Top Takeaways from the Digital Marketing for Financial Services Summit 2015

Last week, Veriday had the opportunity to attend and sponsor the Digital Marketing for Financial Services Summit (DMFS 2015) in Toronto (#DMFS2015). The conference brought together top digital marketing thought leaders in the industry including brands, technology solutions and agencies, with the purpose of driving thought-leadership and educating marketers on the latest in the digital marketing world.

Although there were many takeaways from the sessions, here are some of the top themes that arose that Financial service marketers need to be aware of when developing their digital marketing strategy:

1. It’s All About Consumer Engagement & Experience

It is no longer just about sales, but engaging consumers in the different stages of the customer buyer journey. Organizations in Financial Services can no longer remain competitive by simply providing a positive customer experience.   The buyer is changing and today’s empowered customers expect meaningful connections with brands.

The idea of being pitched right away from a brand no longer exists. No longer is it advertising campaigns and sales that is keeping consumers loyal to brands. It is about creating meaningful connections that engage consumers and turn them into brand ambassadors. Enterprises have to engage with consumers in a different way and level, and build that trust.

Delight your consumer with your content. Give consumers something insightful and something that is valuable to them. Make your content fun and something that they might actually want to share with their network.   There is so much noise in the content marketing world that content should be all about your consumer, not your brand. Tell a good story, or solve your consumers’ challenges, and make your brand part of that narrative.

2.The Importance of Mobile

We are continuously hearing that mobile is on the rise. Here are a couple of statistics, from the conference, that goes to show just how much mobile usage continues to drastically grow:

• There are more mobile devices than people on the planet.
• 16.8m Canadians were reached online via smartphones and tablets in Q1 2015.
• The average consumer is checking their mobile every 6 minutes, 150 times a day.
• 75% of conversions on mobile devices happen within an hour of the initial search.

Consumers are expecting a consistent experience no matter what device they are on.   As mobile increases in popularity, customer expectations are rising drastically with it.  This means that brands need to up their game to keep pace and keep the mobile experience seamless. To truly cater to their mobile customers and provide a flawless experience, businesses must understand the context in which their customers are using mobile and use this knowledge to improve their mobile experience.

3. Multi-Channel Marketing Approach

Omni-channel marketing has become somewhat of a buzzword in the digital marketing industry as of late. Simply put, this means that your business markets across as many channels as it can to reach its target market. From websites and email, to social media and print, every channel presents a unique opportunity to market.

An important point made at the conference was that businesses don’t need to be on every marketing channel, but they do need to be on the mediums that their customers are on. Perhaps the best approach to choosing is letting your customer’s decide what mediums you are on by creating a dialogue with them. Ask your customers where they want to be reached and what medium you can most effectively get your message across to them. The most important thing is giving your customers the information they want, on whatever medium they are on, and making it simple for them to find exactly what they are looking for.

When you choose the appropriate marketing channels, repurpose your messaging (mobile, infographics, webinars, e-books, etc.) and tell the same story through different channels.

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We are proud to have sponsored the Digital Marketing for Financial Services Summit this year and are excited for its anticipated growth. If you are on Twitter, make sure to check out the conference hashtag #DMFS2015 for some more great stats, insights, and information from the conference.