You should put your products or services at the center of the marketplace. This is age-old advice on how to find customers and sell your products. Likewise, this applies even if you’re branding a financial services outfit or agency. It definitely applies if you’re looking to launch a new brand this New Year.
To be able to sell your products or services, you have to find where the marketplace is and what the customers are buying. Therefore, you might want to read on if you want to know more information about the branding campaign of financial services branding agency or another similar firm.
Here are a few suggestions on how you can start off a financial services branding campaign.
1. Your Branding Objectives
Firstly, before you launch and go full throttle with your company’s branding campaign, you should think about your objectives. What is it that you want to accomplish and achieve? You should have a clear picture of how you want to position your financial services brand in the market. Some people start with personal branding. You can start with these basic questions.
When developing your market brand, you should consider several things, including:
- the goals and objectives of your financial services company;
- the core strengths of your firm;
- your organization’s weaknesses;
- resources available at your disposal;
- your target markets; and
- any new or emerging market.
You don’t have to limit yourself to what you know. Move beyond what you heard worked for other companies or financial services brands. Your underpinning criterion should be whatever is effective and whatever works for your financial services firm.
2. Financial Literacy Campaigns
One way you can launch a financial services branding is by starting a financial literacy campaign. Most Americans are familiar with the insurance industry and other financial products. However, there is still quite a number who don’t know much about insurance products. Why not utilize methods of marketing for financial advisor firms like blogs, social media pages, podcasts, or webinars, to share your knowledge with your target audience?
Initiating a financial services literacy awareness program can be a smart play. It’s a good start to building credibility and goodwill among your prospective clients. By creating financial literacy learning sessions, you can open up a venue that may attract people who want to know more about financial services.
To be able to pick topics that would match the interests of your prospective clients, you can do some reverse engineering for your “curriculum development.” You can do this by checking out the analytics of Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs) of existing financial literacy blogs. The comments section is often a good start. After that, you’ll get a sense of what your prospective customers are most worried about.
3. Reach Out To Customers
From the financial literacy campaign sessions, you’ll most likely be able to get potential leads and inquiries. People who wrote down comments and inquiries are potential leads. If you held webinars, track the participants who filled out registration forms. They would’ve most likely written their contact numbers or left their emails where you can reach them.
Banks and financial institutions have always employed financial services branding tactics. Customer outreach is one of the oldest ways by which they got in touch with both existing and prospective clients. It’s proven to be one of the simplest yet most effective ways to reach out to customers and know what they need. Likewise, customer outreach is very effective because it can directly touch upon the customer’s immediate needs, whether it’s to help, or give awareness and education.
In a small business or financial services outfit, they can offer to accept requests for free consultations and webinars. For larger companies and business organizations, they can initiate financial education on more complex but common issues. These include debt management, home mortgage financing, and real estate investment.
4. Self-Service Digital Channels
The previous baby boomer generation of financial services clients grew up with and are thus more accustomed to the friendly sales representative who visited them at their homes. These sales professionals came dressed in their suits to present the investment products and other financial products and services of the company.
The baby boomers liked the personal and intimate meeting where they can talk about their fears of financial uncertainties. They could ask the sales rep any question they have about the product without fear of being overheard by other people.
However, the majority of the market for financial products and services are now made up of those who belong to the Millennials and Generation Z. They’re the ones who’ve been in their jobs for a few years. They’re coming up and shopping around for financial products and investment opportunities. Financial services branding for this market will of necessity look different.
Millennials and Gen Z prefer to do almost everything by themselves. In fact, studies have verified that they prefer to have as little contact with humans as possible!
Maybe this can be partly explained by the fact that they’re the first generations to be able to use gadgets and mobile devices from their childhood and adolescent years. They’re accustomed to doing things through the internet. Their lives are lived through the numerous apps which they can easily download on their phones.
For this market segment, you should consider setting up digital channels for your financial products and services. These channels should have features where they can ask their questions without having to commit to any sales call or product presentation appointment. It’s OK to ask them for their emails and contact numbers so you’ll know how to get in touch with them after they used your website or app.
5. Social Media
Most businesses today that engage in retail sales must be on social media. A large number of people all over the world have social media accounts. In many countries and their urban centers, a vast majority of their working and earning populations spend a lot of time on social media when they’re not working — and some even when they’re working.
In the U.S. alone, four out of every five Americans have an active social media account and many of them spend 4-5 hours on their social media accounts. This means that there’s a lot of social interaction going on these social media platforms.
A social media platform has several advantages for a digital marketing campaign aside from its huge user population. The user accounts in social media platforms are interconnected. They will have varying levels of closeness or nearness to their friends or contacts. This means that social media platforms contain networked communities.
They’re not only connected, but their social media accounts also have varying methods of sharing information with their networks such as through public posts, chat messaging apps, video calls, social commenting functionalities, and sharing buttons. This is one of the most ideal environments to launch a social media branding campaign for your financial services because your message can spread like wildfire there.
Conclusion
Starting a financial services branding campaign should start with what you want to offer the market.
Consider carefully those who will buy your products or avail of your services. You can start by taking into account your own business goals and objectives.
In conclusion, think about your strengths and weaknesses, as well as the resources available to you. You should also carefully study your target market and any emerging market opportunities.
