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About IFAP / unbiased.co.uk

About IFAP / Unbiased.co.uk

IFAP has been running for over 20 years and is the industry body responsible for promoting independent financial advice in the UK. It's consumer and media facing brand is Unbiased.co.uk.

Unbiased.co.uk is now positioned as 'the professional advice website'. It's able to do this credibly because the 16,500 RI member IFAs listed on its database now hold between them 14,500 verified QCA Level 4 or above qualifications/designations/papers. This positioning is also helped by Unbiased.co.uk recently adopting a portal approach, presenting IFAs alongside other professional adviser types (eg whole market Mortgage Advisers, Solicitors and Accountants).

Unbiased.co.uk is a not for profit organisation funded by 25 product provider sponsors and through member IFA subscriptions to its Enhanced Advertising Package. It is run by a small team of five permanent employees from its central London head office.

Generating positive consumer media coverage cost effectively

Amongst industry groups, Unbiased.co.uk is uniquely positioned to generate consumer media coverage positioning IFAs and the advice process in a positive light. Firstly, because its public facing 'Find an IFA' proposition enjoys a high hygiene factor - it is seen by the media and third party referrers to genuinely match enquirers up with the most appropriate local IFA whilst protecting that enquirers confidentiality. And secondly, because Unbiased.co.uk is seen by the media to help them to do their jobs - through its Blue Book 'Find a Media IFA' service.

This results in the media being more receptive to Unbiased.co.uk's consumer PR messages - eg Tax Action, Debt Freedom Day, Savings Break, etc. Inevitably, this consumer media coverage carries a call to action for readers/listeners/viewers to visit Unbiased.co.uk to find local independent financial advice. As a result Unbiased.co.uk is cost effectively generating around 2,500 pieces of positive consumer media coverage each year, across national/regional print, online and broadcast consumer media.

Unbiased.co.uk's Blue Book 'Find a Media IFA' service seeks to broaden out the pool of Media IFAs quoted in the media by matching journalists up with the most appropriate Media IFA. It's fair to say that IFAs enjoy unparalleled support in the consumer personal finance arena. Media IFAs are quoted extensively and they are always positioned as expert commentators and called 'IFAs' - giving the IFA brand invaluable support across the personal finance media spectrum.

Unbiased.co.uk measures around 5,000 pieces of media coverage featuring Blue Book Media IFAs each year. Over the last 12 months, the online Blue Book 'Find a Media IFA' service has been used 26,000 times by journalists seeking Media IFAs for expert commentary and case studies. According to IPSOS Mori, 84% of personal finance and trade journalists now use Unbiased.co.uk's Blue Book 'Find a Media IFA' service with 75% now signed up to the online version of the Blue Book. Last year, IFAP's online Blue Book service won the Financial Services Forum's award for best PR.

Generating quality leads cost effectively

After personal/professional referral, the web is the now the single most important source of the new business for IFAs. Within this context, Unbiased.co.uk is attempting to ensure that when people go online to start researching their financial advice options, wherever possible, they end up with IFAP member IFA data. Here is some background underlining this focus:

• At any given time, Unbiased.co.uk is bidding on around 2 million search terms to ensure that its service appears at the top of the paid for search listings on UK search engines for relevant searches. All of Unbiased.co.uk's web content is optimised to ensure its service appears on the natural listings on UK search engines for relevant searches.
• Over 60 white label co-branded versions of Unbiased.co.uk's 'Find an IFA' service now feature in the money channels of portals, personal finance websites, product providers and trade bodies. If you type 'Find an IFA' in to Google UK, 80% of the returned links over the first five pages of search results feature either links to Unbiased.co.uk or a white label version of the 'Find an IFA' service running on partner websites.
• Increasingly, Unbiased.co.uk co-branded content (guide to 'independent financial advice', consumer guides, interactive tools, podcasts and vodcasts) is being used on a white label basis by the portals and personal finance websites because Unbiased.co.uk is now seen as a trusted online content provider.

Because Unbiased.co.uk's 'Find an IFA' service genuinely seeks to match enquirers with the most appropriate local IFA (without coercion), when that enquirer arrives at the point of advice under their own steam they are inevitably a warm lead. And because of the way Unbiased.co.uk leaves enquirers in control of the selection process, around 75% of the enquiries Unbiased.co.uk handles come from third party referrers - enabling Unbiased.co.uk to generate large volumes of quality leads for its member IFAs very cost effectively.

Each year Unbiased.co.uk handles around half a million requests for details of local member IFAs.  Last year Unbiased.co.uk won the Financial Services Forum's award for best digital activity.