Did you know that, according to a Deloitte survey, over 60% of consumers believe financial service providers must provide a more personal experience?
In today’s digital age, the financial industry isn’t just about numbers and balance sheets. It’s about building connections and trust and offering solutions that resonate with modern consumers. Compared to other markets, the financial services industry must make an extra effort to ensure potential clients that their investment will be safe and be as transparent as possible about what they can expect in the short and long term.
Financial services companies must invest in marketing and advertising their services online to attract a wider audience and communicate a proper message to achieve this. But how do you stand out in such a complex and regulated industry?
Worry not. This guide will provide you with the latest and most comprehensive strategy to navigate the dynamic financial marketing world and frequent questions. Whether you’re a startup fintech or a seasoned bank, discover the secrets to effectively market your financial services company and forge meaningful connections with your audience.
What is Financial Services Marketing?
So, imagine you’ve got a friend, let’s call him Jake. Jake’s great at managing money. He can help you save, invest, insure your car, and even get a loan for that dream house you’ve been eyeing. But the thing is, not a lot of people know about Jake’s skills or the services he offers.
Now, imagine there’s another friend, Maya. She’s good at telling stories and getting people’s attention. What if Maya could tell everyone how awesome Jake is and what he can do for them?
Financial Services Marketing is basically Maya helping Jake out. It’s all about promoting and selling the various money-related services offered by businesses like banks, insurance companies, or investment firms. It involves understanding what people need or want regarding their finances and then communicating how a particular financial service can help them. This is achieved by implementing diverse strategies and using different channels while focusing on the benefits rather than the features of your services.
Back then, companies had to promote their services through traditional tactics, such as billboard ads, TV, radio, cold-calling, and strong sales tactics. Nowadays, financial services firms can promote their service through digital channels such as social media, search engines (like Google), online directories, paid ad campaigns, websites, and more. We’ll focus on the digital channels as they are predominantly the most effective ones to reach a wider audience and grow your business.
What are the Primary Challenges Financial Service Providers Face in their Marketing Efforts?
Marketing for financial services has quirks, challenges, and thrills compared to other industries. Let’s cover some of them.
Trust and Credibility
Money is personal. When marketing financial services, you ask people to trust you with their cash or financial stability. Building and maintaining trust is more paramount than selling a t-shirt or a coffee machine. This market sector is more serious and requires more company trust and credibility.
Complex Products
Financial products can be tricky. We’re talking about mortgages, retirement plans, and investment portfolios – not your everyday impulse buy. Explaining these in a simple, digestible way takes skill, especially if you launch messages on digital campaigns. Financial companies must be careful so that their messages are not misunderstood and that clients want to buy their products and services.
Regulations and Compliance
The financial world is loaded with regulations. You can’t just whip up a catchy ad without ensuring it meets strict regulatory standards. No false promises or misleading statements are allowed!
Emotional Decisions
Decisions around money are often emotional. Financial marketing must address these deep-seated emotions, whether the excitement of buying a home, the anxiety of investing, or the hope of a secure retirement.
Reputation Management
Given its importance in our lives, the financial sector is under constant public scrutiny. One bad review or scandal can seriously impact business, making reputation management crucial.
How to Market Financial Services Online
There are different digital marketing strategies for financial services that will help increase your business’s online visibility. Let’s cover some of the most common and effective ones.
Website Creation
Your website is like your digital storefront. It’s often the first impression potential clients get of your business when performing online searches. To ensure that users go through your website until they decide to contact you, you must ensure it is informative, user-friendly, and mobile-responsive. Consider the following factors when creating your website.
Use a clean and professional design that resonates with your target audience
A clean design avoids clutter, ensuring information is easy to find and consume. A professional aesthetic tailored to appeal to your target audience ensures that visitors perceive your financial services firm as trustworthy and competent. In this case, less is more.
Ensure it’s mobile-responsive
With significant web traffic coming from mobile devices, your website must look and work well on smartphones and tablets. A mobile-responsive site automatically adjusts its layout and elements to fit the device’s screen size, ensuring a seamless experience for all users.
Include essential pages like Services, About Us, Contact, Testimonials, and a Blog
These pages will provide users with all the necessary information when considering your services. This includes previous projects your company has worked on, different services you offer, contact information if they want to reach out, and relevant resources in case they are looking for an answer to a question,
Use clear calls-to-action (CTAs)
A call-to-action encourages website visitors to take a specific action, like “Contact Us,” “Book a Consultation,” or “Download Our Guide.” Effective CTAs are clear, compelling, and strategically placed throughout the site, guiding users toward desired outcomes.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO consists in optimizing your website and content to make it rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). When potential customers search for keywords related to your financial services, you want your website to appear at the top of the results page, as these websites receive more clicks and traffic and are more likely to generate sales. You can follow several best practices to improve your website’s SEO. Let’s mention some of the most important ones.
Research keywords related to financial services.
Keywords are the terms and phrases potential clients type into search engines when looking for financial services. You can understand what your target audience is searching for by researching these keywords. Keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or SEMrush can help identify popular and relevant terms. Once you have identified them, naturally include them in your website’s content to ensure your website appears when users look for them in Google.
Improve site speed and performance.
A fast-loading website enhances user experience. Slow websites can frustrate users, leading them to exit before the site fully loads. This can negatively impact your rankings. Google and other search engines prioritize mobile-friendly, fast-loading sites, making this a vital component of SEO. Work with your website developer to create a fast and responsive site.
Get high-quality backlinks and regularly update content.
Backlinks are links from other websites pointing back to yours. High-quality backlinks, especially from authoritative sites within the financial sector, can significantly boost your site’s SEO value. Search engines see them as endorsements of your content’s quality. Regularly updating content keeps your website fresh and relevant, signaling to search engines that your site is active and providing up-to-date information.
Optimize meta tags, URLs, image alt texts, and headings.
Search engines look at all of these elements in your website to understand its content. Including your target keywords in each of these places will help boost your rankings and provide context to users of what content they can find.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing valuable content to attract and retain customers. This can include blog posts, articles, ebooks, infographics, videos, and other types of content. Your content should be informative, engaging, and relevant to your audience so that search engines prioritize your business over your competitors. Ensure you regularly publish content addressing common financial questions or topics of interest. Most importantly, Ensure all content is factual, engaging, and offers value so that your business is recognized as an expert in the field.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with potential and existing customers. You can use email marketing to send newsletters, promotional offers, and other messages. To make the most of your email marketing strategy, consider the following:
Build a subscriber list through website sign-ups or promotions
Building a robust email subscriber list is the foundation of effective email marketing. Use your website to capture visitor details by having sign-up forms or pop-ups, encouraging them to subscribe to newsletters, blogs, or promotional emails. Leverage promotions, like offering a free e-book or a discount, to entice visitors to subscribe. With a solid list of subscribers, you are one step closer to delivering effective emails to the right audience.
Segment your list for targeted campaigns
Once you have created your email contacts list, it’s time to segment them. Segmentation refers to dividing your email list into specific groups based on criteria like demographics, behavior, or engagement level. It ensures that the emails sent are relevant to the recipient, increasing engagement and chances of generating new clients and sales. For instance, sending retirement planning tips to individuals nearing retirement age or investment advice to new subscribers. A well-segmented email list enables you to send personalized, relevant content that resonates with different subsets of your audience.
Regularly send out newsletters, updates, or exclusive offers
Consistent communication keeps your brand at the top of the subscriber’s mind and nurtures the relationship over time. Newsletters can share insights into the financial world, updates can inform about changes or advancements in your services, and exclusive offers (like discounted consultations or premium content) create a sense of exclusivity and appreciation. Ensure the content is value-driven, and maintain a balance to avoid overwhelming subscribers with too many emails.
Use engaging subject lines and ensure content is relevant to the recipient
The subject line is often deciding whether an email gets opened. Craft it to be compelling, clear, and a true reflection of the email’s content. Use A/B testing to understand what your audience prefers. Once opened, the email content must deliver on the promise of the subject line. Ensure it’s tailored to the recipient (which segmentation will assist with) and provides genuine value.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a great way to connect with potential and existing customers. This strategy involves promoting your services and engaging with audiences on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn. You can use social media to share your content, promote your services, inform your clients about your business’s updates, and even research social trends. To ensure you make the most of your social media strategy, consider the following tips:
Choose platforms popular within your target audience.
Establishing your presence on platforms where your target audience is active is essential. Different social media channels cater to varied demographics and interests. LinkedIn, for example, is often used for B2B interactions and professional networking in the financial sector. Instagram or TikTok may be relevant if you target a younger, more consumer-oriented demographic. Research and understand the platforms your target clients use the most to ensure your efforts are directed accurately and efficiently.
Share informative posts, news updates, and client testimonials.
Consistently sharing a mix of content keeps your audience engaged and informed. Informative posts could include tips on personal finance, investment insights, or explanations of financial concepts in simple terms. News updates related to the financial world or your company keep your audience abreast of relevant developments. Lastly, client testimonials build credibility, showing prospects the positive experiences of your existing clients.
Engage with followers by responding to comments and messages.
Social media is not just a platform for broadcasting messages but a two-way communication channel. Engaging with followers by responding to their comments, liking their posts, answering their messages, or even commenting on their content helps build a relationship and portrays your business as attentive and interactive. This helps build brand awareness around your company and attract more users interested in your services.
Consider hosting live Q&A sessions or webinars.
Live sessions on social media platforms can significantly enhance user engagement and bring a human touch to your digital presence. A Q&A session allows followers to interact with you in real time, addressing their questions immediately while portraying your expertise in the field. Webinars can be used to dive deep into specific topics, providing valuable insights and information to your audience. Both formats allow you to showcase your team’s knowledge and authenticity while providing a platform for direct interaction with your audience.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a type of online advertising where you pay a fee each time someone clicks on your ad. PPC ads can be a great way to drive traffic to your website and generate leads using platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Bing Ads. However, setting your budget carefully and tracking your results closely is essential. To ensure you are strategically creating your ads campaigns and making the most of each dollar, follow the next tips:
Research and select relevant keywords for your ads.
Before launching a PPC campaign, performing keyword research is crucial. You can use tools like Google Ads Keyword Planner to identify keywords relevant to your financial services, considering factors like search volume and competition. The goal is to choose keywords that your target audience will likely use when looking for services similar to yours. Additionally, consider incorporating long-tail keywords that are more specific and can often capture a more targeted, ready-to-convert audience.
Set a budget and bid for ad placements.
Determining a budget for your PPC campaign is crucial to managing your marketing expenses effectively. Once your budget is set, you’ll enter a bidding war for ad placements. Platforms like Google Ads operate on an auction system, where you bid against competitors for ad spaces. Your bid amount, combined with the quality of your ad (determined by various factors like relevance and user experience), will influence your ad’s placement. It’s essential to balance bidding competitively and ensure a positive return on ad spend (ROAS).
Create compelling ad copy and visuals.
Your ad copy and visuals are the first things a potential client will notice, so they must be engaging and relevant. Ensure the ad copy is concise, clear, and includes a compelling call-to-action (CTA). The visuals, whether images or videos, should be high quality and aligned with your brand and the message you wish to communicate in the ad copy. Remember, your ad should attract attention and be relevant and valuable to the viewer, encouraging them to click.
Continuously monitor and tweak campaigns based on performance metrics.
Running a PPC campaign is not a “set it and forget it” task. Regularly monitoring the performance of your ads allows you to gain insights into what’s working and what’s not. Monitor metrics like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and ROAS to evaluate performance. If an ad is underperforming, analyze and identify potential issues, such as misaligned keywords or ineffective ad copy. Continuously tweaking and optimizing your campaigns based on these metrics will ensure that your PPC advertising remains cost-effective and achieves the desired outcomes.
Outreach and Public Relations
How can users find your business if you are not promoting your services on external websites, online newspapers, or other important places? Outreach and public relations (PR) involves building relationships with journalists and other influencers in the financial industry. You can use outreach and PR to generate positive media coverage for your company and its services. This can increase your brand awareness and credibility. However, this is easier said than done. To create effective outreach strategies, consider the following tips:
Craft and distribute press releases about company milestones or product launches.
Press releases communicate essential news, milestones, or product launches to the media and public. A well-structured press release involves presenting the information clearly, concisely, and with a compelling angle that captures attention. Distributing it through the right channels, including local or national media outlets, industry publications, and online PR platforms, ensures that the news reaches your target audience and elevates your company’s visibility and credibility.
Collaborate with influencers or bloggers in the financial space.
Influencers and bloggers have built trust and credibility with their audience. Collaborating with them allows your financial service company to tap into their audience, gaining exposure to potential clients who value their opinions. This can involve sponsored content, guest posts, or joint webinars. Ensuring that the influencers or bloggers align with your brand and have a following that matches your target demographic will amplify the effectiveness of the collaboration.
Attend industry conferences or webinars
Being present at industry conferences or webinars elevates your company’s profile within the financial sector, offering networking opportunities and a platform to showcase expertise. Engaging as a speaker provides a stage to share insights, positioning your company as a thought leader.
Address any negative press promptly and professionally.
Handling negative press or online reviews promptly and professionally is crucial for maintaining a positive brand image. This involves acknowledging the issue, apologizing where necessary, and providing solutions or clarifications. The goal is to show that your company takes feedback seriously, values its clients, and is committed to resolving issues. Managing negative press effectively can even turn a potential crisis into an opportunity, demonstrating your company’s commitment to customer satisfaction.
Which Digital Platforms are Most Effective for Marketing Financial Products and Services?
The most effective digital platforms for marketing financial products and services will vary depending on your target audience, the specific products and services you are offering, and the goals you want to pursue. However, some common digital platforms for financial services providers include:
Google Ads
Podcasts
YouTube
Review and Comparison Websites
How can Financial Institutions Build Trust and Transparency in their Marketing Campaigns?
To attract clients, effective financial marketing techniques should be built under trust, transparency, and honest practices. To do so, we recommend doing the following:
Showcase Authenticity
Financial institutions can showcase authenticity by incorporating real customer testimonials, sharing behind-the-scenes insights into the company, and sharing actual images of staff and clients instead of stock photos. It involves maintaining consistency between what is promoted in marketing campaigns and what is delivered, ensuring that all communications and interactions are genuine to the brand’s values and promises.
Be Transparent About Products and Services
This means providing clear, comprehensive, and straightforward information about what the financial institution is offering. Avoid financial jargon and be honest about the costs, fees, and potential risks, ensuring the customer has all the information needed to make informed decisions.
Leverage Social Proof
Leveraging social proof can involve showcasing customer reviews and testimonials, displaying awards and recognitions, and sharing case studies that detail successful customer journeys. It’s about creating a narrative that tells potential customers that others have benefitted from the institution’s services, which builds trust to engage with the brand.
Highlight Security Measures
Given the sensitive nature of financial information, emphasizing the security protocols and measures adopted by the institution is crucial. This involves detailing how customer data is protected, technologies implemented to safeguard transactions, and adherence to regulatory compliances related to data protection and cybersecurity.
Commit to Ethical Practices
Marketing campaigns should highlight the institution’s values, principles, and corporate social responsibility initiatives, thereby painting a picture of a brand that is not just focused on profit but is also dedicated to positively impacting society and the environment. This might involve ensuring that investments are made in a socially responsible manner, engaging in community development activities, and adhering to ethical banking practices.
Conclusion
Marketing online financial services can be challenging, but it’s essential for reaching a wider audience and growing your business. Following the strategies in this guide, you can create a comprehensive marketing plan to help you achieve your revenue goals, build trust and transparency, and ensure your campaigns target specific customers interested in your services.
Ready to get started? RealTop has helped different institutions achieve their business goals through targeted digital marketing strategies for financial services for over 15 years. Trust that our team will be able to propel your business to new heights. Get a free consultation today and learn how we can help you!
Nik Tsoukales, founder of REALTOP, is an experienced digital marketer with a track record of growing businesses and sales teams. He has received multiple awards for leading fast-growing companies and specializes in organic SEO, Google PPC, and Social Media. With over 89k clients acquired online, Nik’s expertise spans various industries including finance, healthcare, and real estate.
