How can digital marketing help you promote your financial services?

Given the digital world we are living in, digital marketing is a must-have business strategy for every industry. Print media advertisements also continue to impact, but it is a slower medium of sharing information with your users. If you want to beat the competition and be at par, if not ahead with your competitors – you need digital marketing to promote your services.

How can digital marketing promote financial services?

Financial services is a very intricate and competitive space. If you are a 90’s kid, you must have seen your parents carry cheques when going on trips, in case extra money was required. Can we imagine doing that today?

To cite another example, in the pre-digital era, investors used to receive physical certificates as proof of purchase. It used to take a good number of 14-15 days for investors to receive their share certificates. Now you can get shares in your demat account in t+2 trading days. And how do you pay for those shares? By using online mobile banking.

77% of people use mobile banking for one or another reason. It means 23% of the population is still untapped. And this 77% of people could be introduced to more easy to use and beneficial financial services.

The introduction of digital marketing services has led to the development of various innovative ideas such as Fintech. As tech-based startups make significant entrance into the financial sector, established players are also revamping their strategies to stay ahead of the competition. As a result, customer exposure, visibility, and engagement have also increased.

Post-pandemic, the impact of digital marketing services in the finance sector, or every sector, for that matter, has grown multi-fold. Every financial company requires an impactful digital marketing strategy to spread their word and create more curiosity about the services they offer. Digital marketing helps companies to enlighten prospective customers about the services they have to offer and hence find customers who would benefit from it.

Digital marketing strategies for financial services

• Make creative and easy to navigate websites

If you are using multi-channel digital marketing strategies, you must understand that customer experience should be consistent across all channels. You should implement a smooth and simple UI and UX user experience for your customers. When it comes to obtaining information and investing money for a service, people prefer everything to be simple and laid out for them. The moment you make things for a customer complex, you will lose them. The real deal is creating a simple yet visually enticing website design to attract and retain customers. Many financial companies are adopting new-age tech innovations such as chatbots to enhance the overall user experience.

• Do NOT neglect Mobile Marketing

People consume content on smaller screens, mostly on mobile phones and tablets. It has compelled every service-based industry to focus and optimize mobile-based digital marketing efforts. The financial industry is no different. Organizations now first build a UI for mobile phones and then update it for larger screens. It provides higher engagement than laptop or PC dedicated strategies.

• Always deliver value with your content

Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to boost your company’s growth. It assists your company to reach out to prospective customer base. One of the most important goals for most financial companies and banks is to be a reliable source of financial information for their members and customers.

But here’s the harsh reality. Financial articles might be important, but they are tedious to read. Furthermore, with financial services being a hectic industry, preparing a creative library of blogs might become quite difficult. So what is the turnaround?

Instead of thinking it to be a massive job, plan and prioritize it. Create a content calendar that will help you begin with the task. Be persistent to keep on improving. Keep it short, simple, and engaging. And keep the blogs section updated with information so that customers can refer and rely on it whenever required.

• Educational Videos

People’s preferences have begun to shift from text-based content to graphics-based content as the internet has become less expensive and  more widely available. We are always learning something new from the internet, regardless of our age.

When it comes to financial knowledge, the majority of people around us fall short. As a result, it is critical for businesses to provide value to their customers by producing educational videos. It will help them see you as a trustworthy and capable brand that is dedicated to their success.

Combining marketing analytics with your videos will increase your chances of serving the right message to the right customer.

• Learn the significance of personalization and prioritize it

If you have noticed the current trends on the internet, you must have noticed ‘personalization of services is gaining a lot of popularity. 72% of customers engage more when specific messages are offered catering to their needs. Additionally, 88% of marketers believe that personalization is the key to improve customer experience and sales. How can you personalize services in the financial industry?

1. Understand what the customer requires and offer services accordingly.
2. Make user-specific recommendations to provide customers a wholesome experience.

• Engage with the audience

Today’s generation finds it difficult to trust banks and other financial institutions due to the 2008 saga. So you need to understand their language and the best ways to hook them to your content. Only 24% of today’s generation have an in-depth understanding of financial concepts. It is a massive opportunity for you to both educate and engage them.

• Leverage with PPC advertising and SEO

Digital marketing for financial companies is a complex task. There are no second opinions about it. What is even more difficult is to be creative, provide valuable content, and gain trust.

So how can you overcome the challenges of this highly competitive niche? Use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and PPC (Pay-per-Click) advertising in your digital marketing strategy. SEO and PPC both help in boosting a website’s visibility. It is also possible to rank on SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) and increase traction for financial products using advanced SEO tactics.

• Positive customer Reviews

Before clicking the BUY button for a product or a service, 9 out of 10 customers read the online reviews. It is a clear indication that they are an important part of the decision-making process and instil significant trust in the customer about the brand. Customers are more hesitant to try new and unknown brands in finance because it is critical than most other avenues. As a result, it is best if you encourage your clients to provide feedback online. If they express an unfavourable opinion, you must act quickly to address their concerns.

Final words

Cash is no more the king of transactions. Today, people are investing more in services like Google Pay, Amazon Pay, etc. It is for this reason that businesses are constantly striving to outperform their competitors. The range of services offered by competitors is similar. Hence, you have to be unique to set yourself apart.

The importance of content has multiplied after the pandemic.  Every financial institution requires an effective marketing strategy to help spread the word and generate more interest about their products and services among customers. It has also enabled them to broaden their portfolio and serve more businesses, develop new strategies, and collaborate with people they would not have considered even a year ago.

The critical differentiator here is how you market yourself. Digital marketing for financial services is a great way for brands to increase their visibility and expand their reach. The primary goal should be to instill trust and positivity in your brand. Once you achieve that, customers will automatically help you succeed once you have earned their trust.