The way fintech, financial services, and banking clients purchase has fundamentally changed. Buyers are more informed than ever and know when they’re being sold to. And nobody wants to feel sold to.

When we say people hate to be sold to, we mean they hate feeling manipulated, pressured, and in every other respect prevented from making up their own minds in their own time.

That’s why companies need to switch from this old way of selling to a more human and fluid way of creating demand for your products and services.

🔍The truth is: Financial services buyers actually need your marketing more than ever in order to help them make informed buying decisions.

People buy based on emotion and justify using logic

According to multiple studies, emotion is what really drives purchasing behaviours, and also, decision making in general. That’s why building an affinity with your brand is important. As human beings, we’re not as logical as you’d imagine.

Only marketing the attributes of your products will likely generate poor results, due to the fact that you’re completely missing the subconscious, human element in the decision-making process.

As humans, we’re driven by feelings. Even if we justify our decisions using logic.

So many businesses fall into the trap of thinking if they just tell customers enough about their product then their customers will surely want to buy it. But you must meet customer’s emotional need as well - since a purchasing experience is almost always an emotional event.

Marketing based on product features leads to analysis paralysis, especially for complex products or services. 

So, if you want your ideal customers to remember your products, they must be engaged with your brand and believe in your credibility. This is so often forgotten in B2B data and technology-based marketing. It’s heavily weighted on pushing product features and lacks enough focus on insight-led and value-based content that people actually want to consume.

What does this mean for fintech, data and consultancy businesses trying to influence a purchase decision or gain a lead?

1. Be less corporate and more human

Being human isn’t a marketing strategy; it’s the foundation of building a strong brand. The more earnest and authentic you are, the more meaningful your interactions become, and the better your brand experience will be.

Brands that take a human approach are better at connecting with customers on a one-to-one basis and gaining trust.

2. Focus on benefits and sharing value

Positive content is much more likely to be shared than negatively focused content. This means you could benefit from highlighting positive news, benefits, or advancements related to your industry.

3. Simplify propositions and content

Our conscious minds become overloaded by too much information. Because of the limitation of our working memory, we can’t remember more than 3–4 pieces of new information at a time.

It’s easy to flood customers with too much information or cover too many key points in one piece of content. But try and resist. It’s better to write three to four articles on different angles, then cramming them all into one. What’s more, Google likes this approach too.

4. Balance insight with value sharing

It’s all to easy to focus marketing on how your products help your customers “do X better” or “make Y problem go away”. However, this appeals to only the logical part of your brain.

While facts and hard data can help prove the value of a product, this information has essentially no role in emotional processing, which we know plays a key factor in decision making. Breaking up content with imagery, considered expert opinion and quotes, provides relief for the left brain helping to evoke an emotional response.

5. Focus on demand generation

B2B marketing is too focused on high volume lead generation, usually using gated content to capture ‘leads’. But they usually have zero intent to buy at this stage. They’re educating themselves and need to consume much more content in order to build trust with your company.

Instead of collecting contact information, demand generation encourages direct communication with buyers. It creates a desire in them to use your products or services. Demand generation is a more holistic strategy than simply soliciting for leads’ email addresses and putting them through a funnel.

Your checklist:

• Focus on educating and adding value rather than pushing product features
• Be more human, and less corporate
• Resist overloading people with too much information
• Use demand generation to turn the funnel on its head

Your customers know every action you take is in hopes of them spending money with your company.

So, make them feel good, happy, wanted – and if they agree with the message your conveying, they will connect better with your brand.

For more strategies, tips and advice, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.