What’s the best form of advertising for financial services?

Advertising your financial services: you know you need to do it, but you’re not sure what’s going to get the best results. Here’s some advice.

In a crowded market like financial services, you need to stand out.

The best way to do that is to advertise.

But sometimes it’s hard to know where to put your budget. Should you hedge your bets and spread your ad spend across as many ad formats and platforms as possible?

Or is there a type of advertising that’s particularly well suited to promoting financial services?

Let’s find out.

Prefer to pay for results?

One quick thing before we start. We’re performance marketing specialists, and we price like it. Our fees are tied to the qualified leads we deliver, not a retainer for showing up. We win when you do. Here’s how we do it. And here’s the results we get for our clients.

“We outsourced our entire digital strategy to the Adbetter team, and since the start they’ve been much more than an external agency partner. With an analytical mindset and very knowledgeable across all digital channels, the team really complements each other with their expertise, and helped us straight away to put together a mature digital brand & acquisition strategy. No challenge is too big and their data-driven approach has been key in getting our campaigns off the ground.”

– Aline Ungewiss, CMO, Milltech

What’s the best type of advertising for financial services?

The problem with advertising financial services?

Too often it feels like hit and hope.

You can pump your budget into content marketing, billboard advertising – even television and radio. But even with the sharpest strategy, it always feels like something of a shot in the dark.

That’s not ideal when your advertising budget is tight – and your boss is banking on winning a bunch of new customers.

Thankfully there is a type of advertising that’s more accountable. More analytical. And more optimised for driving predictable results.

It’s called pay per click advertising (PPC).

Why is PPC the best form of advertising for financial services?

The sponsored results at the top of Google’s search results.

The ads you see in your timeline on Facebook.

The content you see before you watch a video on YouTube.

All examples of pay per click advertising.

Here are eight reasons why it’s ideal for advertising financial services.

1. It’s accountable

As the name suggests, with pay per click you only pay when someone clicks your ad. Contrast that with other types of ad placement – such as a billboard, magazine or television advert – where you pay regardless of whether people show an interest or not.

2. It’s easy to control your spend

Pay per click platforms give you lots of control over your ad spend. Expect options to automate daily, weekly, monthly or maximum budgets per campaign. You can hit the pause button at any time. And every penny is accounted for in your performance data.

3. Target the right audience

One of the most powerful things about pay per click advertising is the audience targeting control you get. Tweak dozens of different parameters to zero in on your target audience.

4. Utilise geotargeting

Got a bricks and mortar office that you want to drive potential customers towards? You can utilise geotargeting to make sure your ad displays only to people within a set geographic radius of your office.

5. Generate highly qualified leads

Remember: with pay per click, you only pay when someone clicks your ad. And if they’ve gone to the effort of clicking it, there’s a very good chance they’re interested in your financial expertise.

6. Predictable returns

Set up correctly, you can be reasonably sure of the kind of returns your campaigns will generate for every £100 you put in. That allows you to make strategic financial decisions with more confidence – and plan your campaigns around natural peaks and troughs in the demand for your services.

7. Optimise ad performance over time

Pay per click platforms give you clear data on how your ads are performing. If you are prepared to dig into this data, you can identify trends that help you learn which campaigns are getting the best results. So you can optimise your ad spend over time.

8. Build first party customer data

With pay per click you build your own first party customer data – enabling you to nurture your own relationship with every lead. In short: you acquire a marketable audience for all future campaigns.

Pay per click advertising is not without challenges

Pay per click advertising is a fantastic option for advertising financial services.

But it’s not without challenges.

There’s significant regulatory red tape to navigate.

And given the high value of new customers, the cost of advertising financial services through pay per click is higher than many other sectors.

But there’s no doubt there’s a compelling business case for PPC.

And we’ve written plenty about navigating the challenges and driving steady, scalable results for your business.

>> The challenges (and rewards) of financial services PPC

Skip to the part where you’re winning new customers

Take the DIY approach

You don’t need to be a black belt marketing whiz to get results with pay per click advertising. But if you want to take the DIY approach, you should prepare to do some learning first.
Our article below is a great place to start.

>> Lead generation for financial services: 16 tips for getting big results

Let us take care of everything for you

We are an award-winning pay per click advertising agency. One that specialises in lead generation for financial services. We understand the tough regulatory landscape associated with promoting financial services via pay per click. And we can craft compelling, compliant campaigns that drive reliable revenue for your business.
In fact we’re so confident in our ability to get results that we offer performance models, with fees tied to the qualified leads we deliver. We win when you do.
Sounds good? Read about our unique approach to pay per click advertising. Browse some case studies and see the transformative results we get for our clients. Or just get in touch for a chat about what we can do for you.

You may also be interested in:

>> Financial services lead generation: how we help financial brands win qualified leads

>> Google Ads for financial advisers: essential tips for success

>> A complete guide to Facebook ads for financial advisers