Financial marketing

We're 10....It’s a Long Way to the Top if you Wanna Rock and Roll!

2nd March 2022

Well, we did it. Financial Marketing is celebrating its 10th birthday!

When Mike, John and Chris opened the doors to the agency in 2012 they had a clear mission – to create the agency that they would have wanted to hire when they worked client-side. With careers in financial and professional services marketing and design measured in decades, they wished to carry on doing what they knew well. But they also intended to embrace all of the exciting tools, tactics and techniques that marketing creates.

When penning this piece, a much-loved AC/DC track came on the radio – It’s a long way to the top. Now, this isn’t some sort of hollow boast about ‘making it’. The track is about resilience, adaptability and hard work. Reflecting on the last 10 years, these are running through Financial Marketing like the writing through a stick of rock. You must consistently do great work. But the ‘glue’ that gives agencies longevity is all the other stuff they never taught you in college.

Signature Dishes
We’ve been thinking about one part of our ‘manifesto’ when we set out, that is doing what we do best. So, we have done a little makeover of our proposition on our website to make that stand out a bit more clearly. Yes, we can plan, write and draw lots of campaigns and programmes in lots of markets. But we have two very distinct ‘signature dishes’ that we have developed into specialist marketing programmes, namely Brand Engineering and Showcase Marketing, two pivotal activities in creating sustainable competitive advantage.

Brand Engineering – Bringing Brands to Life
Brand Engineering is the practice of planning, designing, constructing and maintaining a company’s brand infrastructure.

It starts with our one-day Brand Workshop, where we work with the senior management team to calibrate each of the core brand foundational elements with compelling clarity – in just one day. Our proven 8-stage process unites the team around shared values that they are proud to rally behind and live authentically.

Once we have created the company’s bespoke Brand Blueprint, we will look with you at the next steps to engineer your brand with creativity and precision. Here we consider not only the promise and identity but also support clients through the entire brand journey – culture, embedding and customer experience – to make sure it stays powerful, competitive and on track.

You can find out more about Brand Engineering here.

Showcase Marketing – Showcasing Excellence
One of the hallmarks of a great financial services brand is the willingness of its stakeholders to go on record to say it is great. Promotional copywriting is littered with glowing superlatives. But if they are self-anointed, how do they answer the most important question every financial customer has – ‘Is this company a safe pair of hands?’

Over the past decade, Financial Marketing has developed a focus on creating and sustaining evidenced-focused marketing programmes for its clients. We call our approach, Showcase Marketing. It is the ability to deliver powerful insight into the skills, capabilities and competitive advantage of a financial services brand through the marketing investment in creating key marketing, evidenced-focused assets and ensuring their optimal utilisation through multiple channels to support sales.

External validation and proof points are the most overlooked but most important aspects of financial marketing. This is because it is hard to do – it relies on capturing the authentic voice of customers who are so proud of what you have achieved for them that they are willing to put it on record.

You can find out more about Showcase Marketing here.

So, what does the future hold for Financial Marketing? Given what we have all been through the last couple of years predictions are probably best behind the doors of bookies. But we will keep working diligently and creatively and keep marketing fun and successful for our clients.

A massive thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last ten years. We never take it for granted.