We are in the digital age and its obvious how digital marketing is reshaping most industries, including the financial services industry. As it turns out, the financial service industry has been rather slow on the uptake of modern marketing trends to keep up with changing consumer behaviour. But there are some trends that financial planning companies cannot afford to ignore anymore. Here are some of the key marketing trends and the opportunities they present for the financial services sector.
Social Media
When you think about financial services, social media will probably be among the last things to cross your mind. If that’s how you feel, you’re not alone because the financial service industry feels the same way. However, that shouldn’t be the case because the landscape has changed. Today, people eat, sleep and breathe social media. It has become an integral part of life. Unfortunately, financial service firms are lagging in the adoption of social media marketing, perceiving a lack of value in social marketing and fearing reputation risk.
In a world where a single complaint can go viral in less than two hours, social media cannot be taken for granted. Ignoring the power of social media is no longer an option. Nonetheless, some financial service firms have been trying to catch up with the wave. Recent statistics show an increased presence of such firms on social networking sites. In light of this, financial planning companies can kick-start their online campaigns and leverage their customer’s online presence.
Online Video
Online video is exploding, accounting for half of the internet traffic. Research has it that close to 50% of customers are more likely to investigate a product after watching an online video. In as much as online video has been gaining traction in the financial services sector, firms are using online video in the same way they use TV advertising—interrupting rather than attracting consumers. With the right video content, financial service firms can use their market analytics to create engaging videos that send the right message to consumers.
Email Marketing
As online communication becomes the primary method of managing customer relationships, email continues to move centre stage as a critical channel of communication. The financial services industry, however, is underutilising email—reserving it for operational alerts rather than marketing. The fear of bombarding clients has kept many firms away from using email for marketing. Email presents an excellent opportunity for financial service firms to make use of their data to segment, target and personalise emails for better click-through and engagement rates. Another approach is using marketing automation to create two-way conversations by listening to their clients.
Marketing Analytics
With the onset of big data, the financial services industry has since struggled to cope with the explosion of data from social media interactions, website behaviour (precisionwealth.com.au/) and other digital channels. Customers want their financial institutions to adopt proactive measures and provide personalised attention. Therefore, firms can combine marketing analytics with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data, and then use automation to refine their targeting for online advertising and increase their overall Return On Investment (ROI).