Dynamic Growth

SWIFT stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.

Founded in 1973, it is comprised of a large network of roughly 11,000 banks from all over the world. Think of it as a messaging service for money. SWIFT member banks share information with each other about sending and receiving funds – mostly across international borders.

SWIFT operations are located in Belgium – which makes sense because of it's fairly neutral location – and is overseen by the G10 countries (psst that includes the US).

Where do you get your information

Do you find yourself going to Google/Bing/Yahoo (insert favorite search engine here) first? Second? Not at all? If you're anything like me, you still use search engines out of habit but can't help but wonder if the results are all just paid sponsorships and if that product is – in fact – the best option. Imagine how many businesses we are missing out on because they can't buy their way to the first page of results. Same goes for Amazon. More and more you hear about storefronts that aren't even managed by the company they are selling goods from – not to mention sponsored posts, planted reviews and ratings – you name it.

Insert the rise of dark social! Have you heard this term? It's used by marketing professionals to describe website referrals and traffic that is difficult to track. Without a specific source, it is near impossible for companies to monitor common digital KPIs like website referrals and social media engagement. Buyers are now using alternate sources to evaluate products, find companies, and ultimately build trust with a brand. What exactly is dark social - here are some examples: social networks, content platforms, groups & communities, word of mouth and messaging apps.

I challenge you to consider if you are more likely to take a recommendation from someone you know / a community or brand that you trust or search results that were tailored just for you. If your answer falls to the first option, ask yourself if your company's marketing strategy is optimized for dark social.

Need help? Contact us!

Thanks Carly for joining us again and we hope you enjoy the episode

Consumer Discretionary Sector

How can a sector filled with "non-essential" goods not be a fun topic to dive into? Luxuries we don't need – yes, please! Let's take a look at the sector made up of companies opposite from our earlier podcast on consumer staples – the consumer discretionary sector.

Carly Snyder is the newest team member of Crosby Advisory. She has worked with large corporations to assist them with their marketing and she is joining Dynamic Growth to give advice on building a brand. The first of many episodes with her, we hope you enjoy!

For our lucky listeners enjoying sunshine right now – I'm talking to you Florida – make sure you soak up some extra vitamin D for us! As many of us fire up our streaming services and hunker down for snowmageddon, let's take a deeper look at the communications sector!

Spoiler alert – the podcast today revealed that Derek doesn't have TikTok. Didn't see that coming!

This begins a series on the 11 Sectors of the S&P 500 starting with the worst-performing sector in 2021, the utility sector. How should you invest in the utility sector? Is the utility sector positioned to grow in 2022? What is the best sector for growth? We will discuss in the coming weeks.