Financial services companies operate in a highly regulated environment with strict guidelines around how they can market their offerings. Understanding that environment and helping them avoid risk is paramount for a B2B marketing agency, which must promote the company’s financial products and services in a legally compliant manner while still being creative enough to attract prospective customers. Research, a sound strategy, solid messaging and a well-thought-out marketing plan are essential prior to launching a brand, an offering or a campaign.
On average, financial services companies in the B2B space spend 8 percent of their revenue on marketing. With millennials now raising families and moving into leadership positions at work, they are an attractive market. They’re also a digital-savvy generation, and they expect a B2C experience where they can research products without the input of a salesperson, easily compare the costs and benefits of competing services, and purchase and manage their investments online. Consequently, the marketing mix for financial services must skew heavily toward digital strategies and techniques, whether targeting a B2B partner or working to influence end customers on their behalf.
Lead generation via social media marketing and targeted email campaigns resonate with the millennial customer, but they present unique challenges that require a knowledgeable marketing partner with significant experience in the space to navigate data security, privacy and consumer protection regulations. The ability to balance risk – regulatory vs. customer acquisition and retention – is essential, because financial services companies can no longer shy away from their target customers’ preferred way of communicating, researching and purchasing.
Account-based Marketing (ABM) can be effective as well, allowing financial services companies to precisely target those in the B2B space by preferred financial profile, product and service portfolio, customer base and any number of other data points.
Social, email and account-based marketing all require a rock-solid content marketing plan that melds brand storytelling with customer preferences, regulatory compliance, detailed information on financial products and services, and an explanation of the disruptive new technologies behind many of them, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain. Since people’s money is at stake, they place a great deal of emphasis on whether or not they can trust a financial services provider, and they can’t trust one they can’t understand.
Trust is also built when customers perceive that a financial services firm is genuine in its interest in helping them be successful. One way to short-circuit that is to execute marketing campaigns the sales team doesn’t know about, understand or believe in. Aligning sales and marketing efforts projects authenticity, and authenticity fuels trust.
Meeting customers where they are in the buyer’s journey with appropriate information delivered via the channels they frequent builds trust, too. The marketing toolkit for financial services firms should always include a mix of sales enablement materials, thought leadership opportunities, and digital-friendly marketing tools, such as search engine optimization (SEO), paid and organic social media, public relations, and display ads, among others.
Elevation Marketing has deep understanding of financial services offerings and the industry’s regulatory environment. When we put that knowledge to work for you – coupled with a proven process that encompasses thorough research, strategic thinking, effective messaging and inspired creative design – we can help you distinguish your financial services offerings in the market and grow your B2B customer base. Our marketing agency offers:
