• by Leslie Sherr , October 14, 2009

Following the upheaval in the financial services sector, many marketers have forfeited breakthrough communications in favor of safety and stability. Who can blame them?

With the market down significantly from its 2007 highs, an estimated $1 trillion+ in motion, and nearly every conventional wisdom about investing thrown into question, marketers are understandably concerned that their existing strategies and tools won't be enough to meet the demands of today's rapidly evolving marketplace.

In addition, key success factors are not getting the attention they deserve -- ideas that may ultimately prove as important for a financial services company's marketing effectiveness as cash is to the balance sheet. Here are 10 tips marketers should stock up on.

1. Empathy and Action: Customers want responsibility to be a stronger value than it has previously been. Acknowledge your client's pain and trepidation. Let them know you recognize the impact of the downturn and how different this one is from others they may have experienced. Balance this message with a focus on the specific steps your firm has taken to succeed in the new environment.

2. Clarity: Complexity -- including fuzzy math -- got us into trouble. Speak in plain English. No one will buy anything they don't understand easily and completely.

3. Openness: Among the fallouts of the economic crisis has been an erosion of trust. Reestablishing credibility with stakeholders may call for an exaggerated degree of transparency about corporate priorities or operations. Among the best ways to do this is to more actively engage in an open dialogue that raises awareness of the decisions and the difficulties involved in the challenges that lie ahead.

4. Increase frequency: Announce as often as you can, and in as many forms as you can, how you are doing things differently. Communicating that you are a business with a lot of integrity, even more than experience, is critical right now.

5. Look to more "two way" conversations: In the "New Normal," the financial services sector displays an overreliance on passive forms of communication that deliver a one-way discourse. Printed material increasingly falling on deaf ears, is environmentally insensitive and often a crutch for triggering a conversation. Every marketing tool has to work harder: more focused, more flexible and more integrated.

6. Reprioritize: The proliferation of media technologies and the emergence of new Web-based platforms -- blogs, moderated discussion boards, interactive tools -- have given organizations new tools to engage with target audiences. As traditional media declines in importance, it may be time to reprioritize your communications vehicles. No single approach is likely to be sufficient to deal with fast-moving situations and diverse audiences.

7. A dispassionate eye: To be effective marketers, most CMOs will have to consider more variables and involve more decision-makers than they have in the past. The risk, however, is that the process devolves into design by committee. Look critically and objectively at every piece of communication for the following attributes: brand consistency, a differentiated message, and an offering that speaks to your target customers' core needs.

8. Look beyond the crisis: Given the economic climate, the temptation is for marketers to gaze, transfixed, at the news updates. That's a mistake. Sweeping market trends, like aging boomers, health care reform and more tempered economic expectations, will continue to represent business opportunities. Focus on identifying which of your current efforts are delivering results, and which need to be adjusted.

9. Customer/Client focus: In pre-crisis days, performance was the key that unlocked customer assets. With performance moot for now, financial marketers must show how their products and services improve customers' lives, financial or otherwise.

10. A clear, differentiated point of view: Messages need to go beyond acknowledging the financial crisis and its impact. Companies, more than ever, should aim to distinguish themselves through a competitive advantage and clearly communicated customer benefits. Clients are hungry for information they can relate to, and will gravitate to those who offer a compelling rationale for their services.