Few industries are as well-poised for online growth as banking and finance. Between 2006 and 2011, the five-year growth rate is expected to be 55%.

According to a recent Forrester Report (US Online Banking: Five-Year Forecast), online banking more than doubled between 2001 and 2005, from 18.7 million households to 40.7. This number is expected to nearly double again by 2011, reaching almost 72 million households.

In addition, the highest growth rate will be among the Gen Y (Millennials) segment (136%), followed by Boomers (43%) and Gen-Xers (35%).

What’s the real importance of these statistics? And what do they mean for your financial institution?  

Market Online Now

For starters, the online banking and financial industry is already highly competitive. The search phrase “online banking” returns almost 20 million results in Google. So if you haven’t already implemented a search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing campaign (SEM), now’s the time to get aggressive. Banks that were early adopters of the online channel, like ING Direct, have collected the most in deposits. The institutions performing well online now already have an edge – and if you don’t start soon, your competition will be even harder to catch.

Focus on Your Content

One of the unique challenges commonly faced by the banking and financial industry, especially those with a national footprint, is content.

In order to provide users with appropriate rates and information, your content often needs to be personalized based on geographic location. To achieve this, many times users must enter a zip code before viewing the appropriate content.

Unfortunately, the same technology that creates these wonderful, customized pages of content often blocks the search engine spiders from indexing your content. Of course, you likely don’t want this content available anyway – but the pitfall is that you may not be left with enough solid content to create good search engine rankings.

Target the Growing Markets

Depending on your product offering, it’s likely that your biggest growth potential is among the young Millennials – a generation that’s digitally-sophisticated, well-informed and has higher expectations in terms of your online performance.

And they don’t trust advertising.

According to a recent issue of American Demographics, this generation has been shaped by some rather nasty and transforming national traumas, including the O.J. and Monica scandals, the Columbine school shootings, a presidential election that failed to pick a winner and of course, 9/11.

As a result, they value companies that support good causes (91%) and a sense of community – which makes them a good candidate for interest-certain content.

To attract this diverse group, you have to buy into them and value their unique perspective on life. They believe in living first, and working second. As our most optimistic generation, they believe they can do anything, and be anything they desire.

Before marketing to Millennials, be sure you understand the four areas Gen Y considers before purchasing a product or service:

·       Cheap cost

·       Good quality

·       Fast service

·       An “experience”

And above everything else, Gen Y desires AUTHENTICITY. As the generation that’s seen everything, they know “real” when they see it, and it takes about three seconds for them to pass judgment. You will have to talk with this group, rather than at them, in order to sell to this target audience.

Partner with a Company You Can Trust

Wondering how to create content that engages the right potential customers, converts well, is search-engine friendly, offers general enough information for all potential customers, yet is personal enough to meet individual needs and questions – and will be approved by your legal department?

Rosetta knows.

From online public relations and reputation management to choosing the right keywords for your pages or creating engaging content targeted to a digitally-sophisticated audience, choosing a partner with experience in both online marketing and your industry goes a long way toward your company’s online success – and your bottom line.

Rosetta has a Financial Services vertical that houses experts familiar with your industry. Partnering with us to develop and implement a strategy will not only improve your search engine visibility and rankings, but also improve your conversion rate and branding efforts.

Gain an edge on the competition now. For more information contact us.