On the other hand, as a marketer, financial services, similar to other highly regulated, are far more interesting, as you face an extra layer of complexity in every action you plan and execute.
How do you approach brand building in the competitive fintech space, and what key elements do you focus on to differentiate VIAINVEST?
The environment we’re currently operating in seems to be quite challenging for several reasons. On the one hand, strict rules within the European Union state that businesses running operations similar to VIAINVEST must be licensed. This leads to a completely different set of rules and obligations in various internal processes for IBF-licensed companies, i.e. customer acquisition channels and communication messages, passporting across different countries, extensive KYC, etc. All things considered bring an extra layer of transparency, security and accountability for the investors. On the other hand, there are still some P2P platforms operating in the grey area, being registered outside European jurisdiction while maintaining some level of operations here. Meanwhile, the market is shifting; we don’t operate under the same rules and can differentiate based on what our product is.
What qualities do you look for in your marketing team members, and how do you encourage creativity and innovation?
I can be proud to work with a team of great individuals and professionals. Marketing team is under 10 members, but we successfully maintain operations in a set of countries and products. We cover most design, copywriting, front-end, affiliate/partner marketing, and performance marketing processes internally.
As for the creativity and innovation, I believe it’s more about an environment where we are at and the openness, trust and support in between one another. I feel like we have all the chemistry necessary for magic to happen.
What aspect of your job inspires you the most daily?
The never-ending challenges, a great team and a perfect work-life balance keeps me going.
Thank You for reading the latest blog in our “Meet the team behind VIAINVEST” series. We hope this gives You a better understanding of what happens behind the scenes at VIAINVEST.
Look out for the following ones!
Happy investing, VIAINVEST
Disclaimer.
This is marketing communication, not investment advice or investment research. Investments involve certain risks and costs. Legal information about SIA “Viainvest” and its services is available here: https://viainvest.com/en/company/legal.