Table of Contents
*This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
One out of four credit card holders have become a fan, friend, or follower of their card brand issuer, according to Synergistics Research Corp. Access to rewards, special promotions and financial offers by connecting through social media is the driving force behind this segment of the financial industry promotional marketing trend. Taking advantage of the overall social media trend has helped smart credit card marketers reduce traditional advertising and direct mail costs, as they shift to where an increasing number of their customers are hanging out.
Create Raving Fans and New Customers
Marketing to fans and followers by using sales promotion techniques to cross-sell and to promote special offers through Facebook and Twitter may not seem like the primary place for shoppers, yet the rapid growth of social media has caused the financial industry to transform marketing strategies to capture this growing marketplace. Rewarding your fans for referring new customers has also been a successful strategy. A study from Bazzaarvoice confirmed that 25 to 30% of consumers would never choose a financial institution without reading at least one piece of user generated content about the product or service. Interacting through social media channels is increasingly important in both attracting and maintaining customers.
Optimizing The Shift Toward Content Marketing
As the Credit card industry has begun to embrace the opportunity to promote through social media and online content, other participants within the financial industry have also been transforming their marketing budgets toward producing online content to engage customers in dialogue on important issues and topics. Buying behaviors are rapidly changing as more information becomes available through numerous channels. Conversely, financial service and insurance companies continue to be slowed down by industry regulations and company guidelines, as they move to develop new technology to provide relevant content for their sales team, customers and prospects.
The 2014 Financial Services Marketing Trend Poll indicates that 57% of financial marketing managers are moving budget dollars from pure brand and product marketing to the production and distribution of content marketing programs. An obstacle within financial institutions had been their focus on ROI when it comes to content marketing. The study indicated that, for now, a shift to optimizing the investment through creating relevant and timely content, while leveraging data to make more strategic marketing decisions, has become the primary objective.
Aligning the sales and marketing teams around the availability of platforms, processes and workflow was also indicated as important by 81% of companies interviewed for the study. Providing relevant material and improving the client experience was indicated as top issues, along with providing lead generation and data-driven product information as technologies improve.
