Marketing Strategy for Financial Services
A marketing strategy helps your financial services company determine your target market segment, positioning, marketing mix and allocation of resources. As competition continues to grow in the financial services industry, companies that develop comprehensive marketing strategies will be more likely to draw in clients and differentiate themselves from their competitors.
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Target Market
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The target market section is the first part of your financial services company's marketing strategy. It communicates the groups of customers you will target with your marketing efforts. Choose several target market segments you identified through market research. For example, you may have conducted a web search for "Michigan target market financial planning," and found that target customers for your services tend to be older males with income levels over $125,000. Or, you may have worked with a market research company to determine that young urban professionals represent a viable market for your financial services. Describe each customer segment you will focus on in detail.
Positioning
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Positioning refers to how you will position your financial products to your target market. One way to determine your positioning is by conducting a SWOT analysis. First, describe the strengths of your company, such as, "Highest customer service ratings in the Detroit financial services market." Next, describe your company's weaknesses, such as, "Perceived high financial adviser rates." Then, describe the opportunities you anticipate in the coming year, such as, "New online portfolio manager allows us to target more tech-savvy customers." Finally, describe any threats to your company, like, "New financial planning company opening 10 miles from our home office in August 2011." Once you complete the analysis, use the strengths and opportunities to create a positioning statement, such as, "Leverage our industry-leading customer service ratings to gain more tech-savvy clients."
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Marketing Mix
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The marketing mix is the next section of your marketing strategy, and outlines the four "P's" for your financial services business: product, price, place and promotion. The product or service part of the marketing mix means you should describe the various types of financial services your company offers, such as retirement planning, short-term investments or tax preparation. Price means you should describe the pricing model for your financial services, or how your company makes money. Place refers to the locations of your financial services operations. Promotion means the various ways you will use to promote your financial services.
Resource Allocation
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The final part of your marketing strategy is describing how your resources will be allocated. In this section, describe each of the marketing tactics you will use to promote your financial services, when you plan to use them and the resources you will need for each. For example, "Direct mail: we have partnered with XY Direct Mail Company to develop a list of high net worth individuals over the age of 60 in the Detroit area. We plan to launch the campaign in October 2011, and have a $50,000 budget allocated to the project. This budget includes list management, graphic design, copywriting and print production fees."
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