Trust is the cornerstone of the financial industry, which means customers want to be sure of a few things before they engage your services. At the top of the list are expertise, transparency, and accountability. They want to know who you are and what motivates you.
That’s why referrals have always been, and will continue to be, the most powerful form of marketing in this sector. They’re a huge source of new business because they prove that your company can be trusted to deliver services that will meet the customer’s expectations.
Essentially, someone else has done the hard work and taken the leap of faith for you.
However, the next generation of consumers are a little bit different. They’re digitally native, having grown up with a wealth of information at their fingertips. They’re confident and capable at doing their own research online, which presents exciting new marketing opportunities.
Here, we’re going to run you through three effective finance marketing strategies you can use to build trust in your community, boost your reputation, and grow your customer base.
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1. Capitalize on word of mouth
As we already know, referrals are incredibly powerful in finance marketing. There are a few different ways you can utilize them to enhance your marketing strategy.
For starters, why not offer a referral incentive? American Express is a great example of this. The company offers two types of frequent flyer deals: a sign-up bonus for new customers, and a referral bonus for existing customers who recommend and convert new customers. All they have to do is share a link generated through their account, and boom. Referral. It’s a genius idea, and a great way to expand the circle of trust around each customer.
It’s also important to make sure you get written referrals, in the form of testimonials and reviews. These are incredibly value to modern consumers, who will inevitably scope out your website before reaching out to you directly. There are a few ways you can incorporate them into your strategy:
- Add a testimonials page to your website and include comments from customers.
- Ensure your Google My Business page is up-to-date and check the comments frequently.
- Share snippets of testimonials/positive customer feedback on your social channels.
Make it part of your standard business practice to ask for customer feedback at the end of every project. Positive feedback is great to share, while negative feedback is a helpful tool to improve the way you do business in future. It’s a win-win situation and a powerful way to build credibility.
Read more: Start building trust with your community through finance marketing
2. Automate your sales process
Automation may seem like a strange recommendation. How can that help boost your business? The truth is that it’s possible to make your website make money for you while you sleep. Automating your processes means it will act as a 24/7 sales representative, constantly generating new leads.
The best place to start is by auditing your website. Is it up-to-date? Engaging? Is the information helpful? Does it look modern? Does it accurately reflect your brand story? Is there a strong call to action? How hard is it for a customer to take the next step to doing business with you?
Generally, a customer will enter your sales funnel in one of two ways:
- They’ll be recommended your services either directly through word-of-mouth, or indirectly if someone in their circle engages with your online content and causes it to enter their feed. In this case, they’ll enter your digital ecosystem through Facebook or your homepage.
- They’ll be actively looking for help with a problem, in which case they’ll likely use a social media platform or a search engine to find financial services in their area. In this case, they’ll enter your sales funnel through a search result, e.g. Google My Business or a blog post.
Once they’re on your website, the ball is in your court. The most important thing is to provide helpful information that helps answer their question or address their problem. That will immediately create a positive impression, and encourage them to take the next step toward fixing it.
Every page on your website should invite them to take action. It doesn’t matter what this is – for example, they can schedule a free consultation, sign-up for a newsletter, enter their contact details into a form and receive a free PDF, and so on. They key is to build enough trust that they’re willing to part with some personal information, such as an email address, and invite you to respond.
You can also take steps such as installing chatbots to answer frequently asked questions on the spot, without having to be constantly logged into your website, and create dedicated landing pages (complete with video) for specific search terms to create a personalized experience.
Automating this process means every customer’s journey is smooth from the start.
Read more: Anatomy of a high-converting landing page
3. Content, content, content
Content marketing is a great way to convert searchers into new clients, which is why we recommend it as part of every comprehensive finance marketing strategy. There are a few reasons for this.
First and foremost, it helps your website attract the attention of search engines, because it uses many combinations of keywords that help answer common search terms. This is an excellent way to connect with people who are avidly searching for the services of businesses like yours.
Second, it helps establish your credibility as a thought-leader in your field. Show prospective customers how knowledgeable you are by answering frequently asked questions, offering your thoughts on industry developments, letting them know about new opportunities, and so on.
Third, it keeps your website fresh and bolsters your efforts on other platforms, such as social media. Facebook and LinkedIn are always hungry for new fodder, so if you provide information that is interesting and helpful, it will generate engagement from your community and help build awareness of your brand. This will ensure you’re top-of-mind when they’re looking for financial advice.
Fourth, it gives you great advertising content. If you’ve written a stellar blog that answers a trending question, boost it with Facebook or Google Ads. Both work on a PPC model, which means they can be very budget-friendly, and will put your content in front of many sets of fresh eyes.
Content can be done in many different forms, but for financial services marketing, we recommend informative blog posts of 1200+ words as well as interesting explainer-style videos around 3-5 minutes in length. That way, your content will be long enough to be authoritative, but short enough to be easily consumable. Ensure you write catchy headlines to capture people’s attention.
Read more: How to write a blog post that will help grow your business
Finance marketing strategy in a nutshell
As we said at the beginning, successful finance marketing campaigns focus on building trust with prospective customers. That means you need to take every opportunity to project your authority in the field and make sure people understand that you can answer their questions.
Each one of these strategies will help you generate new digital leads; however, used together, they provide a comprehensive roadmap that will take your next marketing campaign to a new level.
Ready to get started? Schedule a free consultation.
