People are already concerned or unsure about the security of your mobile offering. But when interacting with you through a third-party application, such as a social media site, they might be even more concerned. For financial marketing, that can create a perception problem about your digital offering.  Here are three questions to consider before developing your latest digital tool.

Will it be trusted?

Recently, Commonwealth Bank of Australia rolled out a unique mobile banking offering. The company debuted a social platform that allows customers to perform online banking transactions within Facebook.

But just because you put out a great new digital tool doesn’t mean your prospects and customers will give it – and you – their trust. That can only be built over time, especially when people are asking you to protect their financial information.

Financial marketing has had to fight the perceptions that security breaches have created in the past, which is part of the reason people are unsure about the security of online and mobile banking. But if you’re asking people to interact with you through a social media site, for example, it might be tough for them to trust that their personal information will be protected.

Is it worth the effort?

Consider the digital tools you already offer. Let’s say you’ve got a website and maybe it’s responsive for mobile devices. And maybe you offer a mobile app as well. Or perhaps there’s an online money management tool or future income calculator you’ve created.

Those are valuable tools for your prospects and customers. But they took quite a bit of time and resources to develop. With that in mind, should financial marketing invest more time and resources in yet another digital offering, especially if this new offering might be similar to one of the others? Or can those resources be put toward continually improving the functionality and security of your current offerings?

Is it solving a problem?

You’ve provided a valuable solution for your prospects and customers with a mobile responsive website or an app that allows them to manage their accounts on the go. Now you’re looking to create another tool for them to use, maybe through a social media site.

But does allowing your customers to access their accounts through a social site solve a pain point? Or is this simply a way to expand your social offering? Your customers will be able to see through an attempt to simply create a digital tool for the sake of offering something new.

Think back to the Commonwealth Bank Facebook banking app. It’s important to note that the new feature is available through the desktop version of Facebook – with some functionality on mobile. And considering how quickly mobile devices have become our go-to gateway to the Internet, how valuable is an app that works best on a desktop browser?

The perception of your digital tool can play a vital role in whether or not people want to do business with you. Because more than anything, your customers want to know that they can trust digital tools. These three questions can help financial marketing work toward that.

Key Takeaways

• Studies show mobile phone users are reluctant to embrace mobile banking because of security questions
• These security questions likely only increase when financial marketing ask customers to interact with you through a third-party, such as a social media site
• Answering questions about trust, resources and need can help determine the perception of your mobile offering

If you want to connect with prospects, storytelling is the way to go. Here are 7 reasons why.

1. Stories are more memorable

How many times have you heard a great statistic and then struggled to remember it as you tried to relate it to someone at a later date? Now think of how easy it is to retell a story you heard. Numbers are rational. Stories are emotional. We are emotional beings. So it’s only natural that the stories stick with us.

2. Stories make it all less scary

Let’s face it, financial services subject matter can be intimidating. It can make educated adults feel intellectually inadequate. Stories are accessible. They draw you in and allow you to experience the information in a way that’s relatable.

3. Stories make complicated subject matter easier to understand

Financial marketing is tasked with helping people understand some pretty complicated subject matter. You can simply list the features of your product or service. But good luck getting prospects to stick around to make it through. A better alternative is to explain it with a metaphor or an analogy. This is the stuff that makes for smart storytelling. And helps your prospects quickly understand why they should do business with you.

4. Stories make it seem attainable

Sometimes financial challenges can seem insurmountable. A relevant story can show how someone similar to you met the challenge and found success.

5. Stories humanize it

Financial products and services don’t exactly conjure up warm and fuzzy feelings for folks. But, it’s easy to elicit feelings of empathy when you hear a story of someone who is facing a challenge. It’s possible to keep an audience engaged as you tell the story of how those same financial products or services made a difference in how the person’s story turned out.

6. Stories persuade

Numbers can inform you. But it’s stories that can move you. We all have to deal with the boring stuff in life – read a disclosure or wade through some legalese. You have to force yourself to make time to handle these tasks. But I bet you’d set aside time for a good story.

7. Stories are easier to share

Financial marketing can share numbers, but without context, the numbers often fail to have meaning. So to make it easier to convey, we tell the story that surrounds the numbers.

The bottom line is that we, as humans, like to share stories. Because stories can engage more deeply than just presenting the facts. After all, when was the last time you sat around a campfire and shared a spreadsheet?

Key Takeaways

• Storytelling is the most powerful way for financial marketing to build engagement and create lasting impact
• Stories are up to 22 times more memorable than simply presenting facts or figures alone
• There are 7 reasons that support the need to add more storytelling to your efforts

An interesting note is that affluent Boomer and Gen X adults have a higher likelihood to be part of this group.

The sandwich generation’s issues provide a great opportunity for content marketing.  It may entail helping Boomer and Gen X folks deal with issues facing them today.  Or, helping both groups prepare for the possible challenges that they will face in a few years.

Here are seven areas where content marketing can provide useful insight for the sandwich generation.

1. Handling a parent’s estate

The settling of an estate can be a time consuming and taxing experience.  Boomer and Gen X children will appreciate any insight on everything from what to expect to how to handle potential family issues.

2. Structuring their own estate

After handling a parent’s estate, it’s not unusual for clients to revisit their own estate plans.  Content marketing can help with smart information and tools that allow a client to understand how an estate’s structure will impact those involved with settling the estate.

3. Healthcare for parents

Healthcare is consistently ranked is one of the biggest concerns.  And there are lots of questions when it comes to caring for Boomer and Gen X parents.  “What are the likelihoods I should plan for?”  “Should I look at home healthcare or an assisted living facility?”  Timely content can help the sandwich generation explore the issues.

4. Handling the costs of higher education

Should you pay for a child’s higher education?  What if it means sacrificing your retirement savings?  Are there financing options that are smarter than others?  These are just a few of the questions you can address with your insight.

5. Helping kids after graduation

It is a natural instinct to want to continue helping your kids as they work to establish themselves.  But what’s too much?  Consider offering some profiles of Boomer and Gen X parents and how they’re addressing the issue.

6. Tax implications

There may be some tax advantages to providing help.  At the very least, you want to make sure your clients aren’t creating any unexpected tax consequences.  Some clarity around the tax laws can help your Boomer and Gen X clients make smarter decisions.

7. Lifestyle adjustments

Nobody planned on being part of the sandwich generation.  Now that your clients and prospects are there, what lifestyle adjustments should they consider?  Yes, there are challenges.  But there also may be welcomed side effects from creating a multi-generational home.  Smart content can help them understand the issues and explore the possibilities.

Key Takeaways

• About one-in-seven Boomer and Gen X adults have found themselves in the sandwich generation
• Affluent adults have a higher likelihood to be part of this group
• Content marketing can help the sandwich generation address the issues that arise from caring for their aging parents and their children at the same time

Financial marketing can play an important role in this challenge by shifting the focus from what clients can’t have to discovering what it is that they really want. Sure, you’ll have a few that say they absolutely “want” a palatial beach house and multiple international trips each year. But you’ll find that many don’t truly know. Most will say that they just want things to be easier. And to worry less. They may have a few things they have written down as part of a dream discovery. But few have had anyone help them go deeply into how they define their purpose. These are the things that are at the core of finding “daily joy”. It may be spending time with family. Helping others. Creating something (from a business or organization to art). And more.

Because they are at the core of who we are, these purpose-driven wants have a more profound effect on our lives than a second house or a vacation. Better yet, they don’t necessarily require significant retirement income. They do require escaping from the old retirement paradigm. Rethinking how you allocate your time. And breaking old habits. I don’t want to make it sound like a cake walk. It’s no easy task to change 40+ years of thinking. But these are all things that financial marketing can help our clients address. Here are three thoughts on how we can start.

1. Clear the way

Financial marketing needs to help clients remove the distractions so it becomes easier to focus on the purpose-driven wants. This comes from the simple thought that if they know where they stand, they’ll be able to start thinking about where they want to go. I’m a big proponent of dashboards. Especially those that provide an elegant user experience. That means a complete view of your financial picture, presented in a way that is easy to scan and understand. Sure, there are plenty of dashboards out there. Unfortunately, most fail to engage and empower users because they lack great user experience design. For those doing a good job with user experience design, check out the mint.com dashboard and the bubble budgets inside the MoneyMobile app. These types of presentations bring real clarity to the user.

2. Retool the tools

Many of the planning tools focus on “dreams”. These are important, but I’d like to see the tools put more of an emphasis on helping people explore the things that bring them daily joy. These are the little things that we all would like more of. These are also the purpose-driven things that are at the heart of what makes us happy. More often than not, we find that attaining these things takes less resources than the big “dreams”. The challenge will be to create and implement tools that feel practical and applicable. As opposed to feeling like the self help section of a new age book store.

3. Encourage discovery

There are great resources to help people find and focus on the things that bring them daily joy. Recommending a book can be a great way to help your clients explore the idea of finding what’s important to them. These don’t have to be self help books. In fact, I’m not a big fan of self help books. I think that’s why I like Daniel Gilbert’s book Stumbling On Happiness. It takes a more scientific approach to quantifying what makes us happy. And it mixes in a good dose of humor. If you have clients that would bristle at you recommending a book, send them a link to a TED Talk video. We have more information available to us in more forms than ever before. We just need to find the right form for how our clients like to explore.

Key Takeaways

• The lack of retirement readiness will cause challenges as clients are forced to rethink this stage of life
• Shifting the focus from retirement dreams to life’s purpose can help clients focus on the things that provide true meaning to their lives
• Financial marketing can take the lead by helping clients find clarity so they can more readily focus on rethinking their lifestyle, reinventing the tools to allow them to identify the things that bring them daily joy, and finding ways to encourage them to explore their unique purpose-driven wants

Our firm sponsored the Kansas City location of NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge. It was fascinating to be part of a group of people who come together to build a complete app over a weekend that addresses one of the NASA challenges.

Creating an interactive digital tool is one of the most powerful forms of content marketing. And the experience reinforced some content marketing lessons for me. But before I get into those, here’s a little bit about the app we developed.

Our group tackled the challenge to, “Develop a tool to improve the understanding of the incredible benefits that International Space Station is delivering back to Earth.”

We chose to create an app that helps middle-school kids learn about the commercial products that have come about because of the inventions and advancements from NASA and the International Space Station. The app serves two purposes. First, it helps build support for the space program by increasing awareness of all of the benefits. And second, it builds excitement around the science to encourage students to consider a career in the field.

Now, back to those content marketing lessons that came out of the experience.

Lesson 1 | get into the data

There is nothing like diving into the data and having a look around. You find that themes emerge. In the case of the NASA event, we were struck by the delight that everyone had when discovering an interesting nugget or fascinating connection to a consumer product advancement that came about because of the NASA science. It led to challenges like, “Guess what the accordion-like corrugated joints of space suits led to.” (The answer is flexible ski boots that don’t sacrifice performance).

Lesson 2 | connect it to your audience

Finding the interesting facts is the first step. It all comes to life when you find a way to show your audience what all those facts mean to their lives. As we organized our efforts, we looked for ways to show how the space station advancements affected numerous facets of life. This included everything from sports to health to video games (something our middle-schoolers know a thing or two about). This gave the science context in the lives of our audience.

Lesson 3 | focus on the user experience

Perhaps the most important factor is creating a way to experience the content in a manner that truly creates delight. This ensures that your audience engages and even interacts with your content. In our NASA example, we made the facts fun for middle-school kids, then put it together in an interactive quiz that made learning a game that rewarded them for playing.

All in all, the International Space Apps Challenge was a great experience. The folks participating were truly passionate about creating something great that had real meaning. That’s the kind of recipe that leads to great content.

Key Takeaways

• An event like the International Space Apps Challenge benefits from the talents of smart content marketers
• Inventing an interactive digital tool is one of the most powerful forms of content marketing that you can create
• An experience like this can reconfirm the importance of digging into your data, connecting it to your audience, and creating a great user experience

Take for example the state of retirement readiness in our country. According to a survey from Charles Schwab & Co., 80% of affluent Americans feel confident about their retirement readiness. Yet, the study also revealed that the group may be underestimating what they will need in retirement.

It’s never easy to break that kind of news to them. There tends to be an attitude among Boomers that goes something like this, “I’ve worked hard for decades, now it’s my time to play.” The trouble is, they are not taking into consideration all the factors that will make it difficult to have the kind of retirement that the previous generation enjoyed. Those factors include the disappearance of pensions, a lack of personal retirement savings, and the fact that we’re all living longer now.

The reality is that many may have to adjust down their lifestyle. Nobody likes hearing that. And even though you’re looking out for them, your clients may associate you with this sour reality. This is an area where your content marketing can help. Here are three ways to use content to help maintain your image as a valued resource as opposed to just the bearer of bad news.

1. Bring a third party point of view

You’ve run their numbers. You know the reality. But sometimes it’s better to address the issue by delivering a piece of content that leverages a trusted third party’s study. The Charles Schwab & Co. study referenced above is an example. Bring an impartial expert’s findings into the conversation and you could sidestep the human tendency to “shoot the messenger”.

2. Let them know they’re not alone

There is real comfort in knowing that you’re not the only one dealing with a challenge. There are plenty of studies you can incorporate into your content marketing that show that people just like them are facing the same struggles.

3. Help them explore possibilities

With your expertise, you’ll be able to offer smart advice. But sometimes it’s difficult to help your clients consider all the possibilities in the time that you can spend with them. Consider offering profiles of people in their peer group that show the creative ways they are handling the challenges. Deliver them on a regular basis. This slow drip helps your clients ease into letting go of a paradigm of retirement that they have carried around for years. And it helps them start to consider options that would have never occurred to them. That can renew the excitement of thinking about what the next stage of life could hold for them. And that’s definitely a sentiment that you want associated with you.

Key Takeaways

• It’s never easy having to tell clients that they may need to adjust their retirement expectations
• Content marketing can help you address the issue with clients without worrying about them “shooting the messenger”
• Consider delivering content marketing that incorporates a trusted third party point of view, demonstrates that they’re not alone, and then helps them explore new possibilities

Advisors are looking for timely content from a reliable source that they can offer to clients and prospects.  It creates a mutually beneficial arrangement for fund companies – you allow those in financial planning to leverage your brand, and you benefit from the trust that the advisor has established with the client or prospect.

Here are three trending areas that offer opportunities for you to create that arrangement with your advisor partners.

1. Financial planning vs. life planning

It’s a challenge for advisors to keep up with everything as a “money manager” for their clients.  With the impending retirement savings shortfalls, more and more clients are going to turn to their advisors for help outside of, “Where should I invest my 401(k) rollover?”  Clients will be asking about everything from how to handle health care expenses to when to take Social Security.  This is the “life planning” that many advisors will need help with.  Supporting advisors as they address this emerging issue will position you well as a trusted partner. IDEA: Imagine a tool kit for life planning issues.  It could be delivered as a suite of digital tools and information (checklists, calculators, links to trusted third-party resources, and more).  It would inform and direct the client back to the advisor for coaching and help with the decision-making.

2. The sandwich generation

An estimated 20 million Americans care for aging parents while caring for children as well.  This is a sandwich generation that now has to deal with financial scenarios that they may not have anticipated.  As they turn to advisors for help, your insight can aid them in addressing the new challenges.  This could be tactical advice like this example from TIAA-CREF.  Or it may be helping to care for their emotional health as detailed by this post from Wells Fargo.  This is an evolving landscape and issues will continue to arise that will offer fund companies the opportunity to provide meaningful support to advisors helping the sandwich generation.  IDEA: Imagine a video series delivered through your digital channels.  It would profile real issues of those in the sandwich generation. There is no better medium for relating the emotional struggles, and then telling the story of how real people have met the challenges.

3. Financial planning for women

It’s no secret that the world of financial planning has operated from a male-oriented point of view in the past.  There is a shift occurring that will cause that to change.  By 2030, it is estimated that two-thirds of the nations wealth will be in the hands of women.  As further evidence, over the past 5 years, woman-owned businesses increased at 1-1/2 times the national average.  In short, it will become imperative for advisors to adapt to the way that women prefer to engage when it comes to financial issues.  Fund companies will have the opportunity to help advisors navigate the shift and, as a result, position themselves as the relevant partner for the new prospect environment.  IDEA: Imagine an ongoing series of stories that could be delivered online and shared through the social channels.  These real-world accounts would allow prospects to identify with women like them that are experiencing similar challenges.  And they could highlight how working with an advisor helped them confidently address their unique needs.

Key Takeaways

• Advisors are inundated with information today and would appreciate relevant content from a reliable source that they can offer to clients and prospects
• Fund companies can capitalize on this opportunity, becoming a trusted source of insight for the advisor’s clients and prospects
• Look to the trends in the environment to target your insight – this can include addressing issues like the need for life planning, the emergence of a sandwich generation, and the changing face of the financial planning client

Inertia inhibits the ability to confidently make smart financial decisions. Fighting inertia means deploying compelling interactions.  Engaging visualization.  And powerfully simple insight.  These are the elements of an exceptional user experience.  Putting these together can result in an effort that has the potential to shake our prospects loose from the grip of inertia.  Here are 5 sites that each craft a user experience that is worth studying.

Betterment

Although not the most breathtaking a first glance, Betterment draws you in with simple navigation that gets right to your questions about how it can help you with your quest to invest.  Better yet, it delivers the explanations with simple language and enticing graphics that make you want to explore the next step.

betterment.com >>

Square

Anyone can now accept credit cards.  That’s a fascinating premise.  From their name to their premise, to their user experience, Square makes it seem easy.  They have taken a complicated and financially-technical category and made it human, visual and, best of all, simple.

square.com >>

Personal Capital

Personal Capital focuses on data-rich aid to help you make better decisions about your portfolio.  This experience especially appeals to those who appreciate information-rich dashboards that feature bold data visualization.

personalcapital.com >>

Metromile

Metromile introduces an innovative per-mile car insurance idea.  Insurance is a complicated and boring category.  But Metromile makes it seem easy and even (gasp) enjoyable.  The company presents the offering with sweeping graphics and simple language that make it easy to explore.  Without any perceived effort, you find yourself deep into their story.

metromile.com >>

LearnVest

LearnVest uses simple design and compelling stories to encourage you to learn how to make better financial decisions.  The focus on learning makes an investment advisory offering very disarming.  And the spacious and friendly design draws you deep into the experience.

learnvest.com >>

Key Takeaways

• Inertia is the enemy to our clients and prospects ability to confidently make smart financial decisions
• Great user experience can help our audience overcome the complexity and confusion that causes inertia
• Great user experiences come to life with compelling interactions, engaging visualization, and powerfully simple insight

Click to view the Prezi

Seasonal events can provide great opportunities for financial marketing to share some insight and expertise.  The tax filing deadline is a good example.  Clients and prospects are looking for help at tax time.  Just go Google Trends and type in a tax-related term.  You can see the activity spike this time of year.

Here are 5 ideas for developing some useful insight that financial marketing can share with clients and prospects around tax time.

1. Develop a checklist

Consider offering a list of items to gather before clients begin the tax preparation process.  Also, talk to your front line.  What are the pieces of information that clients are always looking for this time of year?  It’s easy for clients to forget about the information they went hunting for last year.  Putting together a list of those items for your clients and prospects can boost your content marketing effort and make you look like an invaluable resource.

2. Document the most overlooked deductions

Perhaps the biggest fear of your clients at tax time is that they’ll miss something.  Documenting a collection of the most overlooked deductions related to your business demonstrates your commitment to helping your clients and prospects get everything they deserve.

3. Highlight the tax law changes

The only certainties in this world are death and taxes.  I’d also add tax law changes to that.  Every year we see tax law changes.  Understanding the ins and outs of the changes can be overwhelming.  Think how your clients and prospects would appreciate having a trusted partner offer some insight on the subject that could help improve their return.  That’s good content marketing.

4. Create sample profiles

It’s comforting for your clients and prospects to benchmark.  It can confirm for them that they are doing what they should be doing or it may show them some ideas they could be implementing. Take a look at the information you have about your client base.  Identify the major groups your clients fall into.  Then create a fictional profile from each of those groups with information, tendencies, insights, etc.  Deliver it online and track to see what kind of traffic each profile is getting.  It could reveal some valuable insight you can use in future efforts.

5. Offer a list of resources

Do a search and you’ll find an overwhelming amount of information out there regarding taxes.  It’s easy to see why clients and prospects would be frustrated by not knowing where to start. Since you know your target audience, put together a list of resources specific to their needs.  It may be a section within irs.gov or a good article on a trusted organization’s site.  You can even include relevant and helpful content from your own site.  Best of all, your clients and prospects will find it valuable to have a trusted source curate a list of relevant tax-related information for them.

Tax time is just one seasonal opportunity for financial marketing.  What other seasonal opportunities do you see during the year, and what type of tactics do you put to work as part of your content marketing?

Key Takeaways

• Look to identify times of the year that create a situation where you can offer insight and expertise to your clients and prospects
• Tax time provides financial marketing one of these high value opportunities to connect
• Your content marketing can include everything from developing a checklist, documenting overlooked deductions, and highlighting tax law changes to creating sample client profiles, offering a list of resources, and more

Click to view the slideshow

Financial marketing has a history of being product/service focused. Today, it has become imperative to shift that focus to the prospect and the experience you are delivering to them.

As we’ve talked about before, prospects now have more control than ever over how they experience your message.  As a result, user experience has become critical for creating engagements that lead to conversion.  According to a survey from Econsultancy, 74% of businesses believe user experience is key for improving sales.

To understand the issue, consider a study from Compuware that reported that 85% of consumers favor mobile apps over mobile websites. The leading reasons? Apps were considered more convenient, faster, and easier to browse. In short, the majority believe the user experience is better on an app than a mobile website.

Here is another way to look at the importance of user experience. Take a look at the recent post, “14 lousy web design trends that are making a comeback”. I found myself nodding along at the things that get in the way of engaging with a brand. In other words, they are things that get in the way of a great user experience.

We know user experience is important to financial marketing. We know users respond to it. And we know when things are getting in the way of us having an optimal experience. So as a professional in financial marketing, how do we ensure we are creating a great user experience in everything we do? Here are 3 keys:

1. Start with a user-centric strategy.

It may seem like a no-brainer. But, too many times, efforts in financial marketing start with a product/service focus rather than a user focus. Take the time to define the rational and emotional benefits. Help your users see what’s in it for them.

2. Stop selling and start helping.

Today, your prospects have broader access to a wider range of information and options. If all you are doing is selling, they’ll move on to someone who is willing to help them solve a problem they have or help them take advantage of an opportunity.

3. Ask, “Does it help enhance the experience?”

There is the constant temptation for financial marketing to add things to the effort. It may be one additional sales point. Or some cool whiz-bang feature. Ask if it really is helping the experience and have the courage to eliminate the things that don’t pass the test.

Key Takeaways

• Prospects now have more control than ever over how they experience your message
• They will choose options that provide a better user experience
• To optimize your efforts, start with a user-centric strategy, focus on helping your prospects, and develop the discipline to eliminate things that do not add to the experience