As a side note, the content in the Professional Services lab turned out to be far more relevant to our clients (all of whom are in Financial Services) than the Financial Services industry session. Probably the main reason for this is that the speakers (Marcus Sheridan and Ian Altman) in the Professional Services session really understand the nexus between sales and marketing, and how content marketing can bridge the gap between these functions.
And really, this is where the money is in B2B (institutional and adviser) financial services marketing – it’s right there, in that nexus between sales and marketing that leads are generated, pipelines are filled and clients are acquired.
A grand claim? Well not so grand – it’s in part about having a website (and homepage) that actually works for prospects. Yes, there’s lots more to the lead gen story in wealth management and financial services, but web presence is a good place to start. Sometimes I think the biggest challenge for financial services marketers is to keep things simple, rather than go with our industry’s natural tendency to overcomplicate everything we can. Listening to Marcus and Ian they just made it really simple – and their guidance works as well for institutional asset management sales, or financial planner distribution efforts, as it does for management consulting.
Three hard questions about your homepage
So, what are the hard questions Marcus asked, that we should all consider?
Marcus took apart half a dozen homepages in full view of attendees. The English would call it a “roast”, the Americans would maybe call it poking fun and we Australians would just say he demolished the home pages of several attendees.
1. What is the emotion it evokes?
Yes, that’s right EMOTION. No matter what we’re selling, emotion is what drives action. Marketing wisdom suggests that while logic might deliver conclusions, it won’t compel our prospects to act. Sheridan pushes this point in B2B marketing via homepage messaging. He argues that every buyer needs to feel something before they will do something. It might be to feel safe – assured – that you can be trusted. It might be to feel challenged, excited, happy. Just drive an emotional reaction as well as a rational response.
2. Does it tell me what problem you solve for clients or customers?
If we can’t tell our prospects what problem we solve for them, we lose people instantly. Actually, maybe we don’t deserve clients if we can’t answer these two simple questions:
BlueChip’s own website is a good example. Quite afraid of what I might hear I volunteered our website (which I am not happy with, and it is being redeveloped!) to be assessed.
Right at the outset Marcus said: “At least I know what problem you’re solving – you’re helping deliver business results through great communication”. Now he was being kind because if I run his own advice over my home page here’s what I’d do.
Actually our messaging isn’t that far off! So I worked out at that point that my home page copy isn’t as bad as I feared. How does yours fare by these tests?
3. Does it deliver a single strong message?
Finally, pick your ground and stand on it, says Marcus. He loathes the slider (yes we’re all still in love with them) and the long scrolling homepage. Techniques for people who can’t agree what they stand for he says. Ouch. I cringe at this point because our homepage, just like many of yours, has the four rotating messages on a slider because I couldn’t settle on the single most important message.
“Man up” says Marcus, and make a call. Develop that ONE leading line of copy that plays directly to the problem you solve.
What’s that for BlueChip? I’m playing with “Specialist financial services marketing and communication that really delivers bottom line results”.
Start every service page the same way, he says, and you’ll go a long way to actually turning visitors into prospects and then leads and clients.
So there’s work to do my homepage on that score – and most of yours I’d suggest!
