Digital Marketing for Financial Services

Mitigate compliance risks. Stay on top of new technology. Make the most of big data. For financial marketers, the modern marketing landscape is complex.

You're asked to manage those challenges while still wooing potential customers with an offer for a new savings account or credit card, or a tailored insurance quote.

But customers can shop around and quickly see through a self-serving offer. So how do you balance all the variables and still hit your goals? Data-driven digital marketing.

Finance marketing teams face unique challenges.

Fintech companies continue to snag market share, leaving other organizations to wonder, “What’s next?” As competition increases, institutions must evolve to compete.

Consumers don't always want technology to replace traditional providers, however. While many transactional services have migrated to digital channels, a study conducted in 2020 found that 9 out of 10 consumers say having a branch nearby is important to them.

Staying competitive isn't about neglecting your physical locations. It's about augmenting your existing strategy with digital marketing.

Digital marketing should unify, not replace, your online and in-person experiences.

While Deloitte suggests that modernizing core infrastructure, embracing AI, and migrating to the cloud are important, they also suggest that most organizations can ditch any plans of becoming the next big tech company.

Instead, thriving in the modern environment requires:

1. Making the most from current investments
2. Focusing on meeting customer needs
3. Building trust with consumers
4. Harnessing data to sustain growth
5. Highlighting current products and technology

Digital marketing can help unify your in-person and online experiences—identifying the right benefits to tout in ad campaigns and increasing awareness of your financial organization online, where so many start their search.

Targeted financial marketing messaging. Customized campaigns.

You already know that most of your customers are online. Why not meet them halfway? Digital marketing meets your customers where they’re already spending time—and delivers them personalized content and campaigns.

SEO can help your financial institution attract relevant traffic and help prospects find your business.

Ranking high on the search engines helps your brand reach a local audience searching for relevant topics. When your website is optimized around end users, prospects can find what they need—whether that’s answers to their questions or a phone number to call your business. In turn, this helps set the foundation for a fruitful consumer relationship.

SEO helps prospects find your business and see your content.

Organic SEO is designed to boost your rankings on search engines—so consumers can find your financial organization in the first place. Because competition is high for the coveted first page on search engines, it requires attention to detail and abiding by best practices.

SEO is often a marathon, not a sprint. Technical SEO considerations ensure your site is organized and that pages are linked in a logical way. On-page SEO centers around optimizing pages to ensure that your content is providing value to your end users. And local SEO ensures that prospects in your own backyard can locate your website.

Target relevant consumers with paid media advertising and make the most of your marketing spend.

Paid digital advertising is designed to make the most of your data. By providing immediate, sustainable visibility on search engines and other relevant sites, paid ads can help financial institutions stay competitive.

PPC helps financial teams make the most of their marketing spend.

Targeting users with paid advertising ensures you’re there for them at the right time with the right offer. Unlike organic search, PPC allows you to only pay for the clicks you receive. By using paid search, paid social, and display channels to deliver targeted PPC ads, paid search helps your financial team reach consumers in your geographic areas.

Personalized marketing messaging can improve engagement. And paid marketing campaigns leverage demographic data to reach specific audiences. This means delivering optimized marketing campaigns, efficient outreach efforts, and relevant ad messaging to users that are more likely to engage with your products and services.

Effective digital marketing strategies for financial services

Delivering a trustworthy online experience means understanding the goals of your consumers. This means delivering them the ads, content, and web pages they want to see and read. Digital marketing solutions are designed to ensure you’re making the most of your organic and paid advertising investments—and that you have a strategy that meets your needs.

Technology has undoubtedly made it easier for consumers to make payments and exchange money online. However, this proliferation of technology has led to unprecedented amounts of data. Big data refers to the process of analyzing these complex data sets.

Digital marketing helps make the most of your data

Basically, big data is the glue that binds your technologies together—whether it’s AI, the cloud, or automation tools. And teams that develop data-driven marketing campaigns around their customers will stay competitive. Below are three benefits of data.

Digital marketing helps financial teams track how customers are engaging with their products. Knowing where your prospects are in their customer journey helps you understand which products they’re interested in and which marketing campaigns make the most sense. It also helps you market relevant products to consumers based on specific life events.

Advanced analytics can also provide insight into customer behavior. It can help create better customer experiences by creating tailored, customized campaigns. This customer data helps teams track and attribute conversion, which determines the true value of specific campaigns.

Data can create a better customer experience.

Whether you’re marketing a bank, a fintech company, or an insurance company, you use transactional data to provide your services. You’re in a unique situation in which you can leverage this data to build effective sales and marketing campaigns. But you also must remain compliant while doing so.

Marketing compliance can actually improve the customer experience.

Compliance is an essential component of any financial team’s underlying operations. Laws are designed to protect consumer privacy and information—and data privacy regulations are constantly changing. For example, the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) affects how organizations use targeted and behavioral advertising tactics, especially in the paid ad realm.

Organizations must strike a balance between abiding by regulations and providing excellent customer experiences. There’s a growing correlation between data privacy and ethical responsibility. And data privacy has a huge influence over consumer trust. If a financial brand is transparent about the way they handle data, it helps sway consumer confidence.

For financial marketers across the country, compliance significantly impacts how your organization handles consumer information. It’s important that financial marketers can cull valuable insights from their data. But it’s equally essential they have oversight over data sources and types. It’s critical that financial marketers know the following:

• How they’re collecting data
• What types of data they’re collecting
• Where data is being stored

Workshop Digital provides digital marketing services customized to your needs. We work with you to uncover which services and campaigns will help you increase new customers, drive revenue, and boost your bottom line. Contact us today to learn more.