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Millennials on Marketing to Millennials in the Financial Services Sector
Depending on their age, Millennials have lived through six recessions, most notably the dotcom bubble and the Great Recession, with another potentially on the way. These downturns have left their mark on how many of us spend, save, bank, and plan our finances. Student loan debt, unaffordable housing, and a general lack of financial literacy created not just gaps in our financial success but scar tissue for many.
Now, as a Millennial, I only bank with names I know I can trust based on their track record. I haven’t stepped foot inside a bank in five years and care most about a financial company’s digital tools. I focus on saving for the short- and long-term.
I prefer straight-forward financial services marketing free of fluff and focused on functional benefits—credit limits, interest rates, no annual fees, no security deposit required. As our Millennial-aged Associate Creative Director, Copy, Leah Metz said, “For financial projects, trust needs to come from facts, not feelings.”
Our campaign data shows that financial services audiences like Millennials want the same things I do: Basic facts that are easy to understand, especially when it comes to credit cards. Millennials want to do business with a company who is on the up and up. They want financial services marketing that isn’t about spin but transparency.
That audience insight drives our messaging as Leah explained, “I would position everything to lead with how the organization is accredited and protected by the FDIC, and explain what that means in a factual, non-salesy way.”
Consistency is another important feature for financial services, especially when it comes to branding. Consistency shows stability. Stability translates to reliability. Reliability leads to trust. When a financial services brand looks and sounds the same, I’m more likely to believe they’ll act the same at every transaction.
Millennials are the first generation to grow up with the internet and social media. They’re experts at researching and comparing products and services using trusted sources, whether those sources are a third party like NerdWallet or their peers on Reddit. If your financial product or service isn’t on NerdWallet, it basically doesn’t exist. “Reddit is great for educational stuff. More people trust ‘real people’ vs corporations,” said Leah.
Financial companies courting Millennials need to create seamless user experiences. Digital tools are table stakes. Here are other ways financial services firms can reduce friction.
- Use behavior-based personalization. For example, your direct mail piece—yes, Millennials love direct mail—could reference a past credit card or personal loan application and a new interest rate offer.
- Pre-fill their information. With individualized QR codes and landing pages, you can pre-populate your audience’s contact information to make the credit card or personal loan application faster and more turnkey.
Financial services companies can add value by leaning into digital learning resources. Help Millennials manage their student loan debt better. Give them strategies to save for their first house. Create tools that make it easy to calculate how much they need to save. Finance is confusing and stressful. The companies who make it simple and clear without coming across as salesy will be the big winners when it comes to a Millennial audience.
No matter what marketing your financial services firm needs—branding, customer acquisition, and retention—Heinrich can do it. We serve wealth management, personal loan, credit card, and fintech companies. Let’s talk business.