Most marketing sucks, said Christopher Lester, Founder and Chief Strategist for C4ward Strategies speaking on stage at the Financial Brand Forum 2019. A majority of people (91%) say ads are more intrusive now than they were two years ago. So, how is it possible to reach out to consumers without becoming just another part of the noise?

 The Power of Community

Back in the 1930s marketing was very product oriented. Companies built products for which they thought there would be a market. The business would then go out and generate a need or desire within the consumer base. This process is what we saw when they introduced mouthwash, deodorant, and the lady’s razor.

Today marketing is far more consumer driven. The internet has provided an easy avenue for companies to saturate the market with a wide range of products, giving them far more information as well as choice, and an overload of advertising.

So, what is it about your brand that makes an individual consumer want to listen? Your brand. The stories you share. The experiences you offer. The voice your content conveys.

• Over ¾ (82%) of consumers feel more positive about a company which shares custom content.
• Those individuals nurtured with targeted content can provide a 20% increase in sales opportunities.

Well-thought-out brand identity includes a content strategy, clear guidelines for interactions with consumers, and a focus on building an interactive experience that appeals to your target audience. Done right, you will create a community which promotes interest, interaction, and loyalty.

Be Visual

Brains read text placed in white space 14x faster and comprehend the information 21% better. Why? Because wide open spaces calm down our overloaded grey matter. Want to get the message across faster? Try an image. Humans decode them 65,000 times quicker than text.

While words matter, it can often be what does (or doesn’t) surround your text which determines the effectiveness of your message. Fortunately, there are some additional tricks which can boost attention such as:

• Eye Gaze – People will naturally look where the eyes in an image are looking. Use this to help drive awareness to critical points in your message.
• Buttons – We all love to push buttons. Using buttons in your content will drive more clicks than linked text.

Segment Your Audience

Humans respond better when the messages they receive seem directed to them. Segmented campaigns can lead to an increase of 760% in revenue. Even if it is something as simple as swapping out the header image to more closely match a demographic. It could be a mention of a name or a product already purchased. Even the tiniest of details can make an outgoing message seem far more personal.

Conclusion

Whether it is creating fresh email headers, focusing on reducing the clutter, or a focus on building a community, there are many ways to help your financial institution marketing stand out. And differentiating your brand will be critical moving forward as consumers get consistently blasted with annoying advertising and digital continues to take over.