“Digital marketing transformation: top tips for Financial Services”

Digital transformation is both a challenge and an opportunity for B2B marketers in the financial services sector. According to Forrester, while 26% of financial services firms recognize that digital transformation is never ending — as many as 14% mistakenly think they’ve ‘done’ it. To surpass your growing competition you must change the way you work in 2021 and create an online impact that puts you firmly on the digital radar.

From adopting automation technology to implementing future-proof marketing tactics, our digital transformation experts have pulled together some top tips on how to fuel your marketing strategy for 2021.

Prepare your team for digital disruption (that means everyone)

Deliotte reports that 90% of its survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that digital technologies are disrupting the financial services to a great or moderate extent. So, it’s evident that marketers in the financial services sector are welcoming digital transformation with open arms. Yet, instead of diving in, as an industry we are sitting tentatively on the cusp.

In fact, the same survey found that only 38% of financial service industry respondents believe their organization offers employees the necessary development opportunities needed to thrive in a digital environment. It’s simple; to become a digital-first organization, every department, team and individual must also be digital-first.

As a business, you must opt for solutions that are user intuitive, simple to set up, and deliver ROI quickly. Consider employing digitally-savvy team members to head up your technology operations, as well as provide training to empower more hesitant team members to approach digital with confidence. Remember, to compete with the most successful organizations, your business needs to be agile. And that includes your team members.

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s this: businesses that are unable to adapt quickly to changing circumstances and cater to a digital environment are less likely to succeed in the future.  So, get ahead through self-development, learning new skills; and championing a business culture that allows for change and adaptability, as and when the landscape changes.

It’s time to embrace automation 

Forrester discovered that 68% of financial services firms are investing heavily in SaaS for digital transformation; as well as business intelligence and analytics (43%). When it comes to building a technology stack for your business, be sure to opt for high-end solutions that help you achieve your specific digital and marketing goals. When amplifying your digital marketing efforts, you need a way to seamlessly and reliably deliver campaigns at scale and in real-time; crucial in what is becoming a digital first world.

You’ll need to start at the very beginning: your website. Put a solution in place that helps you capture your website visitors, identifies who they are and automatically routes that intel directly into your CRM or marketing technology stack. And once in, allows you to automate your digital campaigns based on whether they are a new inquiry, existing customer or currently in play, and depending on this, alerts the right team to follow up in real-time.

Automation provides your business with significant value — streamlining processes; improving CX; eliminating error and removing the need for repetitive tasks; in turn boosting engagement and delivering engaged opportunities, leads and data insight directly to your team.

Make data-driven marketing decisions

Data is at the heart of marketing success. This isn’t new information. But still, only 40% of organizations aim to increase data-driven marketing budgets, according to Invespcro. And, what’s worse, the businesses that aren’t investing significantly in marketing data are missing out on 5-8 times higher ROI from their campaign spend.

Your customer and prospect data, the data captured through your marketing channels and the data that you don’t always see or even miss out on — it all tells a story. Analyzing this valuable insight, identifying the various groups that make up your wider audience, and designing campaigns specifically for each of these segments, prospects and customers will help you provide unbeatable customer experience, convert more leads, close more business, grow sales pipeline and achieve greater marketing ROI. Invest in software and analytics that enable you to segment data with ease and integrate with your marketing automation stack to personalize your communications at scale, and in real-time.

The need-to-know tactics for Financial Services marketers for the new decade

According to WordStream, financial services keywords are among some of the most expensive when it comes to Google Ads. While this may not seem like good news, WebFX reports that the average conversion-rate for financial services search ads is as high as 6%. It’s clear. Marketers must invest in digital strategies to reap the rewards — and search ads are just one of many. In today’s world we are seeing prospects and customers surrounded by video, seeking immediacy, and with infinite content and research at their fingertips. If your digital marketing strategy isn’t evolving with the times, you risk falling further behind.

Deliver real-time communications, understand your customers and prospects better than your competitors, automate your communications and plan future strategies and choose the right tactics based on data insight.

Web Insights cuts out the noise to deliver exceptional insight to financial service marketers, exactly when and where it’s needed. Our intelligent, automated lead generation solution instantly recognizes your website visitors, matches them with enriched firmographic and key decision-maker contact data, automatically routes opportunities straight into you CRM solution or marketing technology and alerts the most relevant member of your team for immediate, real-time contact and nurture.

Automated, intelligent lead generation, immediate website visitor insight and seamless integration — every time.