Attention financial marketers: before millennials can consider your brand and products, they need to be aware of and understand what you offer and its benefits.
Many millennial customers are eager to learn basic financial education. If you’re not meeting this need, your marketing might be as ineffective as a blank page.
This may seem extreme, but there are important questions going unanswered—or worse, being answered by unqualified individuals. Millennials want to know about crypto, taxes, investing, and financial planning. While some are quite knowledgeable, many feel unsure about where to start.
Here are a few questions I recently found on social media:
– “I’m ready to jump into Crypto trading. Are there any platforms with a good welcome bonus or referral?”
– “I’m terrible with money and inheriting some money which will give me a clean slate and about 110k left over. What do I do with it? This is embarrassing, but I’m honestly pretty terrible with money… I’m terrified of messing up this opportunity to finally get (and keep) my finances together.”
– “I want to start investing in stocks. Part of me wants to pay a professional to do it, and another part of me wants to learn it myself…”
– “Curious about this… (my friend) mentioned she always has to pay taxes at the end of the year because she always claims withholdings when filling out paperwork for her job. I never claim withholdings and always get a refund. We are both single and live in the same city. What is best, and why? Can someone walk me through this?”
Financial marketers: you have the chance to be the go-to source for answers to these questions—and many more.
Develop foundational communication strategies so your marketing resonates and is effective. Here are three ways to start educating and offering financial solutions right now:
1. Engage with Millennials on Social Media
– Use your current social media channels: Browse financial groups popular with millennials that have active members.
– Listen: Observe what people are asking, posting, and discussing with each other. You’ll discover questions like those mentioned, along with the answers provided by others. You’ll also notice others with the same questions.
– Ask: Use your own social media to ask questions and learn more about what people are interested in and where they feel confident.
– Offer solutions: See what resonates with your audience when you post answers or more questions. Experiment with how you ask questions and the visuals you use to see what generates the most discussion.
2. Use Your App and Online Banking to Listen to Millennial Customers
– Ask questions: Use the insights you’ve gained from social media listening to run similar questions past your audience. Note their responses and start making a list of content to offer them.
– Create polls: These are short, engaging ways to gather valuable information to help you further build your content list. If you’re struggling with low engagement, polls can encourage responses and increase interaction.
– Offer an anonymous “ask us anything” feature: If one person asks, chances are many others have the same question but don’t want to appear uninformed. Make this function highly visible in the app and online. Be responsive and post answers weekly (or more often) so people have a reason to frequently return to learn more and start seeing you as their irreplaceable go-to source.
