The branded distribution arm of non-bank lender
Liberty Financial,
Liberty Network Services, is preparing its broker network to gear up for a busy summer following the launch of a direct to consumer marketing campaign by the non-bank.
Brendan O’Donnell, managing director of Liberty Network Services, told
Australian Broker that its lead flow has more than doubled since Liberty launched its new consumer marketing initiative.
“In the last month since Liberty launched the website we have seen more than a doubling of our lead flow and we hope to see that continue as we go along,” he said.
“This is also on the back of our radio advertising that we have undertaken nationally and the radio program we host on Thursday evenings on small business and so on. Equally, we have a sponsorship focus on V8 supercars and also have a lot of local area marketing that we have been building up over the last three years with our adviser network.”
Whilst Liberty has traditionally been a business-to-business wholesale provider, O’Donnell said the timing has been perfect for it to focus on generating a consumer brand too.
“Liberty has traditionally been a business-to-business wholesale provider working through the broker channel and over the last three-and-a-half years we have been building up our branded distribution network of advisers. We had to get to a point where we were well represented across the country and we are at that point now,” O’Donnell told
Australian Broker.
“We can obviously grow further but we have got representation nationally, with the exception of Darwin. That was the main driver, but it was also about recognising that given the recent market changes, the opportunity was there for us to really move in and become a bit more aggressive in terms of our advertising.
“Certainly with where the market is at in regard to changes in the marketplace – from APRA with the banks – obviously we’ve got a good opportunity to capitalise on that.”
But O’Donnell says the consumer campaign hasn’t just increased consumer awareness and demand.
“[Liberty Network Services] has more than doubled in our adviser numbers over the past 12 months. We have 83 advisers as of today,” he told
Australian Broker.
“We have been building the business up over the past three years and it takes time to create the foundations, but now we have done all that in the last year we have seen significant growth in our adviser numbers. But we need to be selective as we go because it is not all about the adviser numbers. It is about getting quality people on board. We are well on our way to achieve our goal of reaching 100 that we set ourselves in the coming months.”
