Finance content marketing trends to watch in 2020

2019 brought us the rise of podcasts, micro-influencers and personalisation. In 2020, they’re here to stay — and several new finance content marketing trends will join them. 

Many are global, but some will impact your local market more than others, so keep an eye on your neighbours. Here’s what to expect from finance content marketing in Australia, the US and the UK. 

Australia: finance content marketing trend #1 — total transparency 

2019 didn’t start easily for finance content in Australia, following the publication of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry final report on February 1st. 

Australia’s biggest financial institutions were found to have behaved badly, resulting in a call from consumers for total transparency in finance brand content and communications. They’re less interested in marketing speak and more interested in knowing their finance brands — warts and all. 

For AMP, this meant 'announcing a new strategy', dedicated to ‘changing and improving’, in August 2019. It went straight to the heart of the bank’s problem, by providing free financial advice — largely via finance content marketing, from blog posts on topics like the current property market to bite-sized video explainers of concepts like estate planning and super contributions, starring former triple j presenter Adam Spencer. 

Australia: finance content marketing trend #2 — going green

Following seven years of drought and a national bushfire emergency, Australian investors are keen to support finance brands that support the environment. In October 2019, three major banks faced shareholder resolutions on climate action.

Bank Australia, which has operated carbon neutrally since 2011, is a trend setter, with its dedication to eco-friendly finance content, from blog posts like ‘Clean energy home inspiration’ and ‘Set and forget: these ethical subscriptions are game-changing’ to confronting out of home ads that ask passersby, ‘Is your money funding the climate crisis?’. 

This finance content marketing strategy is working: in the 2018-19 financial year, Bank Australia gained 19,000 new customers, while its assets grew 12% to $6.3 billion. 

US: finance content marketing trend #3 — data-driven 

‘Our clients expect the highest quality data and authoritative insights, followed by intelligent discussion and analysis,’ Ben Plomion, of LA-based artificial intelligence company Gum Gum, told the Content Marketing Institute. 

Want to get attention in 2020? Assertions won’t be enough. You need hard data -- presented beautifully. Think infographics, graphs, visualisations, games, apps and more. And any old ordinary data won’t do. It must startle, shock and amaze. 

For inspiration, check out MD Financial’s Medical School calculator, JPMorgan’s interactive visualisations, or the Federal Reserve’s national maps of household debt.  

US: finance content marketing tip #4 -- original research

Just as extraordinary data can cut through the noise of the 2020 Internet, so too can enlightening research. 

Releasing original research is like breaking news – as the first one to it, you have the best chance of attracting traffic. Plus, it’s a way of getting into major media outlets. 

A select bunch of finance brands are already onto this content marketing trend. Take a look at Deloitte’s annual Back to School Survey, Prudential’s Financial Wellness Census and EY’s many epic studies, including the 2019 Global Wealth Management Research Report. 

Our tip: give your research an edge that suits your brand by choosing a niche area or unusual angle. 

UK: finance content marketing trend #5 — a brave new world

As of February 8, 2020, the UK is no longer a member of the EU. Whether your customers are Brexiteers or not, your finance content marketing should do everything it can to address the change. 

After all, finance content the world over has moved towards educating customers. So, a change as momentous as Brexit provides an excellent opportunity. Some finance brands have already jumped onto this, like the Bank of Scotland, with its ‘Brexit questions and answers’ hub, HSBC with its guide to preparing for Brexit and Barclays, with its regularly updated tips.

UK: finance content marketing trend #6 — relatable and accessible

The days of the stiff upper lip are numbered – for banks, anyway. In 2019, the fastest growing bank in the UK (in terms of customer acquisition) was neobank Monzo. The key to its success? Relatability and accessibility – powered by financial content marketing. 

That begins with Monzo’s slogan: ‘Monzo is a bank that makes life easier, not harder’. And its finance content delivers on the promise, from interactive challenges that show millennials how to save by putting away just 1p per day, to blog posts titled ‘how to get out of debt’.

Fellow challenger bank Starling invites the UK to ‘feel good about money’. And its finance content marketing follows up, with online ‘travel money diaries’, Q and As with ‘money agony aunt’ Rosie and educational YouTube videos on topics such as ‘how to bank and save’. 

In November 2019, Starling hit one million accounts – up from 385,000 in November 2018, so it’s accessible, relatable approach is definitely appealing.