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Can we actually sell without selling? This is THE question for financial services marketers contemplating a leap into content marketing.
Embracing content marketing is no guarantee of a sale or new business opportunity. In fact, rule number one in content marketing is ‘give generously’ – provide customers with valuable information, openly and for free, with minimal branding and no product mentions, in exchange for their future loyalty and engagement.
And hope (or better still, make sure) that sale will follow.
Sound like a bridge too far for your organisation’s sales-driven culture?
Well think about the flip side. There are many strong case studies which support the opportunity cost argument: that by not taking the leap of faith to embrace content marketing, brands will ultimately lose anyway. Prospective purchasers will look elsewhere to have their vital questions answered, and in so doing take their loyalty, engagement and - importantly - their business with them.
These issues were top of mind for senior marketers operating at the top end of Australia’s financial services sector at a special CMO event hosted by BlueChip Communication this morning in Sydney. Guest speaker, Kelly Services’ global head of thought leadership and marketing, Todd Wheatland (@ToddWheatland) shared both his journey and best practice examples.
Fresh from a speaker’s gig at Content Marketing World Sydney, Todd’s audience with BlueChip’s guests soon had him hearing from marketers currently bridging two worlds. One is the traditional, sales-based model, supported by tried and true tactical communication…. which can loosely be described as product flogging (think product disclosure statements, brochures, web sites, email and other collateral designed or distributed with the primary purpose of selling).
The other model is content marketing. Or, put simply, the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling.
The Content Marketing Institute (founder Joe Pullizi who will speak at a BlueChip CEO event, tomorrow in Sydney) describes content marketing as ‘non-interruption’ marketing.
“Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent. The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.”
With content marketing in its relative infancy in Australian financial services, the question was asked: so who in financial services around the world is doing this well? Todd Wheatland shared examples, starting with what he describes as a clear trailblazer in this space – credit card issuer American Express.
“One of the best practice examples is the American Express OpenForum. This started a number of years ago for small to medium sized business customers of American Express, and is now a public site. They have really doubled down on their content, and are syndicating it far and wide. A classic example.”
Note, too the minimal use of corporate logos on the Open Forum website.
Todd describes his next pick, online personal finance site Mint as a fantastic B2C example. The site began in 2006 as a start-up idea, developed and later bought by accounting software business Intuit for a reported US$170 million. And it was the content on the Mint site which got it there – both as a business in its own right, but also in the way it developed its strong customer loyalty.
And finally, from Denmark, a content marketing example which shows the ‘extremes’ to which even a retail bank can go to embrace the new content marketing paradigm. For not only is Jyske Bank the second largest independent bank in Denmark, it has created its own television channel, called JyskeTV. The bank has morphed into a broadcaster, covering all facets o
f life from investment markets to sports events to even Simon Sinek discussing effective communication. This is a bank, or web broadcaster, that really understands the notion of brand as publisher.
If you are still worried about the idea of setting free the old world of marketing-as-direct-selling-function, consider a “mullet strategy”. In the words of Todd Wheatland today “like the hairstyle: all business up front and a party at the back.”
Now that has got to be a true path to engagement!
Bruce Madden is a former industry journalist, writer and Director at BlueChip Communication. Follow him @Madd_23
