Since the dawn of the internet, financial services providers have had to deal with strong competition from online services companies. Whether it is banking, insurance, investment, or other financial services, online companies have benefited from technology trends and consumer preferences. Online providers have taken a bite out of financial services companies. Consequently, many traditional companies are turning to inbound marketing to bring value to potential and existing customers.
Inbound Marketing & Financial Services
However, many financial services providers fall short when in comes to inbound marketing programs. Rather, they rely on more traditional tactics that worked in the past but lack creativity. The content they often use includes things like white papers and webinars. This content may be of tremendous value to prospects. It is not an issue of not producing high-quality content. Often, because of government regulations, financial services providers believe they are simply precluded from using inbound marketing strategies. Does that sound about right?
Another obstacle is the obvious stress over uncertainty, which can extinguish thoughts of being innovative. Concerns about reputation management and negative social proof have kept many companies from fully embracing social media. As a result, lackluster content marketing has been the mainstay. Regardless, the financial services industry is realizing that creativity and innovation will attract customers. With this in mind, here are some inbound marketing tips for financial services providers:
1. Audience Segmentation - With the help of customer data and internet analytics, financial services providers must take a first step by creating buyer personas. This is a critical element of any inbound marketing strategy. It is not just about knowing customer demographics, but also developing insights into values, motivations, and goals. Once you have the details and insights for your ideal groups, you can craft personalized content for consumers at every stage of the customer life-cycle.
2. Real-Time Email Marketing - One primary goal of inbound marketing is keeping your audience engaged. One way to do this is sending customers an action triggered or contextual email in real-time. An example can include email alerts based on certain market conditions. Additionally, you can add real-time social media feeds to provide up to the minute buzz. You can even develop personalized emails based on a user's actions on your website.
3. Social Media Marketing - The world of social media has married reputation management with brand marketing into a single discipline: reputation marketing. How you engage with those who engage with you can have an enormous impact on consumer decisions. Your online reputation is affected by social mentions, comments, public inquiries, reviews, and recommendations. As a result, managing your reputation is now an ongoing marketing effort.
4. Blogging Ideas - Inbound marketing works to bring value to consumers and every stage of the customer life-cycle: target, prospect, lead, active customer, and past clients. An ideal strategy for doing this is having your website become a resource. That said, many financial services providers make the mistake of writing content for themselves rather than their audience. Consider adding articles more along the lines of “The Top 10 Warren Buffett Stocks” or “25 Stocks for the Socially Mindful Investor”.
5. Website Design - Your website is the centerpiece of any inbound marketing plan. More than anything else, user experience is the No. 1 factor determining whether or not a visitor engages with your content, subscribers to your newsletter, or requests a quote. Your website must convey a clear message in seconds, be easy to navigate, and have clear paths of conversion. Moreover, every web page should be optimized to guide a visitor to a predictable next action. A great looking website has little value if it does not convert sufficient visitors.
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