insight Engaging and marketing to an increasing

number of UK pensioner millionaires

The cost per individual client acquisition has grown by around 50% over the last two years

Challenges or opportunities of meeting your website needs and goals

Your website is the most important information and sales channel you have – are you taking full advantage of it?

the choice of financial professionals NOVEMBER 2019

FINANCIAL ADVISERS FACE INCREASED COSTS TO AQUIRE NEW CLIENTS

HOW FINANCIAL ADVISERS ARE GENERATING MORE REFERRAL OPPORTUNITIES

IS YOUR FINANCIAL ADVICE FIRM WEBSITE FIT FOR PURPOSE?

CONTENT MARKETING n DIGITAL MARKETING n SOCIAL MEDIA n SEO n BLOGGING n BRANDING

Goldmine Media LimitedFloor 2, The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK9 1BPFor more information please call a member of our Business Development Team on 0845 6860055, email findoutmore@goldminemedia.co.uk or visit www.goldminemedia.co.uk

marketing academy insight

WHY FINANCIAL ADVISERS NEED TO INNOVATE FOR AN

AGEING POPULATION

02 insight

FINANCIAL ADVISERS FACE INCREASED COSTS TO ACQUIRE NEW CLIENTSThe cost per individual client acquisition has grown by around 50% over the last two years

It’s a fact: highly engaged clients invest

more, evangelise more about their financial

adviser, and demonstrate more loyalty to

their adviser. At a time when headlines about

Brexit and tweets from Donald Trump, the US

president, and the US-China trade war can move

markets, financial advisers’ clients want to be

certain that their money is being managed by

the best people, invested in the best funds for

their needs, and know that their adviser will be

there to help them through the ups and downs

of the financial world.

With this in mind, providing a high-quality

client experience and regular communication

should be the most important component in your

client engagement strategy. Client engagement

is the process of interacting with clients through

a variety of channels and strengthening your

relationship with them.

Communicating or consuming contentFor many financial advisory businesses, this

process begins with the first interaction and

extends way beyond the point of investment or

retirement products. In a very crowded space,

financial advisory businesses today need to be

engaging with their clients via social media, email,

their website, blogs, or any other space where

they’re communicating or consuming content.

Increasingly, clients today expect their

adviser to have a much better understanding of

them when it comes to client engagement, but

this is increasingly becoming harder to achieve

with all the regulations controlling personal

data. In a post-GDPR era, it’s still as important to

create personalised client experiences based on

their individual needs. But how can you provide

these while remaining GDPR-compliant?

Delivering the optimum client engagement strategyWhen a prospective client provides their

information on your website, they usually want

something in return, whether this is a specific

guide they are interested in reading about

(maybe covering ‘Estate preservation’ or ‘How to

take a pension income’) or an offer to attend a

complimentary review meeting with you. The way

you manage this data is crucial to how you’ll be

able to deliver a personalised client experience for

them going forward.

CLIENT ACQUISITION

Abigail SpencerDigital Marketing SpecialistGoldmine Media

03insight

To achieve this successfully, you need a

client engagement platform. This is software

that centralises all client communications,

tracks client behaviour, and helps you efficiently

respond to their needs and wants. Client

engagement platforms help you to personalise

campaigns by analysing client data and tracking

industry patterns. You’ll also be able to test

marketing, sales and client service campaigns

to ensure you’re delivering the optimum client

engagement. If you don’t, your competitors will.

Sharing data in exchange for personalised experiencesAdopting a platform dedicated to client

engagement will give your business the tools it

needs to increase client and prospective client

interactions. However, you’ll also need a strategy for

engaging with clients if you want your campaigns to

be effective. The cost per individual client acquisition

detailed in the Accenture 2018 Pulse Check Survey

has grown by around 50% over the last two years,

which makes increasing your efforts to retain

existing clients even more important.

The key is to provide every client and

prospective client with a more personalised,

meaningful experience. All the indications are

that most financial service consumers today are

actively willing to share their data in exchange

for personalised experiences, which includes an

increasing shift towards mobile usage.

Smartphone obsessionAccording to Ofcom, the average adult now

spends over three hours a day on their

smartphone. Digital, video, social media and

podcast usage all continue to rise. Moreover,

smartphone usage continues to increase as time

spent on desktop and laptop computers declines.

2008 was the year the smartphone took off

in the UK. With the iPhone and Android fresh

into the UK market, 17% of people owned a

smartphone a decade ago – this has now reached

78%. The smartphone today is the device people

say they would miss the most, dominating many

people’s lives in both positive and negative ways.

People in the UK now check their

smartphones, on average, every 12 minutes

of the waking day. Two in five adults (40%)

first look at their phone within five minutes

of waking up. Similarly, 37% of adults check

their phones five minutes before lights out,

Ofcom reports.

With the increase in smartphone activity,

financial service businesses need to take a

mobile-first approach towards client engagement.

Your websites should provide targeted digital

content that is indexable by search engines and

published across many devices to reach out to

existing and prospective clients to add another

service layer and engagement.

Four elements of client engagement you can’t ignore

Personalised content marketingIt is your digital content that helps create

the narrative about your business. Providing

personalised content drives your unique value

and subtly persuades prospective clients to

choose you over your competitors. Personalised

content marketing is a key component that

drives client engagement. It answers the

unanswered questions of your audience and

focuses on their specific wants, emotions,

fears and likes. Regular blogs, articles, digital

publications and email updates relevant to them

will not only educate clients but also further help

in promoting your business.

WebsiteYour website will often be the first touchpoint for a

prospective new client who is looking to discover

more about your business and services. It is also the

primary resource for existing clients to stay in touch

and updated on the latest financial news, your latest

service offerings or any newsworthy information

about your business, whether this is to announce

charitable or fundraising activities, or seminar dates.

Your website can make or break the image of

your business within seconds of a visitor landing

on your homepage. Therefore, it’s crucial to have

a website that’s not only attractive visually but

also user-friendly and mobile responsive.

Apart from standard textual and visual

content, interactive content is another way to

engage with your clients through your website.

Examples of interactive content includes

downloadable guides, factsheets, publications,

calculators and forms for visitors to book a

seminar space or arrange a meeting.

Social mediaIn addition to your website, social media can and

should be used as an extension of your client

engagement strategy via networks like Facebook,

LinkedIn and Twitter. For all financial service businesses,

these platforms present an enormous opportunity for

you to engage with your clients and prospective clients

in a more targeted and personalised way, and to build

a loyal online community.

Through social media, you can connect

directly with your target client personas, share

information, identify new prospective clients,

research influencers and promote content that will

attract more new business opportunities. Regular

monitoring and active engagement on social

media will not only increase your business’ visibility

but will also increase your sales.

Mobile appsAs I’ve mentioned, smartphones are now an

integral part of our daily lives. In this context,

mobile apps are highly effective for financial

service businesses that want to improve their

client engagement and increase revenues. Apps

ensure direct communication with your audience

in various ways. For example, you can send

push notifications that are both informative and

persuasive to create further regular touchpoints.

When a client looks at their smartphone home

screen, which as we know is likely to be every

few minutes, it’s essential that your app badge

icon also appears next to their bank, building

society, credit card company and other personal

finance apps they may have downloaded. This

is prime advertising and brand recognition real

estate. If you don’t appear there, you’re missing

a massive opportunity to keep reinforcing your

brand on a daily basis. n

CLIENT ACQUISITION

HAVE YOU LOCKED IN THE VALUE OF YOUR BUSINESS WHEN THE DAY COMES AND YOU WANT TO SELL?A well-thought-out and executed client engagement strategy will enable your business to maintain a bond between you and your clients that encourages long-term loyalty. As you will already know, this is essential to lock in the value of your business when the day comes and you want to sell to a consolidator, or network, or management team. For more information about how Goldmine Media can help your business, talk to a member of our Business Development Team on 0845 686 0055, or email: findoutmore@goldminemedia.co.uk.

insight

MARKETING

04

WHY FINANCIAL ADVISERS NEED TO INNOVATE FOR AN AGEING POPULATIONEngaging and marketing to an increasing number of UK pensioner millionaires

Tobias FentonMarketing AnalystGoldmine Media

Pension reforms, along with the

accumulation of property wealth,

have created a generation of older

people more affluent than ever

before. As longevity continues to increase, it

will bring with it new demographic changes

and significant new business opportunities for

financial service businesses.

The number of people aged 60 or over

is expected to exceed 20 million by 2030,

according to the latest Office for National

Statistics (ONO). These people are living longer,

healthier lives and are increasingly unlikely to

stop earning at 65. A Wealth and Assets Survey

from the ONO statistics reveals that more than

one in ten UK pensioners has a total wealth of

£1 million or more. More than a million of the

UK’s pensioners are now millionaires.

Needs, wants and buying power of the over-55sThere are now more than 23 million people

aged over 50 in the UK, according to the Mature

Marketing Association – and this number is

increasing every year as the population ages.

The so-called ‘baby boomer’ generation,

currently aged 55–75, has profited from social

mobility, rising property values and decent

pensions, ending up relatively well off.

Ironically, however, age and generation

are becoming increasingly ineffective as

a means of engagement and marketing.

As these new business opportunities and

markets continue to emerge, every financial

service business should have a strategy

in readiness for this demographic’s needs,

wants and buying power.

Older workers and entrepreneurs shouldn’t be ignoredThe financial services industry has always

catered to older people, primarily those

planning for retirement. As clients prepare for

longer lives, retirement remains a powerful

growth driver. But a financial market for older

workers and entrepreneurs is rapidly expanding

too. Driven by financial assets controlled by

older investors, this segment of the longevity

market simply cannot be ignored.

As longevity strategies are developed and

implemented, financial service businesses

also need to consider not only what makes up

the services they offer, but also how they are

marketed. The reality is that older consumers

today do not want to be patronised, but they

do want their needs acknowledged, and

for advisory businesses to emphasise both

positive and real aspects of ageing.

A one-size approach certainly does not fit allIt’s important to really understand what older

consumers’ needs are and how to address

them. The ageing population is diverse, and the

answers are not simple – a one-size approach to

marketing to them certainly does not fit all.

But we do know that there’s already a clear

demand for products and services that can help

people live longer, more comfortable and more

meaningful lives, and that are promoted without

stigma or stereotype.

Benefits both to your bottom line and to societyThis demand is set to grow rapidly in the

coming decades, and financial advisory

businesses that deliver this proposition will reap

a sizeable dividend. It’s a huge opportunity –

one that will have benefits both to your bottom

line and to society.

At Goldmine Media, we believe that the

potential for forward-thinking financial

service businesses must go beyond just an

interesting business opportunity. As older

adults are poised to shape consumer and

capital markets in the years ahead, there

needs to be a joined-up and coordinated

approach taken to the way you market and

engage with this sector. n

insight

MARKETING

05

IS YOUR BUSINESS READY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SIGNIFICANT NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES?As demography shifts, spiralling health costs and questions about the adequacy of public and private pensions and retirement funds rightly stir concerns. This provides a significant opportunity for financial advice businesses that are able to reach out to these individuals via a coordinated marketing strategy. For more information about how Goldmine Media can help your business, talk to a member of our Business Development Team on 0845 686 0055, or email: findoutmore@goldminemedia.co.uk.

insight

Challenges or opportunities of meeting your website needs and goals

MARKETING

Poppy HowardMarketing Automation SpecialistGoldmine Media

06

IS YOUR FINANCIAL ADVICE FIRM WEBSITE FIT FOR PURPOSE?

07insight

MARKETING

Do you get a sinking feeling every time

you look at your company website?

Are you not seeing the results, leads

and enquiries that you were promised

and keep reading about? Is it time to accept your

website isn’t fit for purpose? Acceptance is the

first step – but then what?

Have you defined what your website needs to deliver?

If you’re in the process of considering

launching a new website or redesigning

an existing website, it’s essential that your

starting point defines a concise articulation

of the challenge or opportunity your website

needs to deliver – your website goals. This

should form the basis of a solid and unified

brief, setting out clearly what your business

is looking to achieve with the website, what

success looks like, and what the site’s role will

be in your wider digital ecosystem.

Putting time into agreeing this overall

strategy will make the whole process much

easier and will ensure you can measure its

effectiveness. Whilst you must put clients and

prospective client users at the heart of your

site’s design, you’ll find that hard to do unless

you know exactly what you want it to do for

your business.

Have you considered the user’s needs and goals and made it simple and relevant?The planning process needs to carefully consider

the user’s needs and goals and make it as simple

and relevant as possible for the user to achieve

them. That consideration never ends. Ongoing

analysis ensures that the site can change and

evolve along with user needs and priorities.

While practical functionality is vital,

your website shouldn’t just help users

do something. It must make them feel

something: your brand story, your core values

and what makes your financial services

business different from the competition.

This should all be woven into every part of

your website to resonate with clients and

prospective clients rationally and emotionally.

Is your website converting visitors into enquiries and business opportunities?If your current website isn’t attracting visitors, or

if it is but you are not converting these visitors

into enquiries and new business opportunities,

it’s more than likely that your site content isn’t

resonating with them and you’re not taking

them through the logical steps of the sales

funnel process.

Whether it’s your existing website or a

website redesign, for the site to be successful,

you ultimately need Google on your side,

which means the content and engagement

process is key. At Goldmine Media, we regularly

hear from new clients that tell us their previous

website either didn’t generate enough visitor

traffic or wasn’t able to convert the traffic they

did get into leads.

How are you persuading prospects to become clients and clients to become advocates?Compliant and relevant quality content needs to

reflect a deep understanding of your audience

to be effective on your website. Articles, videos,

blogs, photography, calculators, guides, factsheets

and infographics all provide a wide range of

engagement formats to inform, persuade or

educate visitors. Your content needs to support the

user in their journey as well as bringing tangible

business benefits, persuading prospects to become

clients and clients to become advocates.

Most new client journeys start on a website.

In the early days of the Internet, the majority of

financial adviser websites were created with the

simple idea of establishing a presence on a new

medium. Fast forward to 2019, and today your

website should be supporting all sales, marketing

and communication efforts and catering to

your target audience demographics. Being able

to convert your website visitors into clients, to

help skyrocket your sales and the value of your

business, should be a given.

Is your website supporting offline activities to achieve the desired actions you want to achieve?As well as digital marketing channels like

search engine optimisation (SEO), paid search

advertising or social media, don’t forget the role

that your website can also play in supporting

offline activities such as direct mail, face-to-face

client and prospect meetings, or any other

above-the-line activities.

Aesthetically pleasing, usable, readable

and consistent in visual identity and tone of

voice, your current or new website should

also use interactivity and motion to transition

the user through their journey, offering subtle

navigation cues and prompting interactions

and, ultimately, leading to the desired actions

you want to achieve.

Is your website accessible to all, regardless of market, region or device?To ensure your website is built on a foundation

of solid technology and on the right platform, it

should be scalable, accessible and responsive,

whilst integrating seamlessly with other

systems. From end user and content editor

points of view, it should just work – quickly,

intuitively and elegantly.

The way your website moves, feels and

responds to a user’s actions on every device,

as well as the way it looks and sounds, plays a

significant role in your brand perception and

the website’s ability to persuade and inspire

users to take action. This means obtaining

more data, more leads, more enquiries and

more profitable business. n

TIME TO BRING YOUR WEBSITE GOALS TO LIFE FOR YOUR DIGITAL AUDIENCE?Is your website fit for purpose? When it comes to website design, we have over two decades’ financial service experience providing the right blend of creativity and technical skills to bring your website goals to life for your digital audience. For more information about how Goldmine Media can help your business, talk to a member of our Business Development Team on 0845 686 0055, or email: findoutmore@goldminemedia.co.uk.

08 insight

HOW FINANCIAL ADVISERS ARE GENERATING MORE REFERRAL OPPORTUNITIESYour website is the most important information and sales channel you have – are you taking full advantage of it?

I have used the word ‘newsletter’ in this

article as a generic term. At Goldmine Media,

we moved away from creating newsletter

formats many years ago, and now our

publications visually and editorially resemble

mini-magazines. Today, our goal is to produce

publications for financial advisers that wouldn’t

look out of place if they were featured in the

online supplement sections that form part of

one of the weekend broadsheets.

If you’re not providing prospective clients,

existing clients and professional introducers with

your own publication on a regular basis, then

you’re missing out on a massive opportunity.

Investing in your own client-facing digital

publication – if utilised in the right way – is proven

to attract more website visitors and generate

quality leads and new business opportunities.

Today, your website is the most important

information and sales channel you have.

You only have so many hours in the dayI’m not discounting face-to-face advice, which

higher-value clients will continue to require.

But you only have so many hours in the

day, and you can only see so many clients

annually. Wouldn’t it make sense to engage

more regularly with clients to maintain greater

contact with them, without actually having

to be with them all the time, and also benefit

from inbound leads that come to you?

At Goldmine Media, our position is that

digital newsletters as a format are now very

outdated. If you’re honest, would you rather

read a well-designed digital publication with

great imagery, great typography and quality

content, or an unattractive newsletter that

looks like someone’s just created it in Word

on their home computer? It’s not really the

impression you want to give to a prospective

client looking to invest £500K or more with

you, is it?

LEAD GENERATION

Henry Jasper Digital StrategistGoldmine Media

09insight

Capitalising from a great referral generating toolWe’ve been providing consumer-facing digital

publishing titles to consumers in the financial

service sector for over two decades, and from

our own research, someone is much less likely to

delete a digital mini-magazine format than they

are a newsletter format. We’ve also seen there is

a much greater likelihood that a mini-magazine

format will be forwarded to family members,

friends and work colleagues – making this a great

referral generating tool.

It is worrying when we often hear some

advisers say, ‘Sending my clients a newsletter

is a waste of money,’ ‘They wouldn’t read it, ‘We

can’t afford it!’ But this is great news for our own

adviser clients that do get it and are benefiting

from sending out a regular client-facing digital

mini-magazine.

Lifestyle articles rather than just financial content To help you further build relationships with your

clients, articles need to be timely, topical, not too

technical and demonstrate how your business

can help them to improve their own financial

performance. We are also now seeing a move

editorially towards our adviser clients asking us

to write more lifestyle articles rather than just

financial content.

Your website is the perfect platform to showcase

your client-facing digital mini-magazine and to

keep your brand of clients and prospective clients,

establishing greater authority and service levels.

Like all marketing initiatives, your digital mini-

magazine needs to have a quantifiable impact on

your business. The first step is setting measurable

goals, which include measuring an increase in

subscribers, open rates, click-through rates and

attributing these to increased sales revenue.

Sales campaigns or new business initiatives

These goals should be linked to various sales

campaigns or new business initiatives the

publication could reinforce. For example, in the

run-up to the end of tax year, you may want to

promote different ways the reader can reduce a

potential tax bill or take advantage of tax-efficient

allowances. The publication could then contain

content about VCTs, SIPPs, ISAs, Capital Gains

Tax and Inheritance Tax planning strategies, with

tracking links to different sections on your website

where they can obtain further information,

contact you or arrange a meeting.

Effective client-facing publications should

primarily be informational, not sales-driven.

Visitors to your website are likely to be regularly

bombarded with offers, sales and promotions. To

get visitors to your website (whether existing or

prospective clients) to open and read an email,

the content needs to be genuinely interesting –

beyond an attempt to sell them an investment or

other service. Users are much more likely to open

an email targeted to educating or informing them.

A narrative that brings more personalityYour client-facing digital mini-magazine gives

your business an opportunity to demonstrate

authority and expertise on different subjects

and your services. This give readers a reason

to trust you, and it also tells a narrative that

brings more personality to your business.

One proposed methodology for inclusion

of different types of editorial is 90/10: 90%

information, 10% sales material. With the

right balance – a less-is-more and educational

approach – you’ll experience a greater return

on your marketing outlay.

Key components of creating a successful

client-facing publication are that it needs to be

specific to your target audience and published

in regular intervals. And with more people using

smartphone devices, it’s essential that your

digital publication is optimised for tablets and

smartphones for the best results.

Building further loyalty and awarenessEmailing clients and prospective clients your

digital mini-magazine will help you build further

loyalty and awareness to your business while

increasing your bottom line. Clients do business

with you because they’re loyal to you and trust

you, not because you sell. So it’s even more

important today in a turbulent world that you

keep connected with them!

If you want to drive more people to your website,

you can’t expect that it will happen organically.

You need to work actively to attract visitors, and

emailing your digital mini-magazine will help. You

need to invite them, encourage and incentivise their

presence if you want visitors to come to your site,

browse through content and make contact. One

crucial thing to remember is that you need to target

the right audience with the right content.

More reach will start generating more activity

Don’t forget to include emails that also contain

social sharing buttons that are likely to give you a

much higher click-through rate when compared

to those that don’t. Social media platforms like

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn will increasingly

become more important for many financial

advisers’ overall growth and marketing strategies.

However, growing those channels can require

more time and work. Emailing your digital

mini-magazine can help you build your online

community – engage them through their inbox

and guide them to your social media channels.

There, you have more reach and will start

generating more activity. n

TIME TO FIND NEW PROVEN WAYS TO ENGAGE WITH CLIENTS AND PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS?If you are looking to find new proven ways to engage with clients and prospective clients, we’ll help your business develop captivating creative that cuts to the core, inspiring further loyalty among your clients by leading with what matters to them most. For more information about how Goldmine Media can help your business, talk to a member of our Business Development Team on 0845 686 0055, or email: findoutmore@goldminemedia.co.uk.

IS YOURWEBSITE FAILING YOUR BUSINESS?

BOOK A FREE NO OBLIGATION WEBSITE AUDIT TODAY, AND WE’LL

IDENTIFY THE MAIN PROBLEMS

Arrange your FREE, no obligation website audit today

WE’LL GIVE YOU ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS:

n Is your website search engine friendly?n Is your website too busy and cluttered?n Is your website navigation unclear and difficult to use?n Is your website mobile friendly?n Is your website design putting prospective clients off?n Is the load time of each page too slow?n Is your website showcasing your social profile?n Is your website just too vague?n Is your website displaying low-quality content?

IMPACTING ON THE SUCCESS OF YOUR WEBSITE

All of these points will have a considerable impact on the success of your website and business, whether you want to generate leads, new business opportunities or use as part of your client service proposition to further enhance client loyalty.

To find out the health and effectiveness of your website, please contact a member of our Business Development Team on 0845 6860055 or email findoutmore@goldminemedia.co.uk

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