Digital marketing strategies for financial institutions and service providers
Everything is moving online at a rapid rate, and consumers are feeling more comfortable in cyberspace. Still, every second person has a horror story regarding online scamming (pay attention to your bank or credit union — there's a reason why they have such amazing policies in place regarding cybercrime). The rate of identity theft and other online crimes makes it hard for consumers to trust what they see online — particularly when their finances are involved. Financial services exist to provide peace of mind, so the last thing you want is for a potential customer to feel preyed upon when they come across your financial services marketing campaigns.
So how do you take your financial services and advertise online in a way that your target audience will trust you?
Financial Services Marketing
Implementing a strategy that meets your finance marketing objectives in the right digital channels is a powerful way to build trust.
Consistent Content
Finance marketing is all about building a relationship with your target audience — and just like the real world, relationship building takes time. When building relationships through financial marketing, consistency is key. You need to show up in the right place, in the right way, at the right time. And when finance businesses do this well, it's no coincidence! They've spent a lot of time refining their marketing strategies.
On average, a consumer needs to see your brand seven times before they’ll commit to your product or service. Digital marketing campaigns are great for placing your brand at the forefront of your target audience's mind through things such as content marketing, consistent email marketing, targeted social media ads and retargeting. Have you ever visited a website, and then all of a sudden, you start seeing that company all around cyberspace? This is no coincidence. It’s called retargeting, and it’s a great strategy to consistently put your finance business brand in front of potential customers.
From a customer perspective, seeing your brand everywhere makes it feel like a household name. And from a marketing perspective, becoming a household name is exactly what you want.
Relevant and Reliable Content
If consumers feel as though they are getting value from their interactions with your financial brand, you’ll be paving the way to keeping long term customers. People are more likely to subscribe to your campaigns and follow you on social media if you’re providing them with quality content to help them solve their pain points. Think of it this way; would you be more likely to become a customer of a company that spammed you with ads? or a company providing good quality content that you’ve used to add value to your life? I think you’d probably choose the latter.
If you are a tax accountant, for example, sharing an article detailing last-minute tips to prepare for tax time is a great way to:
Put your brand in front of your target audience.
Provide them with helpful tips to make their lives easier come tax time.
If they decide to choose you as their accountant, you’ve given them some handy tips that will ultimately make your job easier because they have been empowered (by you) to be prepared for tax time.
It’s a win, win, WIN situation. Relevant, reliable, good quality content goes a long way to making a lasting impression on your target audience, and leads to high levels of customer satisfaction.
Social Proof
Humans are social creatures, so it makes sense that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from their peers. If it’s good enough for the Jones’s then it’s good enough for me, right? Right! Social media has a fantastic way of helping here. If you can get one person to like, share or retweet your content, then your brand is going to be placed in front of their peers with the added advantage of automatic trust just because you are already trusted enough by the person who liked, shared or retweeted. In the finance industry, this kind of advocacy from your clients is priceless.
There are many forms of social proof that can be incorporated into your digital platforms:
Customer testimonials. Reading testimonials makes the services feel more genuine for the reader. If they struggle to fully relate to financial services companies, seeing a testimonial from someone they can relate to can really help them to feel as though they've found the right financial advisor, mortgage broker, insurance broker, or whatever financial service you provide!
Ratings and reviews. Do you check out reviews online before choosing a service provider? Most consumers do! Make it a habit to ask your existing customers if they can leave a review on your chosen review platform.
Expert mentions. In the financial industry, networking plays a huge role in generating business. Getting brand mentions from industry professionals is a great way to extend the reach of your finance company, build trust with your audience, and ultimately get some leads.
Influencer endorsement. Financial institutions aren't exactly playing in the influencer marketing area like retail companies and other industries do. However, a shoutout on social media platforms from the right person, with a large following can have a huge impact on your marketing efforts.
Awards and rankings. Entering financial services industry awards is a great way to gain recognition for the work you do and goes a long way when showing your audience you're the real deal.
But how do you get people to follow, like, share and retweet? Through consistent, relevant, reliable content.
Digital Marketing for the Finance Industry
Building and maintaining trust in a digital environment is an ongoing process, and one that is well worth the effort when you have a solid digital marketing strategy — having professional finance marketers on your side deploying marketing techniques can help you position your expertise and offering in exactly the right place (and way).
How well are your finance marketing initiatives performing? Contact us for your free discovery session to learn how we can help you build trust (and ultimately gain clients!) through your digital strategy.
Rerise Digital are experts at helping financial services providers build trust with their target audience.
Comentarios