With 40,000 Google searches a second, and 465,000 tweets a minute, it’s challenging to market online at the best of times. In financial services, disruptors such as open banking, GDPR and mobile banking have made it even difficult. “It’s not a needle in a haystack problem, more like a needle in a mountain of needles in a haystack of haystacks problem,” says Spenada Pouryahya, head of data science, at the martech provider Fospha.
At Fospha’s recent breakfast for financial services leaders hoping to overcome these challenges, CEO Sam Carter, and Andy Mihalop, product and vertical marketing communications, lead EMEA at Facebook, explained for financial services brands to drive lifetime value and remain competitive, they need to focus on engagement, with creative and content at the centre.
Citing a survey by ClickZ, Sam explained only one-third of marketers believe their current measurement solutions perform accurate attribution of all media and data, while only 32.5% have a clear view of the lifetime value of their customers. Only 9% believe their organisation has an excellent understanding of multi-touch attribution.
Andy and Sam shared the methods and metrics marketers should adopt when trying to improve the impact of both written and visual content online. Here are their recommendations:
1. Target broad audiences to increase your reach
This might seem counter-intuitive in the age of personalisation, but for visual content, the more online platforms you can infiltrate, the better your return.
2. Change the creative often
Communicating regularly is key, so make sure you manage your content frequency. Changing your assets a few times a week will add variety to your output. Engagement and ROI is increased on platforms such as Instagram when users are exposed to a variety of visuals on a similar theme, increasing brand recognition.
3. Focus on creative
Making sure your visual content is optimised for environments, such as mobile newsfeeds, will help generate strong, long-lasting brand awareness.
4. Take a multi-channel approach
When it comes to the written word, companies that have thought about brand, audience and engagement will be better positioned to take advantage of their online channels.
5. Don’t forget about keywords
It pays to do your research to find out what are the top performing articles in your sector, as well as the topics that are getting the most engagement.
6. Use AI for personalisation
While reach is important to fill the top of the funnel, the best way to target effective prospects is with the help of machine learning and AI. Whether that’s through sentiment analysis or topic identification, a personalised experiences will allow new and existing customers to feel brands recognise them as individuals, which increases engagement.
