5 Aspects of Digital Marketing That All Financial Services Companies Need!
Digital marketing is incredibly beneficial for any form of business, particularly in this day and age. That being said, each industry can see results from different areas of the field. This week, we want to take a look at companies working in Financial Services! We've helped dozens of clients in this industry see success, and we're going to tell you how!
Digital Ads
When marketing for Financial Services, the first thing that should be included on any digital marketing package is ads. The platforms may vary from agency to agency, but you need ads in some capacity. The real distinction in platform choices comes from your goal. If you're a B2B business, you'll want to focus on different platforms than a B2C business would. Of course, your choices also depend on which area of Financial Services your business exists in. Generally speaking however, this is a general breakdown of the main digital ad platforms that all the top digital marketing agencies use:
- Facebook: B2C (Occasionally B2B)
- Instagram: B2C
- LinkedIn: B2B
- Google: B2B or B2C
Why are ads important? Whether you're targeting consumers or businesses, it's crucial to get your brand in front of them. Organic content only reaches so far based on your current followers, hashtags, and a bit of luck with the algorithms. Ads allow you to reach accounts that would likely never see otherwise. You can show your content to those in certain areas, with specific job titles, with a certain set of interests, etc. Digital ads are one of the best ways to get new customers. The good news is that ads online are far cheaper than those on traditional media, and are proven to be more effective!
Here are some examples!
- Through our ads, we got a credit card service over 1,000 page likes, well over 700 clicks to their website, and a cost per result that is 82% lower than the industry average!
- Within one week of running Lead Generation ads on Google, a CPA firm received 3 valid leads worth 1,000s of dollars!
Lead Generation
This next service goes hand-in-hand with digital ads. Marketing for Financial Services often revolves around a desire to get new customers or partners through the door. The single best way to accomplish that is to run lead generation campaigns. As you would imagine, you need to use both lead generation and digital ads in tandem so that people learn about your business and want to join! Each of the top digital marketing agencies will have their own method of creating and running lead generation, but the concept is always similar; create a form or a landing page that collects interested prospect's information. Doing lead generation correctly can be difficult because you need to build a lot of trust prior to asking for information. Top digital marketing agencies have the process down, so you don't need to worry about that as long as you avoid freelancers! Some of the ad platforms even have their own in-platform lead generation forms to make everything easier! The most successful forms will tell the prospects more about your business and its services, build trust through testimonials, and set you apart from your closest competition. Once you have the form/web page nailed down, you'll see results streaming in!
Website Development
One of the biggest problems we've seen with Financial Service companies is their website, if they have one at all. Websites are extremely important these days because people like to research prior to committing to a purchase/brand. A website really creates the first impression of your business. As you know, you only have one chance to make a first impression! You could have the most wonderful company in the country, and an outdated website drives potential customers away. Websites should be updated frequently to keep up with the technological advances happening around us everyday. Your site needs to be visually appealing, eye-catching, informative, and engaging. When we are marketing for Financial Services, we always make sure that the website, or at least the ad's destination web page, accurately reflects your brand. No matter how hard we try, even the best ads won't get conversions on a bad website. The Financial Services industry as a whole is adapting to the times rapidly, meaning that your competitors are working to modernize their brand at the same time you are. You can't fall behind or you'll lose prospects to nicer websites! Be sure to find a digital marketing agency that specialized in web development so that this must-have is on your package (unless of course you have a great site from another agency or in-house designer!).
SEO Blogs
There are ways to market for financial services that get organic results. Of course, you can (and should) be posting on social media, but there's an even more effective way! SEO blogs are one of the best methods to increase your Google Page Rank. All websites are indexed by Google based on a lot of factors. The more relevant keywords your site features the higher up on the Google results you'll appear! As you would imagine, this is another example of why a good site is important. Your website needs to have a blog page that is updated at least monthly. Each blog should discuss something related to your industry or business, and should use keywords that potential customers might look for. For example, if you offer loans to house flippers, keywords you may want to target include:
- how to start flipping houses
- house flipping tips
- how to become a flipper
- fix and flip loans
- etc.
When deciding which keywords to include, your digital marketing agency should do some research. You want to target keywords that are relevant, searched more than 1,000 times per month, and have a low-medium difficulty score. Blog writers have to put themselves into the shoes of potential customers to think about what search terms someone who may need a house flipping loan would look up. As you rank higher, your blog will get closer and closer to the top of the first page, significantly increasing your chance of getting viewership and a new customer! This is all done without having to put money behind it, so SEO blogs should only be written with the understanding that it can take several weeks or months to take effect.
LinkedIn Outreach
One of the biggest assets we've found when marketing for financial services is LinkedIn. Everything about the platform is great. Most of the financial services businesses BusySeed has worked with are focused on B2B in one manner or another. You will not find a better platform for that goal than LinkedIn. We post there, run ads, and even use outreach messages for lead generation. If you've never heard of LinkedIn Outreach, it's a very simple concept that can be extremely effective. Essentially, you create a target audience through LinkedIn's filters. The platform will automatically update these audiences as new profiles come through. Your digital marketing agency will compose one to four messages that will be automatically sent to anyone matching your audience criteria. It's run through your personal account as a chat, so it's a more personal way of interacting. From our outreach efforts, we've seen dozens of phone meetings set up within just a few weeks of starting the campaign! Since LinkedIn is only for professionals, you can connect and message with people in decision making positions in companies that may benefit from your services. Not all agencies will offer this service, but the best ones will!
So, does your current package include these five services? If you aren't currently getting at least all of these things, or if you don't currently work with an agency at all, it's time to switch things up! Any agency who has successfully worked with financial service businesses will know exactly what you need to thrive. The BusySeed team has helped over 300 businesses in many industries find success, including financial services! We've helped law offices, hard money lenders, insurance companies, and more! If you're ready to get results for your business, give us a call at (888) 353-1484. We look forward to speaking with you!
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