By Charlie Ansdell, Managing Partner, Newgate Communications
Marketers and communicators have never been faced with more choice. Therein lies the great challenge.
More audiences. More channels. More tools. More data and analytics. And yet businesses want more results and impact than ever before, often with the same or smaller teams and budgets. With all these variables and pressures at play, can marketers really maximise impact and ROI?
Ultimately, defining the business purpose and expressing different points of view in creative, imaginative and engaging ways is the role of the marketing team. Financial services firms are now quite adept at client segmentation – understanding audience behaviours and optimising channels – so the businesses that really stand out are those that know their value to a client or prospect and in turn know how to communicate these values.
If we put ourselves in the shoes of an individual and humanise their experience and interactions with our businesses, then the choices soon become very clear. We sometimes forget that we are in a people business, dealing with very emotional decisions that require trust. Trust cannot be bought, it is earned through credibility (track record), transparency and of course the behaviour and conduct of a firm’s own people.
Creativity also means trying new ideas, practices and technologies – particularly if our audience behaviours and insights are telling us there is demand for it. The results of this survey certainly show a desire to move away from more traditional methods, however, the blend of tools in your marketing kit should consistently be assessed to meet the changing needs of existing and future clients. More telling, for me, is the frustration that marketers feel about creating that differentiation and the pressure to prove that their endeavours do add value to the business.
And if we are more creative and interesting as organisations and teams, then we will find it much easier to attract new and diverse talent to an industry which unfortunately still suffers from a rather tired, old-hat reputation. Despite making significant headway, it is challenging to recruit the skills of the future.
As an industry, we are not big risk takers, but it is very comforting to know that financial services marketers by and large share similar problems. Coming together, discussing the issues and learning from each other can only be a positive step in the right direction.
