Change might be inevitable, but these days that inevitability seems to come at an increasingly rapid pace. The world of financial services marketing, for example, no longer changes in a series of small incremental shifts, but rather seems to completely reinvent itself at alarmingly frequent intervals.
The newest development of consequence for financial services marketing is the Internet. It was a scant 15 years ago that the Internet became available as a viable business and personal communications tool. Since then, the rate at which it has established itself is unprecedented. Just consider:
It took 40 years for the radio to have 10 million users. It took 15 years for television to have 10 million users. It took Netscape 3 years to get 10 million users. It took Hotmail less than 1 year to get 10 million users.
In short, online technology has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives. As a consequence, we even think in different terms. When I was a child a curser had his mouth washed out with soap. Today a cursor is our guide to finding information, conducting research, developing graphics and much more.
Adapting to Change
A major communications advancement very rarely comes along. When it does, it represents a new frontier that requires the development of new conventions and protocols. From a marketing perspective, practitioners must perform extensive testing and experimentation to explore the gamut of possible applications in terms of cost, effectiveness, ease of implementation, and much more. By analyzing the results, they can systematically and incrementally improve the effectiveness of the various approaches and techniques. As experience and knowledge accumulates, those early adapters are soon able to identify “best practices” that will provide the foundation for further progress across a wider industry universe.
In the early days of the Internet, entrepreneurial firms on the “cutting-edge” of technology proudly placed their corporate brochures on their web sites and thought they were hot stuff. Now we see just how naïve these early attempts at “Internet marketing” really were. The field of Internet marketing has grown in both sophistication and in the number of tools and techniques available.
The World of Online Marketing
The Internet has already proven its ability to support and facilitate a wide range of highly effective marketing and sales support initiatives.
Online marketing applications offer many significant advantages over traditional forms of marketing.
Flexibility. Testing copy and creative is much quicker, easier and cost-effective on the web as a result of real-time tracking mechanisms and the ability to replace or edit copy and creative virtually at will. Transparency. Webmasters can actually see what a user does on their sites—e.g., what links they follow and what pages make them stop and take the time to read the copy—so that management can identify those approaches that fulfill their success criteria and provide the best return on their marketing investment. Cost Control. Organizations have complete control over the amount they spend on Internet marketing during any given period.
Financial Services Online Applications
Internet marketing has proven to be ideally suited to helping financial services marketers effectively penetrate an increasingly fragmented marketplace. Online initiatives provide an effective, low-cost way to reach a national audience, enhance visibility and produce a significant ROI.
As a result, the Internet has drastically changed the face of financial services marketing, introducing new communications opportunities and challenges alike. Financial institutions are increasingly tapping into the power and potential of the Internet to cost-effectively communicate with clients and prospects alike. These organizations now use Internet applications not only to promote and sell their products and services, but also to increase their brand recognition, expand product and service usage and improve customer satisfaction and retention.
The Internet has dramatically changed the relationship between many financial services firms and their customers. An increasing number of businesses and individuals use the Web as their primary channel for financial account management services and transactions such as bill paying, banking and stock trading.
The truth is, however, that the Internet is still in its infancy. There is little doubt that the best practices of today will be eclipsed by more sophisticated techniques and approaches in a relatively short time frame. The current generation will witness the evolution of the Internet just as an earlier generation witnessed the evolution of television as a communications and marketing tool. Time alone will prove just how much impact the Internet will have as it establishes itself as history’s most influential communications and marketing tool.
The Bottom Line
We are in the midst of a major and continually evolving communications revolution. The Internet has profoundly changed the way that people communicate, get information and do business. As the field of Internet marketing continues to grow and change, marketers must gain the knowledge and experience that will enable them to evaluate what the Internet can do—both for and to their marketing programs. Marketers need to attune their thinking and become strongly committed to the Internet for reasons of both philosophy and necessity.
Copyright 2009 Online Financial Marketing
Online Financial MarketingTM has been developed by the financial marketing specialists at Suasion Resources to help financial services organizations of all types to effectively harness the power of the Internet. Online Financial Marketing is a proprietary approach that combines both the art and the science of online marketing to help financial services companies develop customized online solutions that accomplish ambitious online goals.
Jay Nagdeman is President of Suasion Resources, a specialized firm that provides marketing consulting services to all segments of the financial services industry. The firm works solely within financial services arena. We help financial services firms develop customized online solutions that leverage the power of the internet through our onlinefinancialmarketing.com site. Services include website planning and development , maintenance, search engine optimization; customized Internet marketing, communication and promotion.
