Financial Services: Up Close and Personal

Financial services companies often shortchange their marketing efforts because there are too many questions and not enough answers.

For example: How can a firm design meaningful programs that will support its reputation? How do smaller organizations deal with the hefty price tag? Even if a company does have the money and resources, is there any way to know if marketing is really working?

Fortunately, the Internet has emerged as a marketing channel that’s affordable, offers realistic measurement and can reinforce a firm’s reputation across all business-to-business and consumer audiences.

A mutual funds company may seek to establish stronger relationships within the investment community or a small firm of financial advisers may need to expand and grow its client base. In these situations and others, certain e-marketing formats are an ideal solution because they enable an interpersonal trust that readily converts into relationships and sales.

The e-marketing media that work best for financial firms mimic the dynamics of financial services relationships:

• What do most people want from an investment professional? Good advice and perspective.

• How do they want it delivered? Personally.

Given these parameters, e-media such as banners and pop-ups are inappropriate because they are highly promotional, vs. informational. And they’re impersonal.

However, both large and small financial organizations are using e-newsletters to increase client trust, expand relationships with intermediaries and build business. When articles contained in an e-newsletter provide useful insight and perspective, they support the recipient’s information needs while reinforcing the sending firm’s role as a reputable institution.

Moreover, certain types of e-newsletters now deliver the personalization that’s so important to customers and financial advisers. This includes content personalization that gives recipients articles tailored to their particular financial situation. And that personalization is supported by back-end analytics that track how e-newsletter subscribers interact with content, thereby determining which articles are of greatest interest and to whom.

Given this feedback, financial companies can segment lists into subgroups according to specific interests. Subsequent e-newsletters can offer personalized content for each of these subgroups that become increasingly responsive to that group’s priorities.

This type of e-marketing is particularly effective when applied to tactical business goals such as client retention and acquisition. Customized content keeps current clients loyal and indifferent to poachers. And qualified acquisition leads are easily generated by embedded