Top 10 Financial Services Posts of 2016 Focus on Customer Loyalty and Content Marketing
When we took a look at the top financial services posts published on our blog in 2016, three themes emerged: loyalty (relationships), specific tactical opportunities and content marketing. The list echoes what we’re hearing from our FS clients who are constantly seeking strategies to build customer relationships, gather better market/audience intel and boost consumer engagement.
Check out our most popular financial services marketing posts from 2016. Revisiting the lessons, tactics and campaigns they highlight can reveal valuable insights as you prepare for the coming year.
1.
Why Relationships Trump Mobile Apps When Banks Compete for Millennial Customers
Although banks will continue to get more competitive when it comes to technology, they may never be able to beat out all the contenders and sit atop the digital/mobile customer experience. But that’s not bad news. Millennials want more than mobile apps. They want human connection and interaction… and banks know how to do relationships.
2.
How Innovation Helps Bank of America Deliver on a Customer-Centric Focus
In a report to stockholders, Bank of America’s CEO pledged that Bank of America would continue to drive responsible growth by making smart decisions based on customer needs and attitudes. Here’s how the bank is already delivering on this customer-centric focus in a number of tangible ways.
3.
Wells Fargo Aims to Boost Cardholder Loyalty with Updated Rewards Program
The new Wells Fargo credit card rewards program gives cardholders access to new rewards, perks and functionality. Some of the enhancements clearly will appeal to Millennials – a segment most banks are working hard to attract and satisfy.
4.
6 Ways to Rethink Financial Services Consumer Loyalty
Across industries, rewards programs seem to be working… at least in terms of membership numbers. But something seems to go wrong after consumers sign up for these programs: they don’t use them. What’s going on here? Are loyalty programs a waste of time – and money? We don’t think so. In fact, we think that this lack of engagement actually presents an opportunity for smart financial institutions.
5.
Barclays Marketing Positions New Luxury Card Portfolio as Practical, Not Exclusive
Launched in 2008, Barclays Visa Black Card never stopped struggling to overcome bad reviews and lackluster performance. The problem felt by many was that the benefits simply didn’t justify the $495 annual fee. But rather than abandon the high-end market, Barclays overhauled its product and even introduced two more: its new Luxury Card portfolio centers around a new and improved Black Card, as well as a Titanium Card and a Gold Card.
6.
Onboarding is a Smart Place for Banks to Start When Improving Customer Experience
Banks need to create better onboarding experiences, warns ABA Bank Marketing. In a recent article citing retail banking data, Sean McDade writes, “Your newest customers are the most unhappy and the most at risk.” This should serve as a wake-up call for banks, which are known for being go-getters when it comes to acquisition marketing but may be falling short at nurturing customer relationships out of the gate.
7.
Slick Mags & Petite Poems: Luxury Credit Card Content Marketing
Content marketing helps credit card companies reach their bottom-line goals by encouraging desirable behavior from affluent and HNW cardholders and prospects. This post includes examples from Visa, UBS, American Express, Chase, Barclays and JP Morgan.
8.
How Three new Consumer Credit Cards Make Room in a Crowded Market
It may be difficult to believe the world can accommodate three new consumer credit cards, but Chase, Merrill Lynch and Discover prove there’s room for additional payment products when they are different, better and delivering value to a specific market.
9.
Retargeting vs. Remarketing > Two Letters Make a Big Difference
Among the advertising options available to digital marketers are two very similarly named tactics: retargeting and remarketing. In practice, some treat them as if they are the same, but they are probably more different than alike.
10.
Amex Targets Older Millennials with Sponsored Video Content on BuzzFeed
Amex is betting on BuzzFeed’s winning formula for attracting and engaging Millennial consumers, taking advantage of a tremendous opportunity to get in front of millions (and millions) of their eyeballs via some of the Internet’s most popular videos… before anyone else does.
Honorable mention:
5 Radically Different Approaches to Content Marketing from Top Financial Services Brands*
Financial services brands are really starting to “get” content marketing, and their content-driven initiatives are more diverse than you may expect. These examples not only stay “on-brand” and deepen the customer experience but also show just how much financial services content marketing has evolved.
* This post was published in the final weeks of 2015, so it’s not technically a 2016 post. However, since it was among our most visited posts in 2016, we decided not to hold its 2015 time stamp against it.
