The world of marketing has changed for almost every organisation, no matter how traditional or cutting-edge their particular industry might be.
The financial services industry is no exception either. Most people now gather their information from online sources, so any financial services business that wants continued growth and success, needs to go where they can find their current and potential customers. In this post, we will discuss 7 key marketing practices for today’s financial services organisations.
1. Online Social Media & PR
Being published in a hard-copy newspaper or magazine is not necessarily a bad thing, but most people now consume their information online, so make sure your online presence is active and engaging. The good news is that you can also save some money by supporting your own social media presence rather than hiring an outside PR firm.
2. Implement Targeted Ads
Most social media outlets offer the opportunity for paid advertising for businesses. Using these types of social media outlets to target specific members of your audience is a smart way to find new customers and build brand awareness.
3. Keep Your Content Methods Diverse
The greater the variety in the methods you use to deliver your content, the better first impression you convey since it shows you understand people like to consume information in multiple formats. Videos, podcasts, internet memes, blog posts, images and even using current events, shows you want to actively engage and interact with your customer base.
4. Don’t Forget Local Listings
If you have the type of organisation where you rely heavily on garnering business in your local area, don’t forget to develop thorough local listings online via Google Business listings, Bing and Facebook. Of course you can also create connections with your chamber of commerce, any related businesses you interact with, and your Small Business Development Center. Show off these good relationships by having them place a link on their site to your business website.
5. Networking Still Works
Of course, many businesses are still meeting potential customers through public events like local or regional conferences. Face to face interaction is a great way to put your best foot forward (and hand out a business card) to garner name recognition and interest.
6. Let Customers Come To You
Cold-calling is the process where you chase after people who may not necessarily have any interest in what you have to offer. Instead, invest in Inbound Marketing, where potential customers are already searching for information related to your specific business. Inbound includes content marketing, social media and search (both paid and free organic).
7. Use Your LinkedIn Connections
As your good reputation grows, “word of mouth” about you will eventually make its way around to people you don’t even know. Everybody at one time or another has asked a colleague if they know of an organisation who can fill a need for them. By cultivating good LinkedIn connections, you stand a good chance of being that organisation.
These tips are just a few tings you can do to increase your marketing profile and start generating more enquiries. If you’d like to discuss more marketing strategies contact us.
Financial Services Case study: How we grew a clients loan applications 247%
