Why Compliance doesn’t have to spell doom for your marketing!
When I first joined the Financial Services industry I found myself wondering why people aren’t just promoting their mortgage and protection services like they would if they were selling a car or a design service.
All business owners know that in order for their business to survive and thrive. They are going to need clients. To get clients you are going to need market your business and your services through a variety of channels.
Yet, financial services is probably one of, if not the most regulated industry in the UK. That regulation, however, is for good reason, and it doesn’t have to spell doom for your creativity or marketing strategy.
Unlike a logo or purchasing a car, the loss or damage to the consumer would be significantly lower than if they were sold an incorrect mortgage or protection product.
Damage to a consumer can be measured in terms of monetary loss due to a firm failure or fraud, poor decision making as a result of the information provided being unclear and more.
A lot of damage to consumers can be mitigated by following the rules set within Consumer Duty.
Get it approved
I get it and I know you get it as a firm owner you don’t want to wait in a queue for your social media post to be approved, after all social media is suppose to be instant. In which case, if you are an AR then take a look at what resources your firm already has pre-approved.
A check of your Financial Promotions Spreadsheet should reveal what digital assets you can use without the need to get a new one approved.
If you have designed a digital asset you want to share on social media, had a new website or created a new PDF, then get it approved by your financial promotions team or someone within your compliance department.
Your creativity doesn’t have to be held back by compliance, so use it. Ensure you have your articles written up and approved with the right regulatory wording and disclaimers. Keep receipt of all FP approvals.
A Lead Magnet
In a recent study websites offering a free eBook or PDF would convert 10-30% of the traffic. Where as quizzes that deliver instant results was a lot higher at 69%.
Compliance isn’t stopping you providing your prospective clients with a free resource.
A lead magnet is a great way to provide tips, methods and guidance on how a potential first time buyer could get onto the housing ladder. You could create a lead magnet for families looking for critical illness, life cover or even just private medical insurance.
Offering a free lead magnet in exchange for an email address, is not a compliance issue, so long as you also abide by the rules of the ICO, and allow the recipient to unsubscribe or amend their preferences.
Again, if you are producing a lead magnet, create it and send it over to your compliance team who will be able to approve the artwork and recommend adjustments.
A fast & responsive website
Is your website running slow? Slower than a tortoise in the Monday morning rush hour?
If so then that isn’t a compliance issue either, that’s a website problem and one that is costing you leads, traffic and also money.
There are a wide range of tools out there that can help speed up your website, I am a huge fan of the Google Pagespeed Insights tool that can be found here. Another tool you could use aHrefs, which identifies more than page speed, it also covers potential structural issues with your website.
Getting your website running quickly, efficiently and delivering its own good outcomes for you and your clients is a major boost.
Contact Forms
Your website is allowed a contact form and the various methods for customers to reach out to you. A website without these, is kind of an expensive shop window without a door.
So be sure to include your contact forms, but also ensure you include the relevant and appropriate disclaimer for the following:
- What are they contacting you for?
- What will happen after they click submit?
- Provide a clear link to your Privacy Policy
All of the above helps keep your customers clear and keeps you compliant.
Email Subscriptions
Having a list of people that you can email about a new blog post, a new development at your firm or some industry insight is a gold mine for new business.
That said, you will need to ensure that you get the content of your email signed off before sending it, especially if you are talking about financial products and services.
Gaining those subscribers doesn’t need to be hard, you could include an email sign-up form at the bottom of every blog post, similar to what we do here on marketinginfinance.com.
Alternatively you can include a tick box in your main contact form giving the customer the option to sign-up to your monthly newsletter.
Lastly, you could ask your current clients would they like to sign-up to your newsletter.
In summary
Look, I get it and as I go further along this journey into my CeMAP qualification, I am understanding that the FCA doesn’t want to hinder your efforts to grow your firm, on the contrary. A growing and internationally competitive financial industry is what the FCA is striving for.
They are simply asking that you remain clear, fair, not misleading and more importantly deliver good outcomes for your customers.
So take the time to develop your digital assets, get them approved and be creative.