Marketing strategies have greatly evolved over the last few years across all sectors. With the recent change in trends, it has become imperative for marketers to ensure that they are doing what is necessary to keep up with the changes, or they face being overtaken by those who are adapting. And just like marketing in any other industry, the financial services market is no different.
Financial Service Marketing Trends in 2016
For financial institutions that understand how the evolving customer market keeps changing, 2016 has been a year full of hope and opportunity. With current trends, the successful financial marketer has understood how to improve the customer experience across the board with whichever platform they choose to use.
Over the past five years, one of the most significant changes that has been noted in marketing trends is an appeal to a younger audience. If the youth demographic are able to relate to and engage with your campaign, it is highly likely that they will spread it within their networks, causing an increased interest in your services. Surprisingly enough, the use of social media in marketing has increased despite a reported decrease in effectiveness of such campaigns. The major causative factor here is that many marketers struggle to create content that is engaging enough to be spread using social media platforms.
Financial Marketing Trends that can’t be Ignored
In line with adapting with the changes, some of the trends that marketers have engaged to improve their strategies include integration of mobile, embracing insight driven marketing, embracing an increased focus on return on investment, having full awareness of the customer journey, making use of opti-channel marketing, expanding content marketing, using mainstream social media for marketing, and continuing the battle against ad blocking.
Content Remains King
In the current market, lazy marketing just won’t cut it anymore. Poorly targeted marketing will no longer be tolerated by the engaged and informed customer. The best marketing strategies take the time to understand the customer and find a way to speak to them in a way that they understand best.
More financial institutions have embraced digital channels and more are veering away from traditional marketing methods. And with an increased accessibility to the internet and online platforms, traditional offline methods simply don’t cut it anymore. Financial institutions are more and more focused on providing customers with information that will keep them clicking, swiping, and sharing.
More financial institutions are also pushing their personnel to pursue a higher education, especially when it comes to marketing. Many are even encouraging employees to pursue an online marketing degree to brush up on their skills. Online marketing degrees allow employees to maintain their positions while studying and are also more adapted to new trends and marketing methods.
While it remains evident that most executives in the financial sector appreciate the ongoing digital transformation, it is clear that not too many of them have embraced that change. However, we can expect an increasing number of financial institutions to embrace new platforms and methods to get their point across in 2017.
