Why landing page design can’t be an afterthought

If you’re putting time and effort into your content marketing strategy then you can’t leave your landing page design as an afterthought. A well-designed page ensures the leads you’re gaining from your content are actually being converted. At the end of the day, an effective page designed to convert will help ensure your lead generation campaign is successful.

With the average landing page conversion rate across all industries being 9.7% (with 10% being widely considered a good conversion rate) getting them right is critical. As Hubspot explains, “Marketers who create landing pages that build trust with page visitors, provide valuable information, and use different content types see higher conversion rates.”

How to design a landing page that converts

Creating not only an engaging landing page but one that converts is all about the design. Here are our top tips for creating an engaging landing page:

• Keep it personal – Ensure your landing page is personalised to the user. Utilising generic messaging won’t lead to conversions or maintain engagement, with studies revealing personalised CTAs convert 202% better than a normal CTA.
• Optimise, optimise, optimise – Consistently testing your landing page and optimising it is critical to its success. Utilising A/B testing will ensure your landing page operates smoothly and help convert clients, with 1 out of 8 A/B tests shown to have driven significant change.
• Keep it simple – Too much information can overwhelm your clients. Keep your information clear, simple and concise.
• Have a clear call to action – Ultimately, you want your clients visiting your landing page to take action. This means an effective CTA is critical.
• Ensure it’s mobile-friendly – With more people using their mobiles to find and research businesses it’s critical your landing page is not only designed for mobile but is fast, quick and responsive otherwise people simply click off.

Two great examples

These two finance brands demonstrate what makes a good landing page design. Keeping it simple and immediately trying to gain important first-party data makes these landing pages particularly effective.

Future Green Steps has made its landing page eye-catching and engaging. Keeping the information simple, users gain the necessary information seamlessly. Additionally, it has incorporated short-form videos to make the page feel fresh and provide a variety of content appealing to a wider range of visitors while also increasing users’ time on the page.

Odin’s Crow has also created an innovative and engaging landing page design. Utilising intelligent web design, Odin’s Crow combines interactive graphics with accessible typography that provides critical information. Odin’s Crow highlights that landing page design doesn’t have to be boring, instead, it can be modern and contemporary.

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Ads retargeting: your finance brand’s secret weapon

Targeted and specific, ads retargeting is overall a successful acquisition strategy for finance brands when executed right. In fact, retargeted ads have 10x higher conversion rates than display ads. This is because retargeted ads are much better at identifying consumers that have buying intent from the get-go.

Other reasons why ads retargeting should be a part of your overall financial marketing strategy include:

• 91% of marketers who have used retargeting have found it to perform the same as or better than search, email, or other display ads.
• The click-through rate (CTR) of a retargeted ad is 10x higher than the CTR of a typical display ad.
• 3 out of 5 online viewers notice and consider ads showing products they viewed from another page.
• Website visitors who are retargeted are 43% more likely to be converted.
• 25% of online viewers enjoy seeing retargeted ads.

How your finance brand can nail retargeting

Nailing ads retargeting is all about thinking strategically about the message that is served to users who have visited your website.

Three tips for finance brands to help nail ad retargeting:

• Be relevant – Ensure your advertising material is targeted to your audience and provides helpful information that’s tailored to their needs.
• Segment your audience – Select a specific market segment that aligns with your finance brand’s strategic marketing goals, whether that be acquisition or brand awareness.
• Employ personalisation strategies – Make sure your ads are tied to what the user was browsing on your site, such as a specific product or piece of content. For instance, if a user visits the ESG page on your website, you could serve ESG-related research and insights articles from your content hub or research centre.

How iOS 14.5 has changed ads retargeting strategies

Apple’s newest version of iOS has altered retargeting strategies significantly. This new update has introduced mandatory permission users have to grant to apps and websites to use their personal data. Whereas previously, apps and websites could access this personal data much easier. Owing to these changes, the size of your retargeting audience may decrease and you’ll no longer be able to target users who have denied personal data access via their iOS device.

What changes do you need to make to your finance brand’s ads retargeting strategy:

• Reduce your retargeting of mobile users by device and operating type
• Employ geotargeted advertising strategies
• Utilise other retargeting strategies that don’t rely on device identification such as email retargeting

At the end of the day, ads retargeting is a great method of improving brand awareness and converting clients. By delivering relevant and personalised ads after a client has viewed your site or social media, you are able to effectively nurture leads.

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The ins and outs of content marketing for asset managers

For a long time, asset managers have relied on traditional marketing strategies to get the message out and create brand awareness. Today, with the continued rise in digital marketing this isn’t the effective strategy that it used to be.

Digital financial content marketing should be a priority for asset managers. Content marketing can help your asset management firm nurture leads and form authentic connections with investors. In fact, when customers feel connected to a brand 57% of them will increase their spending with that brand and 76% will buy from them over a competitor.

Here are five steps to creating a great content marketing strategy:

• Understand your audience
• Identify your goals and objectives
• Research your clients, competitors and channels
• Strategise the role content will play in your marketing
• Distribute your content to your target audience

While creating a content strategy is important, the content itself must also align with your audiences’ demands. So what content do your investors want to see?

Educate, educate, educate

Whether you’re targeting first-time investors or seasoned veterans, almost all audiences engage with and want educational content. The type and style of educational content will depend on your target audience and their needs.

For first-time investors, simple 101 videos and infographics will be helpful. For more experienced investors, detailed market insights and informational content on more complex subject areas would be beneficial.

At the end of the day, asset management and investing can be complex and often confusing for people. By educating your audience you can build trust and loyalty, enabling you to retain clients in the long term.

Content marketing for asset managers on every channel

Omnichannel marketing could be your asset management firm’s competitive edge. With the rise in social media and digital platforms, it’s become more important than ever to have a presence across all channels. In fact, brands that implemented omnichannel marketing experienced 23x higher customer satisfaction rates. However, how you present your brand and your content marketing strategy must be strategically thought out.

Understanding each social channel, the audience you are targeting on there and the content that performs well is key to creating a successful omnichannel marketing strategy. Your content on Instagram will look different to what you present on LinkedIn, for example.

Omnichannel marketing is about ensuring a user has a positive experience with your asset management firm on whatever channel. Unlike multichannel marketing, which is just when a brand advertises across multiple platforms, omnichannel marketing is about creating a connected and seamless experience for users.

Ditch the boring, downloadable PDFs

While downloadable PDFs have their place in your asset management firms’ content marketing strategy, they aren’t as effective as you might think. Taking the research and information contained within these PDFs and converting them into interactive and engaging content that can be used across multiple channels is a better content marketing strategy.

Allow old-school users to have the option to download these documents but don’t make this your entire strategy. Mix up your content by producing short-form videos, infographics and interactive graphs to engage a wider audience and keep your content fun and fresh.

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The onboarding process

At the end of the day, the onboarding process is an important component of your financial marketing strategy. In fact, a Signicat report shows that when faced with a bad onboarding experience, more than half of all customers are less inclined to use that bank in the future, and a third will warn friends to stay away. To engage consumers and convert leads, you must make the onboarding process easy and create authentic connections with clients throughout it.

Why content is your secret to onboarding success

Creating a strategic digital content strategy that supports a long, drawn-out ‘purchasing decision’ could be your finance brand’s secret to success. A financial marketing strategy can help foster a long-term relationship with your clients and move them from the awareness stage to the loyalty stage in the customer lifecycle model.

Here are five steps to ensure your digital content supports your onboarding process:

• Personalise your content – Ensure your communications and digital content is personalised and tailored to the specific client. Over 76% of consumers said receiving personalised communications was a key factor in their consideration of a brand.
• Utilise omnichannel marketing – Ensure you connect with consumers and build strong relationships with them across all the channels they use, from SMS marketing to social media and digital advertising.
• Differentiate your content – What content works for one consumer may not work for another. Ensure you create a fresh and engaging digital experience, by utilising a range of different content formats such as short-form videos to blog posts to emails; J.D Power reports that customer satisfaction increases as the number of customer communications increases.
• Utilise digital ad retargeting – Digital ad retargeting is when your finance brand serves ads based on prior engagement. This is important when creating an ongoing relationship with clients and helps your finance brand to nurture leads. In fact, retargeting beats all other ad placement strategies with a 1,046% efficiency rate.
• Don’t forget mobile – Ensure your digital content is mobile-friendly and targeted to where your consumers are viewing content. If most of your demographic has social media, it’s important this is where a majority of your digital content strategy is targeted towards.

Digital content doesn’t stop after conversions

Once your finance brand has successfully converted a client, this isn’t where your digital content strategy ends. The onboarding process is ongoing, even past the point of conversion. Digital content should continue to be used to nurture and support your clients. At the core of it, client retention is a long game that can be achieved through an effective financial marketing content strategy.

Here are four ways to continue to nurture your clients, long after the beginning stages of the onboarding process:

• Deliver informative and educational content
• Publish high-quality content consistently
• Create social media posts that foster a community
• Personalise client communications

To truly create a great onboarding process for wealth managers and other finance brands, digital content is a critical component you can’t just leave to last.

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Welcome to the gig economy

The gig worker economy is categorised as independent contractors, freelancers, content creators and on-call workers (such as nurses and other healthcare professionals). This style of work comes with its own unique set of challenges that many finance brands don’t cater for. What sets them apart from other industries is the fact that gig workers manage their personal and business finances simultaneously.

As gig workers are their own bosses and financial managers they often don’t have the luxury of big businesses that have accountants and finance officers. This is the niche that your finance brand needs to fill in order to satisfy gig workers’ needs. Providing tools, services and products the gig worker economy can use that will make financial management easier will ensure your finance brand stands out from the crowd and caters to their unique set of financial challenges.

What gig workers want

According to a report by Abound, there are a number of areas finance brands can supply the gig worker economy which will satisfy their distinct needs. By offering these niche services and products your finance brand can acquire a new market segment and help build authentic and loyal relationships with customers.

Some service finance brands can offer which will satisfy the gig worker economy include:

• A mobile app
• A tool to identify business expenses
• Educational services and tool thats can help them budget effectively
• A service that sends and receives invoices directly
• A tool that automatically sets aside money for taxes

What finance brands can improve

While almost a third of gig workers are only somewhat satisfied with their finance providers, 15% are completely unsatisfied. This indicates a gap between what finance brands offer the gig worker economy and what they actually need.

A few areas the gig worker economy are unsatisfied with finance brands include:

• Fees are too high
• Poor customer service
• Lack of features

By improving these three areas your finance brand can better satisfy the needs of the gig worker economy. This will help your finance brand stand out from the crowd and create trusting connections with workers that have previously been underserved by financial providers.

A growing market segment

Most gig workers begin work using one account for personal finance and business before transitioning to two separate accounts. Finance brands should create and market a business account that is catered to the needs of the gig worker economy. By creating a niche and tailored product your finance brand can stand apart from the competition and help build personal connections with consumers.

With 46% of the gig worker economy looking to open a new bank account, now is the perfect time for your finance brand to create a personalised financial experience for workers.

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Next best action: a simple solution

Next best action is a customer-centric approach to marketing rather than a product-centric one. Instead of your finance brand spending on large outbound campaigns for single products you instead focus on tailoring product offerings to the individual consumer. Through analysing customer analytics you can understand your target audience’s wants and needs and make informed marketing decisions.

Through this customer analysis, your finance brand can identify quick win areas to develop stronger customer relationships and create a positive brand image. A study by Deloitte, in which they empowered a UK retail bank with a next best action approach, saw a 30% uplift during the pilot.

How to enable a next best action approach

To embed a next best action approach into your financial services you need to create a machine learning algorithm that can analyse and learn consumers’ habits and behaviours. This should be based on key customer analytics such as:

• Current and previous purchases and subscriptions
• History of transactions and finances
• Demographics such as age, gender, income
• What their preferences are for working with your finance brand (i.e. online banking, in-store purchasing etc…)
• Data on their clicks – pages they’ve visited, information they’ve searched for and how long they’ve stayed on your website and individual pages.

Once this information has been collated and analysed your finance brand can then create an algorithm tailored for each consumer. Your finance brand will need to have certain technology to help with this process. While your finance brand should already have the data you will need to consider creating or contracting a next best action machine learning platform, like DataRobot or Adobe Sensei. If you decide to create one internally you will need to first:

• Remove channel-based silos across your marketing team and organisation
• Merge your analytics to create a 360-degree scope of your customers
• Implement a personalisation strategy across your marketing content

• Memory-based – This method focuses on machine learning and remembering the similarities and differences between the clicks, subscriptions and products bought to recognise what to offer to other consumers.
• Model-based – This method utilises a machine to predict the probability of a consumer purchasing the different products on offer.

At the core of it, these models are deciding what offers and products should be marketed to which customers based on financial value, the probability they will purchase the product, and the value to your finance brand. Next best action marketing is therefore based on how much value it provides both your finance brand and your customers.

To maximise your next best action marketing strategy you must facilitate an always-on content program. This is so you can target your audience when it’s relevant to them through both inbound and outbound marketing. Because your finance brand understands consumers’ actions and decisions better, they can tailor the customer experience across every marketing channel.

Optimise the customer journey

By switching from a product-centric approach to a customer-centric approach your finance brand can improve and optimise the customer experience. Recgonising the right and wrong times to market and offer products to consumers can generate greater customer conversions and improve customer relationships.

At the core of it, next best action empowers finance brands by enabling them to offer greater customer service, cross-sell and up-sell their products, and offer a highly personalised customer experience which consumers are craving. Next best action is a way for finance brands to develop best practices that can improve customer retention and generate a positive brand image by giving consumers what they want, when they want.

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Refer a friend

At its core, referrals are successful because real people that are trusted are tasked with advertising the product or service. Nowadays, It’s difficult for consumers to trust what is advertised online or on television with only 33% of customers believing online ads. By creating a targeted referral marketing program finance brands can harness the power of word-of-mouth and improve consumer trust and loyalty.

The dos and don’ts of referral marketing

A strong referral marketing scheme is one that aligns with a finance brands’ target audience and has been built with the user experience at the forefront. There should be minimal barriers for users to refer people and should be a rewards-based model. Here are the dos and don’ts for finance brands creating a referral marketing program:

• Do: Make it easy. Customers won’t refer friends and family members if it’s too complicated. In the same vein, it should be easy for the invitee to do what’s required to gain the reward.
• Don’t: Make it a limited time promotion. Referral marketing should be an ongoing program as this will ensure finance brands are exposed to more customers year-round, rather than those needing a financial service in-the-moment.
• Do: Promote it across a number of social channels. Finance brands should integrate their referral program as an aspect of their overall marketing strategy with the end goal being to train current and future customers to consistently refer people.
• Don’t: Give nothing in return. People are rewards-focused and want to gain value for their referral efforts. Make sure the reward aligns with what your finance brand gains from the referral. If someone opens an account with $10,000 for example, the reward should be bigger than for a person opening a new account with $1,000.

The key to referral program is ensuring they’re advertised consistently across a number of platforms and there’s a high-quality Call To Action (CTA) attached. In fact, when a CTA is integrated into the customer journey, consumers are four times more likely to refer someone.

Brands nailing referral marketing

Referral marketing programs are beginning to become popular within the financial services sector meaning it’s a great time for finance brands to capture an interested audience. Here are two finance brands nailing the customer referral program.

Canadian neo bank Tangerine has employed a referral marketing program from the beginning to gain valuable and loyal customers. Tangerine offers new clients $50 when they open an account and deposit $250 using an existing customer’s ‘orange key’. This is a well-conducted strategy as it forces referred clients to open an account and deposit money before they can gain the reward, therefore gaining Tangerine a new customer immediately.

The UK online pension provider PensionBee is another financial service offering a great referral program to new customers. Similar to Tangerine, PensionBee offers new customers and the existing customer who referred them £50 once the invitee opens an account. This is a great strategy as it entices the person who refers to make the invitee follow-through on opening an account, as they also gain a reward.

Give rewards to gain rewards

Enabling your current customers to become brand ambassadors is a great method of gaining a loyal and trusting customer base. Aligning your finance brands’ customer referral program to your target audience is critical in ensuring it’s an effective marketing strategy. Word-of-mouth still remains one of the most effective advertising strategies today, with it having the ability to increase sales by 500% compared to a paid advertising impression. It’s time finance brands began to employ their customers to advertise for them with referral marketing programs.

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While relatability and personalisation will look different for every bank and their targeted audience, it’s an important area to factor into a strong marketing strategy. Here we’ll explain exactly how finance brands can develop relatable and personalised content, that doesn’t just target a single demographic but a few.

Relatability is the way to customer’s hearts and wallets

Customers are attracted to a more relatable finance brand, yet they only find one in four banking brands actually relatable. This disconnect between what consumers want and what current banking brands offer, is a missed opportunity for finance brands’ to gain a more loyal customer base and create a stronger connection.

Creating an emotional connection with consumers through a content marketing strategy and customer experience that reflects their wants and needs is beneficial for finance brands financially. Not only does it promote loyalty and customer retention, but companies that provide an emotional connection outperform the sales growth of their competitors by 85%.

While some brands like UK neobank Monzo are nailing their emotional connection with consumers through content that reflects their Millennial target demographic, many finance brands’ aren’t, suggesting an opportunity to improve.

Connection over revenue

A recent report conducted by BrandCap has created a relatability index for finance brands. Based on four key components, BrandCap noted how different finance brands can embody each factor to create an overall relatable brand image, these include:

• Competence: Can I interact with this brand easily and how I want?
• Empathy: Does this brand understand me and my changing needs?
• Character: Can I see myself reflected in this brand’s character and values?
• Confidence: Is this brand reliable and trustworthy?

Unsurprisingly, different age groups responded differently to each aspect of relatability. Gen Z favour financial services that prioritise empathy and character, whereas Millennials prefer competence and confidence. Finance brands should therefore be looking at how they can create a brand image that resonates with their target audience and how they can tailor their marketing strategy to a specific demographic. Customers want a sense of relatability, with the top 10 most empathetic companies increasing their value more than twice that of the bottom 10.

Marcus by Goldman and Sachs was considered one of the highest performers in BrandCap’s relatability index as it combined a few key criterias. The educational blog not only exceeded customer expectations by creating a digitally focused user interface that eliminated customer pain points (competence), but also created educational content (empathy) backed by a reliable brand, Goldman and Sachs (confidence).

Finance brands must assess their marketing strategy and brand image to identify what relatability factors they can target to improve their customer connections. Financial services should switch their focus from just revenue building, to a customer centric mindset, with companies that are focused on the consumer being 60% more profitable than those that aren’t.

People not products are a finance brands’ best asset

BlackRock nails this concept on their Instagram account, with a focus on sharing employees’ stories and faces. In fact, their slogan for their account is ‘Life at BlackRock’.

Get social on social media

With the continuing digitisation of the finance world, customers are consistently moving online to connect and find finance brands. It’s becoming more important than ever that finance brands begin focusing on their digital content strategy and ensuring it reflects their target demographic. A study by Sprout Social found customers cited social media as the number one way brands could connect with consumers.

By creating an empathetic digital content marketing strategy that reflects consumers’ wants and needs, a finance brand can form a strong connection and be considered more relatable. Educational content, insights into the business and ESG commitments are some popular topics that a range of demographics are keen and interested in consuming that build a sense of trust and an emotional connection.

UK challenger bank Starling has created a relatable and accessible brand image through their content on social media. Their travel money Instagram posts, environmental projects, Q and A’s with money agony aunt Rosie and their educational YouTube videos appeal to consumers’ demand for empathy, character and competence.

Translate data into a personalised customer experience

Finance brands are inundated with data about their consumer at every stage in the customer journey ––physical and digital. This is an important resource for financial marketers to utilise to create meaningful consumer segments and targeted campaigns to improve the customer experience and increase profits. Finance brands need to take the time to analyse their data, understand their target audience and tailor their content accordingly so it’s relevant and resonates.

Relatability is an ongoing marketing strategy

Relatability isn’t a one time attribute. Instead, it’s a consistent analysis and reassessment of a finance brand’s target market and their demands to ensure a customer connection is maintained over the long-term.

Relatability should be a priority for finance brands as it promotes connection and subsequently bottom-line growth. In fact, when customers feel connected to a brand 57% of them will increase their spending with that brand and 76% will buy from them over a competitor. It’s important to note that relatability will look and appear differently for each finance brand, so it’s vital they continue to research, listen and learn about their target audience and tailor their content and customer experience to them.

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With Ecommerce expected to make up 22% of global retail sales by 2023, websites are fast becoming one of the most important aspects of a successful marketing strategy. By combining product marketing and design, a harmonious balance can be found that will ensure your website is both functional and beautiful, as well as being informative and profitable.

The difference between UX and UI design

To get started, it’s important to understand the difference between user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. At its core, UI design is focused on visual design and brand image. Alternatively, UX is centered around user experience and how customers interact with a website. UX design solves structural pain points to make the purchasing process easier.

UX design and UI design collaborate to deliver a holistic customer experience. A website that focuses on both UX design and UI design will be both functional and visually appealing and finance brands must incorporate both. Yet, often, it’s UX that’s forgotten about with 86% of companies failing to consider UX when developing their website.

Users want UX design

With so much choice online, users expect websites to be easy-to-use and functional. In fact, more than two-thirds of businesses compete on customer experience alone, making UX design a key weapon in remaining competitive. UX is an investment that has great returns for finance brands with a study by Forrester finding that every $1 invested in UX design generates $100 in return. Customers want their online experience to be easy and UX design allows for that.

By altering the focus from the aesthetic qualities of a website to the users’ experience it can help finance brands reduce visitors dropping off and choosing an alternative business. 88% of customers were less inclined to purchase from a company after a bad user experience indicating the influence UX design has on customers’ purchasing decisions.

Know your audience

UX design is human-focused. It places the customer at the forefront of your website’s design. By researching and understanding not only who your finance brands’ audience is but also how they use your website, finance brands can drive customers to take certain actions. Whether this is to purchase a product or to engage with a specific campaign, when UX aligns with a strategic content program they work in partnership to deliver on business goals. In fact, companies that focused on customer experience saw their revenue increase by 4-8%.

While 81% of banks believe they understand their users’ needs, only 37% of customers agree. With web design a key aspect of the customer experience, it’s an important component to ensure finance brands are meeting the needs of consumers. Whilst visual design is a way to capture attention and engage customers, to strengthen customer relationships and drive them to take relevant actions finance websites need to be designed with customer behaviours front of mind.

Here are three simple fixes to improve your UX design:
Count how many clicks it takes for your user to get to the page they need. Remove any unnecessary pathways as you want your site to be easy and quick to navigate.
Ensure the front page of your website showcases who your brand is and what they do. Look to showcase content that will drive customers down the funnel as well as providing quick links to products for customers ready to act.
Ensure you have a call to action (CTA) that is noticeable and relevant. Having a personalised CTAs converted 42% more visitors into leads than un-personalised ones.

Design and marketing go hand-in-hand

UX design and marketing are symbiotic. UX design can improve marketing campaigns by ensuring website visitors both enjoy their experience and are directed to relevant information and ultimately to make a purchase. By merging key user experience information with rich marketing data, a finance brand can gain a competitive edge as lead generation can turn into profitable conversions.

Great design stops for nobody

It’s important that finance brands understand UX design isn’t a one-time investment, but a continuous aspect of their overall marketing strategy. UX must continue to evolve with its users and remain driven by data and research into audience habits and goals. With half of all customers who switched finance brands doing so because of a bad user experience, it pays for finance brands to continue to invest in UX design.

92% of businesses that have adopted a customer-centric marketing strategy have seen an increase in customer loyalty and 84% experienced an increase in revenue. Focusing on how your target audience experiences your website and digital platforms is an important aspect of improving a brand’s overall marketing strategy.

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With the increased discourse globally about the importance of climate change, the environment and the need for sustainable practices, a brand’s environmental activism is now an effective marketing strategy. With 81% of people saying they research a brand and product before purchasing it, customers are looking to the content and social channels of finance brands to see where their values lie before making a commitment. While ESG and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are generally pillars of a brand’s identity and investment strategy, here’s why they need to feature as part of your external-facing content and not just an internal commitment.

Financial content marketing is all about values

With greater pressure on people to use their purchasing power for social and environmental good, customers are expecting more from financial services brands. A recent report from Aflac found that 77% of consumers are more motivated to buy from a company that has a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) pledge and 73% of investors would agree. Being environmentally conscious is not only vital for the longevity of the planet, but also for the success of a finance brand’s marketing future.

Sustainability is one political pressure point that most of the world recognises, with 68% of the globe seeing climate change as a major threat. 71% of UK banking customers agree they are more likely to choose a bank with a positive social and environmental impact and more than 60% would leave their bank if it was harming the environment. In Australia, more than 66% of Australians don’t want their money to cause harm to the planet and 86% expect their savings and super will be invested responsibly and ethically. The USA isn’t far behind, with 6 American banks out of the 43 banking providers committed to the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.

ESG commitments – they don’t just benefit the planet

Many finance brands across the UK, Australia and America have successfully integrated their sustainability efforts with their financial content marketing. Whilst it’s great for any finance brand to begin to create an ESG commitment, it’s important to understand how to market it for better customer success. Economic services business Deloitte have extensively researched this area and have concluded that “Companies that fail to embed sustainability in their corporate communications to create a strategic, investor-relevant narrative are missing an opportunity”.

If we take a look at Bank of Australia, they have seamlessly transitioned their marketing strategy to encompass their sustainability efforts and ESG pledge. Their website design is centered on their environmental and social values, with the tagline “The bank with clean money”. By intertwining their business with their sustainable practices, it entices customers and creates a clear distinction between them and the four major Australian banks.

Across the world in the UK, the financial services company EY is also making sustainability and social values a part of their financial marketing strategy. Through blog posts, advertising campaigns and a podcast centered on their sustainable commitments, EY have aligned themselves with the sustainability movement. With informative content that educates business leaders on the importance of sustainability and how to implement it, EY is able to capture the attention of new clients and maintain the support of current ones, offering advice on how sustainability future-proofs businesses and strengthens companies competitiveness. EY are at the forefront of environmental financial content marketing, and are seeing success with it too, with 84% of their clients being a part of the Fortune Global 500 list and 73% of the Forbes Global 2000 list.

In America, many financial services businesses are taking the lead and starting to incorporate sustainable practices and their ESG commitments into their marketing. Bank of America has increased its environmental initiative through its commitment to carbon neutrality and 100% renewable energy. With 49% of Americans believing that it’s important that companies are committed to making the world a better place, Bank of America is simply responding to the growing demand for environmental and social responsibility.

Get on the hype or be left behind

Gen Z and Millennials are altering how they want their finance brands to operate. With the advent of the internet, Gen Z and Millennials are putting greater efforts into researching what exactly companies are aligned with. 41% of Millennial and Gen Z investors put time and effort into understanding a company’s role in bettering the environment and planet, compared to only 27% of Gen X and 16% of Boomers doing so. To get their support, marketing your ESG commitments is a great place to start.

If you want your financial marketing content to remain relevant and strong in today’s world, your environmental and social values need to come to the fore. With the newer generations expecting more from finance brands, it’s time to reconsider your stance on social and environmental activism.

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