We live in a social media world where trendy acronyms are part of everyday life. It’s hard to make it through a regular text conversation without popular net-speak like LOL (laugh out loud) or BRB (be right back) creeping in. Well FOMO is now dominating the markets and financial services marketing peeps need to know why!

 The Financial Services Marketing World and FOMO

FOMO – or ‘fear of missing out’ – is used to describe the urgent apprehension people feel when they believe others are enjoying a rewarding or exciting experience from which they are absent.

FOMO can trigger strong emotional responses from consumers. This explains why marketers often use the FOMO concept to kick-start campaigns, increase revenue and generate a buzz around offers and products. Brokers, for instance, can stress urgency by putting a time limit on an account upgrade or offering a trading bonus to the first XXX traders who sign up. This simple yet effective  FOMO trick works like a charm on millennials with 60% reportedly making reactive purchases because they don’t want  to be left behind. In other words, they’ll jump on the bandwagon and take action because they feel they might miss out.

On a similar thread, many social media users feel they will miss out on essential information if they don’t keep an eye on their accounts. As a result, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn have become an essential marketing tool.

FOMO and the Financial Markets

The financial markets are highly volatile – particularly when it comes to the cryptocurrency space with the FOMO already influencing trading decisions. Financial services brands can also create urgency and increase revenue further through clever, timely and well-planned marketing strategies. Here are some ideas that fully embrace FOMO marketing for the financial sector.

• Let your content, offers and experiences expire

If your offer expires in 2020, do you think consumer will chomp at the bit? Probably not! One of the best ways  to increase engagement is to give promotional content a timeline. So, whether you’re offering crypto bonuses, platform trials, demo contests or free access to trading alerts make sure you set a deadline and push the fact your offer won’t last forever. No means no!

Here are some FOMO examples from the financial services marketing sector:

1. Natwest fee-free debit card purchases abroad

Takeaways: Use social media accounts to promote your offers using the relevant hashtags. Ensure your marketing messages are clear and include those all important deadlines. You could take a multi-pronged FOMO marketing approach by putting a countdown clock on your homepage, a specific promotional landing page – or both? Be sure to set and monitor those all-important KPIs so you can see which channels are the most successful.

2. Live chat with PayPal customer services

Takeaways: Create a sense of urgency and interest by hosting live chat or Q&A sessions with your followers at specific times. This should generate interest and show you take the needs of your consumers seriously. If you decide to go live to promote a particular product be sure to create a buzz around this event to maximise your outreach. The tone should very much be watch live for all the latest updates – or miss out.

• Ensure your financial services content is unique and interesting

Letting your content expire on purpose will naturally create urgency. But in order for your marketing efforts to impress – you need to be unique and interesting. Of course, it’s hard to do this all the time. A free account sign-up is a free account sign-up but there are ways to stand out from the crowd no matter what your particular niche within the finance world.

So what can you do?

Take a humanistic approach

Millennials mistrust forceful advertising such as banner ads prefering to be taken on a more educational journey. With this in mind it’s important to bring your business objectives to life in a humanistic way. Relate to your audience through exciting and innovative content.

3. Capital One – Banking Reimagined Tour

Capital One’s Banking Reimagined Tour was designed to make people think about their financial situation and goals. It featured a state-of-the-art, 54-foot trailer which house a smart, personal digital experience that took people on an interactive finance-related experience. Promotional materials were sent through regional media outlets with the tour also being discussed heavily on social media via relevant hastags. Tags such as #Richmond and call to action messages tailored to trigger a FOMO response such as ‘see you soon.’

Takeaway: This financial services marketing campaign obviously required a considerable budget. While you might not have the money to spend on extensive marketing campaigns, always remember to bring your company to life in an interesting, multi-channel way; a way that your audience can relate to. Short video prompts and reminders about an upcoming product or platform revamp are always a good idea and don’t forget about compeitions and giveaways which will spread brand awareness without looking overly salesly.

• Add a personal touch

A great way to embrace FOMO marketing while making your consumers feel valued is to think of ideas such as on screen notifications tailored to the individual – or market-related text alerts sent according to the consumer’s trading history. To add an extra sense of urgency you could also include comparison and data-related alerts showing information such as how many traders have signed up for free accounts or are taking advantage of ‘special offers.’

FOMO and Compliance

When it comes to FOMO, financial services marketing strategies, compliance still applies. Those all-important rules and regulations will continue to nip at your heels so be sure to abide by advertising laws, GDPR updates, MiFID II guidelines and ESMA regulation changes.

Need help with your financial services marketing? Speak to the Contentworks team today. We have extensive experience working with top finance brands and our team is ready to get your marketing pumping.