Is Financial Services Marketing Ready for the Age of Engagement?

Since the beginning of modern marketing—using TV advertising and, more recently, digital channels—most financial services marketing has employed a common approach: Talking at people rather to them—or heaven forbid, inviting an intelligent conversation.

Consider the following financial services messages currently in use in the sector, which seem “benefit-free” and generic:

“Better money habits for your financial life” – Bank of America

“Welcome to a more modern approach.” – Charles Schwab

“What if a bank could help you feel like this?” (showing happy/shining people) – Citibank

“Can you afford to trade anywhere else?” – TD Ameritrade

At a recent Gramercy Institute event held in New York City, the topic of discussion was “Financial Marketing 2018: The Age of Engagement.” An interesting perspective on trying to make financial services marketing messages more relevant, and potentially more effective.

Bill Wreaks, CEO and founder of the Gramercy Institute (above) characterized engagement as “Becoming one between the marketer and the customer” in his opening remarks. Seems like a great place to start. So how can or should this approach play out in practice? Here are some highlights from the event’s speakers / panelists:

Casey Myers, Head of Sales at Sunday Sky (a personalized video platform), observed: “Consumers have come to expect relevant experiences. If the message is not smart, they will be disappointed. Marketers like Amazon and Neiman Marcus have set the standard, with a focus on mobile devices.” Myers continued, “You need to inspire your customers to take the next best action.”

Reese Lackey, Global Head of Brand (above) from global investment manager Nuveen, remarked: “Building customer relationships is all about respect, especially when it comes to their time.” He continued, “We use the acronym DWMT, which means don’t waste my time. At Nuveen, we are working to find better ways to connect with our audience by providing valued information, with a service-oriented attitude.”

Erin Meijer is Director of Thought Leadership and Content Strategy at Guardian Life. She observed: “At Guardian, we aim to provide value through our content. We ask ourselves—‘Are we making them smarter?’ This is the new value exchange.” She continued, “We’re also not just thinking about what to say, but also where to say it….what’s the next big channel opportunity? Like user-generated content that can help validate products/services vs. promotional branded messages.”

Jodi Fronczke is VP, Marketing at online trading platform Trade Station, headquartered in Plantation, FL. She observed: “We started by developing client personas to help us better understand our customers, then used customer journey mapping to help us give our customers what they need.”

Lauren Dukes from Merrill Lynch shared that back in 2015 her company developed a client engagement approach based on the insight that their customers are strapped for time. “It’s important to provide a content nugget that offers an insight, one that makes them smarter.” She continued, “Relationships are the foundation of our business—and we need to create as many experiences as possible across the organization to enhance those relationships.”

One of the most striking takeaways from this event is what was not said: None of the panelist mentioned measurement of engagement effectiveness (such as views / social shares / comments / inquiries)—let alone any hard, business-related quantitative benchmarks like cost-per-lead, cost-per-acquisition, or measuring the ROI (Return on Investment) from a marketing spend.

It seemed that talking about the “softer-side” of engagement was the way to go. Unfortunately, this is not the best approach marketing professionals can take when asking for budget from senior management—especially in the face of their increased focus on measurable business returns and more accountability. The good news is that digital marketing can provide a huge amount of data on nearly every initiative undertaken, and the business outcomes they produce—and further validate the importance of customer engagement.