The finance sector has become highly competitive as new investors join the industry. With the fast-paced technological evolution, it is clear that financial businesses with traditional cookie-cutter marketing strategies miss out on crucial client acquisition opportunities in the digital world.
Therefore, now is the best time to leverage on digital marketing strategy for your financial business. Client demographics have shifted in the past three decades, with the current generation preferring online business services to in-person appointments.
Today, customers conduct in-depth research on insurance plans, loans terms, credit cards, and mortgages on the internet before making any commitment. Without a digital presence, these prospective clients have no channel of finding out about your business.
Research indicates that only 45% of finance and insurance businesses have digital marketing strategies; therefore, adopting suitable traditional and digital marketing techniques places you ahead of the pack.
Wondering where to start? Here are 7 digital marketing strategies that will skyrocket your financial business.
1. Invest in content marketing
Content marketing entails more than publishing a regular story on your website; it could also be video content marketing, sharing information on social media, or running a podcast.
Content marketing is the core of a successful digital marketing strategy as it links SEO, Social media, and PPC marketing. Therefore, the more valuable your content is, the higher your chances of running a successful digital marketing campaign.
According to digital marketing experts, you should consistently share as much relevant content as possible to keep your audience well informed. Furthermore, your content should be optimized by adhering to the best SEO practices to boost its ranking and outreach.
2. Work on your email marketing
30% of Americans confess to having challenges discussing and understanding financial matters. As a marketer, email marketing presents an opportunity to educate and communicate with your audience and help them understand critical economic issues.
Email marketing is time-consuming and requires a sizable email listing to be successful. However, when done right, email marketing campaigns have better conversion rates than any other form of digital marketing based on the simple fact that emails are an official communication channel.
Here are some tips to focus on in your email marketing strategy;
- Catchy onboarding emails: First impressions matter! An onboarding email gives you a single shot to convince prospective clients to sign up for your listing. The email should include a range of services your business offers and outstanding features that set you apart from your competition.
- Be creative: Let’s face it, finance topics are boring and too corporate. Therefore, your emails should replace boring with exciting while maintaining the relevance of the information.
- Retain and reward loyal audience: Throw in impromptu promotions and rewards in your emails to capture the attention of your audience. These offers keep your readers expectant of your future emails and services.
3. SEO works
Is your business website gaining enough traction? Are your social media posts reaching the desired number of people? If your answer is NO, then it’s high time you considered stepping up your search engine optimization (SEO) game.
Best SEO practices boost the ranking of your website and social media content on search engines such as Google. Better ranking news articles, education pieces, or blog posts stand a higher chance of reaching a larger audience. This, in turn, raises your content conversion rates, increases traffic to your website, and improves your branding.
Here are critical financial business SEO tips to start with;
- Perform content audit
- Analyze your current content SEO
- Perform in-depth keyword research
- Focus on educational content over news articles
- Monitor your competitors’ performance
4. Use influencers
Influencer marketing gives you direct access to the right audience. Influencers, often celebrities, have a following of their own, and you can tell your story through them. Unlike other digital marketing techniques, influencer marketing provides an authentic interaction with your audience where you can share your business ideas, offers and answer questions.
5. Build lead magnets
Lead magnets are gated documents or information that a user has to sign up for (using an email address) before accessing them. How is this important to a financial business marketer?
Well, as more readers surrender their emails to access your content, you get to build up a sizeable email listing where you will be sharing your marketing emails.
A lead magnet quickly gets you dedicated email receivers who are interested in your financial products and services. However, the lead magnet should be thought-provoking and insightful enough to convince prospective clients to sign up. It should be unique to your business and audience, attention-grabbing, and worthwhile.
6. Have a perfectly designed website
Most businesses make the mistake of setting up a website because it’s fashionable. A website is your business’s online front desk and should get as much attention.
Firstly, your web pages, such as landing and About us pages, should be well-curated and optimized for search engines. It should include contact details, physical address, if any, and customer testimonials. These pages are the first contact with new online searchers and should contain detailed information that can spark interest.
Your financial business website should also be responsive; that is, it should be accessible from mobile, tablet, or desktop browsers. Responsive websites are easy to access and navigate.
7. Set up a mobile application
Mobile applications go hand in hand with a responsive website. However, an app personalizes your audience.
It is user-friendly in that you can easily send out invoices, manage customers, make credit card payments, and facilitate in-app communications. You can also add customer-friendly features to track their spending, savings, and investments, automatically settle bill invoices and update their credit score changes.
When setting up a financial business application, have security and privacy in mind to handle sensitive personal financial data. Additionally, it should be responsive and easy to use.
Parting shot
The finance sector is a security-sensitive industry and it takes time before you can reach and build trust with your audience. With increased cybercrime and online financial fraud, prospective customers are wary of new online marketing techniques.
Nonetheless, digital marketing has proven to be successful as long as you can prove the authenticity of your offers to your clients.