We live in an increasingly digital world. Most adults — 80% — have a smartphone.  Most shoppers (67%) will investigate a product or brand online before they ever go into a store or business.  Social media is incredibly important for many shoppers, nearly 71% are more likely to buy something they read about on Twitter or Facebook.  Businesses are also becoming more savvy with their digital marketing as 60 percent will invest in it.  This includes hiring a digital ad company.

How Can Financial Institutions Benefit from Digital Marketing

Building brand awareness is crucial for any business and that includes those that offer financial services.  All businesses can benefit from working with a good digital ad agency.  Creative marketing strategies never go out of style.

Top Five Ways Financial Institutions Can Use Social Media

1.  Use social channels to have a conversation with your customers.  Interact and engage them on Twitter like they are friends.  When Arby’s tweeted to Pharrell (“”Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back?”), they got a lot of attention and it humanized them.
2. Develop an online personality.  Use humor to engage with people — just be consistent.
3. Educate your customers.  Financial literacy tops most people’s agenda these days.  Make your customers feel more educated and they will respect you more.
4. Use social media to improve customer service.  Have your representatives respond to questions via Twitter.  Phone, cable and internet companies do it and it makes their customers feel they are more accessible than when they have to call in and wait on hold.  You are also letting the customer dictate when they get help, which is always a good thing.
5. Pay attention to what customers say about you.  If a customer tweets about you, respond any you may be able to turn a negative tweet into a positive experience.

How to Brand a Company

Branding is incredibly important.  It tells customers who you are.  It is more than a slogan, some call it a promise you are making to your customer.  Before you hire a branding agency or digital ad agency or attempt to brand yourself, you need to make sure you have worked through how you want to be defined.

1. What is your mission?
2. What do people think about you now?
3. What benefits do you provide your customers?  Do you offer special products or services that others don’t?
4. What do you want customers to think about you?

Now What?

Here are some things you need to do once you have defined who you are and how you want to be seen.

1. If you don’t have an established logo already, have one designed and post it everywhere you can.
2. Draft talking points about your brand messaging and give them to ever person who works for you.
3. Create a message that you use consistently in all of your communication — on line, on the phone, in person, in advertising, everywhere!  Consistency and repetition will drive home your brand and make it real.
4. Write a tagline.  When you hear the name of the restaurant, “Red Robin,” you probably think “Yum!”  That’s their tagline.  Make yours memorable and repeat it as often as possible.
5. Remember, your brand is your promise.  Don’t go back on it.

The brand development process may seen strange and building and online presence scary but it doesn’t have to be.  Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook offer you a chance to interact with customers in ways that weren’t possible before.  A brand development company, digital ad agency or creative design agency can help guide you along the way.