How Finance Companies Embrace Online Marketing

The advancements taking place in the world of digital technology in the past decade or so have changed the marketing game altogether. However, financial companies haven’t been as prompt as other businesses when it comes to taking part in this digital bandwagon. There are quite a few reasons behind this sluggishness.

Financial service firms need to follow a series of regulations when communicating with the world outside. In addition, an indefinite fear and reputation risk are also responsible for stopping the industry from readily adopting different digital channels like social media. However, the situation seems to be changing rapidly. Recent reports are suggesting that financial institutions have finally started to catch up. Read on to know how the finance companies have embraces online marketing.

1. Globally, financial services’ expenditure for digital advertising has increased at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 15% between 2008 and 2012. What’s even more fascinating is that experts are saying that the year 2017 will see the expenses become double of the amount spent in 2012.

2. The year 2012 saw financial services (globally) spend 18.9% of their entire advertising budget on digital advertising. This share will most likely increase even further by 2017; experts are expecting that the share would become 26.9%.

3. Statistics obtained recently revealed that as much as 73% of the consumer goods and retail companies have managed to get a customer via Facebook. The financial companies are yet to leave such a strong mark with its social media marketing campaigns, but their numbers are not at all embarrassing. Facebook has helped around 33% of financial services and banks to acquire at least one customer.

4. Most top global financial brands including big names such as CMC Markets have foolproof plans of increasing their marketing investments in social media, rich media, display, search, online video, and mobile.

5. The majority of the financial marketers are turning to digital marketing as the traditional advertising channels are failing to engage audience effectively and thereby causing significant drop in returns. A recent survey showed that as much as 77% of these firms believe that online marketing is much more efficient than the other available options. According to those companies, it requires them to spend much less to communicate with targeted customers online than offline.

6. Often, it’s said that showcasing recommendations is a merchandising strategy that is applicable only in ecommerce. The fact, however, is a bit different. Research conducted recently revealed that while it’s true that ecommerce businesses use recommendations most frequently to market their offerings, this advertising tool is also significantly popular in other industries including the financial services.

7. Mobile banking has become a household phenomenon in almost all developed countries in the world including the United Kingdom. A large number of the top financial institutions in the UK now have advanced mobile application features; examples include remote deposits, person to person transfers, and so on.

8. Are you still wondering whether it’s mandatory for financial service companies to have social media strategies of their own? Let us present some more numbers to highlight the important of digital advertising for this industry. A recent survey found that as many as 28% of the investment professionals investigated an event based on news posted on Twitter. What’s more, 12% of the surveyed group took investment decisions after reading tweets published on this micro-blogging platform. Another revelation made by same survey suggested that many private and institutional investors have started sharing their investment information on social networks.

9. According to latest reports, 75% of the financial service marketers have separate content policies ready for every top marketing channel. This is surprisingly the highest share among all the industries taking part in the survey.

10. The popularity of financial mobile apps is currently at its peak. A survey conducted to find out the kind of apps consumers tend to open most frequently showed that the list is topped by financial applications. The new investment and banking applications are more user-friendly and secure compared to websites representing different financial institutions. As a result, it has been found that consumers use these applications as much as 30% more frequently compared to any other type of mobile app launched to date.

The discussion above clearly shows that online marketing is slowly, but steadily becoming the preferred advertising method for the majority of the financial companies worldwide. Thus, to see your financial services reach new heights, you must get some effective online marketing strategies ready.