With 87% of financial marketers believing their data is their most under-utilised asset, it’s no longer good enough to simply conduct original research, finance brands must also market it effectively. Already part of normal business functions for countless finance brands, letting research sit dormant within the business is a missed opportunity to demonstrate the expertise of your brand.
When research is presented in dynamic and creative ways it’s an effective marketing tactic and can be a competitive tool for finance brands. With original research increasing 74% of brands’ website traffic and 63% of brands’ social media shares, when presented and promoted correctly it can position your brand as an informed thought leader and help ensure you stand out in your sector.
Original research and content marketing go hand-in-hand
Original research is a powerful tool within a content marketing strategy, however less than half of financial marketers think they’re utilising their data effectively. Whether you’re conducting research to inform other business functions or conducting it specifically for marketing purposes, every piece of research should be utilised and repurposed for multiple purposes.
When it comes to finance brands, research can be an effective method to gain engagement. Not only can it boost a finance brand’s presence, assert them as industry leaders and gain coveted backlinks but it can also be a driving force for content creation.
Here are some key ways finance brands can utilise their original research to create:
- Blog posts
- Social media content
- Webinars
- Thought leadership pieces
- Infographics
- Short form videos
- Media coverage
- Podcast episodes
- Backlinks
The benefits of maximising original research
By ensuring your original research reflects the interests and motivations of your target audience this will lead to greater leads and conversion rates. With 58% of marketers seeing original research result in successful sales leads, finance brands must ensure they utilise their data to expand their presence and capture the attention of potential customers.
While there are many ways research can be formatted, it should be presented in a dynamic and engaging way that captures the attention of your target audience. Rather than just dumping a bunch of data on your customers you should try and help them actually understand what it is you’ve researched. By constructing a narrative around your data audiences can gain greater clarity and understand how this may affect their lives and interests.
“ 58% of marketers see original research result in successful sales leads. ”
It’s not enough to just ensure consumers understand why your original research is important, they must also be intrigued by it. The way you present your original research is just as important as the research itself. If it’s bland and lacks a clear point or direction it’s unlikely people will be that invested in reading it. Digital platforms are a great way of making your data visually appealing, lending themself perfectly to interactive charts that bring your research to life and hold your audience’s attention.
Original research doesn’t have to be long articles that are dense and hard to comprehend – actually, they shouldn’t be. In fact, high-quality infographics are 30 times more likely to be read than plain text and are 300% more likely to be shared on social media than any other content. Let’s take a look at two case studies of finance businesses that are making the most out of their original research.
Case Study: JPMorgan Chase
American bank JPMorgan Chase successfully utilises original research in a variety of ways. While they do provide data-rich academic reports on their site, they maximise this information most effectively on their social media channels.
Taking a look at their Instagram profile, JPMorgan has over 211,000 followers and their content is always supported by their research. If you check out their instagram stories or the captions on their photos, they often are enticing users with data that is targeted to their audience and is timely.
Through the use of engaging visuals and short summaries of their original research, JPMorgan are continuously herding audiences to their website where they can find out more information and read their reports. This data driven social media profile engages users quickly and generates greater click-through rates than if their profile was just generic information about the brands. JPMorgan showcases the power of original research to drive content creation and its ability to lead to a vast online presence through providing important data to interested users.
Case Study: Aviva Investors
Aviva Investors is a finance brand that continues to produce original research and present it in interesting and engaging formats. This is what makes them stand out as it ensures that their target investor audience is never bored by their content.
At The Dubs, we have helped Aviva Investors continue to innovate the ways they present their original research. In finance, data is often visualised through boring charts that are taken directly from a Microsoft Excel document. Aviva tried something different. With our help, they created ‘The Little Book of Data’ which presents their expertise and investment capabilities in a creative, dynamic, and visually striking way.
This unique method of showcasing original research was so successful as it directly engaged with top tier clients. Damian Totman, Global Creative Director at Bloomberg described it as “Boring, made beautiful”.
In the latest edition, Aviva Investors created a coffee table book of 90 pages that presented 50 unique data visualisations. This out-of-the-box thinking is what intrigues clients and fosters greater relationships and engagement.
Combining dynamic marketing with original research should be a no brainer
When it comes to original research, finance brands must consider how they can capture the attention of customers in order to maximise its success. Original research is not enough on its own to foster engagement and generate intrigue, it must also be presented in unique and visually-intriguing ways and distributed in a way that achieves with the right targeted audiences. These could range from an interactive infographic to a coffee table book, what’s important is that your audience is at the forefront of the creative process.
At The Dubs, research informs everything we do across strategy, content and distribution, digital process, social media, and reporting. Check out our own custom research reports or get in touch about a custom report to benchmark your finance brand against your peers.
