Building A Marketing Strategy For The Financial Industry

Dmitry Dolgorukov is the Co-Founder and CRO of HES FinTech, a leader in providing financial institutions with intelligent lending platforms.

Trust for fintech providers is rising. Thirty-one percent of U.S. consumers surveyed by EY say they currently use a fintech brand. For younger generations in the survey, that number rises to around 50%. Modern fintech (financial technology) providers portray themselves as agile, digitally focused and forward-thinking, but is it enough to gain the trust of consumers and, more importantly, keep it?

The answer comes down to building a connection with your consumers. This applies no matter whether you’re coming from a fintech or brick-and-mortar background. Knowing the top techniques can help you establish this connection and bring value to your customer base. Let’s take a look at the top trends for this year.

Trend One: Automate Marketing Processes Where Possible

Do: Create a smart automation strategy.

Don’t: Try to automate everything at once.

Speed is everything in finance. If your team is buried under paperwork and analytics reports, it’s likely they are not doing their best work and your brand could suffer. Conversely, those companies that smartly implement automation techniques in the right way can potentially win back their investment and then some. One survey showed combining process optimization and marketing automation led to a 417% increase in revenue for respondents. So then, what should you consider automating?

There are several areas of marketing that automate exceptionally well. For example, social media optimization and automation can allow your staff to better track campaigns and get results. Additionally, push messages and text campaigns build connections to consumers and help remind them to perform an action or connect with your brand, for example, working toward a saving goal. Thirdly, according to one study conducted in 2019, classic email marketing automation helps to build effective strategies that deliver approximately $42 ROI for each dollar invested, making it a cost-effective technique that is achievable for almost any financial provider.

Trend Two: Choose Your Channels Wisely

Do: Decide on an approach—omnichannel versus multichannel.

Don’t: Chop and change.

You may have heard that omnichannel is always better than multichannel, but this isn’t necessarily the case. Omnichannel focuses on utilizing all communication channels to build connections with your brand. Meanwhile multichannel focuses on a defined group of channels that work for you. How do you know which one is best for your financial services provider?

Essentially, in their own right, both are effective marketing strategies. However, trying to build an omnichannel approach when most of your audience is coming from a particular group of channels could be futile and expensive. Instead, tailoring a multichannel approach to meet consumer needs is likely to be more effective. Conversely, if your brand services a diverse grouping that come via a wide range of channels, an omnichannel approach could be right for you. It allows diversity while showing that your brand is flexible in its approach. The key to implementing this trend is data analysis and constructing realistic user personas that match your consumers.

Trend Three: Content Is Still King, Not A Nice-To-Have

Do: Create a smart content strategy.

Don’t: Dismiss the power of unique content.

With 4.6 billion people online, the audience for digital content has never been bigger. Even if your brand is only reaching a smallish audience at the moment, do not underestimate the power of effective content.

Moving away from past trends of focusing on SEO keywords and not much more, content marketing is becoming more developed to meet consumer needs. For example, financial brands may consider developing educational content on how their products work and how finances operate in general to build trust with their audience. In addition, interactive quizzes and materials encourage consumers to interact with companies and may lead to sales.

Like most marketing strategies, the primary goal here is to develop a deep connection with the user. Providing them with valuable content builds trust in the brand and shows your service is reliable.

Trend Four: Engage The Right Influencers The Right Way

Do: Take time to research.

Don’t: Go for hype or sheer audience numbers.

Almost every marketer has heard of a horror story where cooperation with an influencer didn’t go as planned. While mistakes happen, by lowering the risk and doing research on potential influencers at the beginning, you could potentially connect with a whole new generation of financial service consumers.

Social media influencers are able to bring credibility and relatability to a brand. In addition, they can also take complex topics and transform them into relatable content. This user-friendly approach can appeal to younger consumers and those looking for a second opinion on which provider to use.

Engaging the right influencers is key. That’s why it’s essential to look at their previous work and ask questions about anything that concerns you in advance of agreeing on a campaign.

Trend Five: Ensure You’re Using The Best Digital Marketing Practices

Do: Review and evaluate your strategy.

Don’t: Try to redo everything from scratch.

As financial brands focus more on digital marketing techniques, marketing technological debt often appears. For example, this may include outdated articles or campaigns, old posts, outdated prices, etc. Many modern consumers will judge your brand on what you’re able to offer them now; that’s why it’s important that you keep your digital campaigns current.

However, that’s not all. Digitally focused brands need to make sure they are engaging the best digital practices wherever possible. This may mean ensuring a chatbot is available to chat to clients and resolve their issues quickly or may even be as simple as ensuring missing webpages are fixed. That seamless experience is key to brand trust in 2022, and it’s important you get the basics right before moving on to more complicated strategies.

What’s next for financial industry marketers?

Like all industries, marketers in finance need to keep ahead of the trends to stay relevant. That’s why, in this fast-moving industry, it’s important to analyze market changes and see how these apply to your actual consumer base. Making alterations to your strategy quickly can help ensure you stay ahead of your competitors.

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