BFSI sector and winning with content marketing

Many of us must have seen or heard of the quirky #DancingUncle whose video went viral on social media. Quick to cash on his fame was insurance company Bajaj Allianz, which approached him to do a video called #Lifegoalsdone. And now, when we talk about #DancingUncle, we also talk about how Bajaj Allianz made a smart move in the content game to engage with customers in an otherwise very academic and boring sector.

 The #DancingUncle video:

The banking, financial and insurance sector (BFSI) is a new entrant in the content marketing space. More than any other sector, it is really crucial for the sector to gain consumer trust and to keep that level persistent. In order to sell and inform consumers about their policies in an engaging manner, this sector is now realising howeffectivelycontent marketing works in this realm.

Pankaj Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, HDFC Life, said, “Insurance has always been a low-involvement category; customer understanding is low and largely transactional. So content offers the unique option of creating higher engagement. It makes it easier to explain our offerings to customers and drive awareness, education and brand affinity.”

“While we continue to build awareness at a reasonable pace, we have simultaneously also been sharing a lot of knowledge. Putting out a lot of content that gives values to the customers and empowers them to take the right decision has always been our strategy,” said Aparna Mahesh, Chief Marketing Officer, BankBazaar.

For BankBazaar, content marketing is paramount toits overall marketing strategy. Within a year, the financial brand has created more than 25,000 content pieces across platforms such as SEO, social media, LinkedIn, the blog on the company’s website and publications.They are now exploring all new ways to inform their consumers.

While on the one hand digital is seen as the primary medium for content marketing initiatives, Vidyut Patra, VP, Content Studio, Worldwide Media, on the other hand believes that televisionstill works well for achieving better brand recall.

“Digital is leading the game, but when you are trying to attain higher brand recall, TV works the best. The approach still has to be a mix of all media. Undoubtedly, digital has made it easy as it has become far more informative and interactive. While globally BFSI brands are experimenting with newer formats such as Podcasts, etc to educate and reach out to more consumers; TV still remains extremely relevant.” he said.

When it comes to the better performing formats of content, Kaizad Pardiwalla, President and Chief Operating Officer, The 120 Media Collective, thinks video content works better when it comes to BFSI segment as consumers are now looking for real content.

“It is not about the brand, it is about a story, where the brand comes in as an enabler. So, it is more about real content versus TVC and that’s where the world is moving to every day,” said Pardiwalla.

However, choosing this road is not just all flowery. With the decreasing attention span, how is content marketing informing, engaging, and surpassing all other challenges?

Pardiwalla said, “Primarily, any content has to be engaging. But more importantly, especially for BFSI, it has to be informative. There’s a huge dearth of readily available information that is engaging. It needs to be educative in nature. You need to inform, educate and engage. If you have the right understanding of your consumer, it is not that difficult.”

Sahil Shah, VP, Operations and Media, WatConsult, believes that for BFSI to come up with interesting content was like a blank canvas a few years ago, but with increasing competition and bare minimum difference, the category is trying hard to break the clutter.

“For making interesting content that keeps consumer attention intact, one must have the right context for the content. Everything else will follow if the context is in place. The biggest challenge, in this sector, is of breaking the clutter as most BFSI brands have to talk similar product stories. It’s the approach, format and context you take that makes a difference while planning content for BFSI brands.BFSI is a 100% boring category, but it targets B2C audiences. Thus, they have to innovate far more than other brands in different sectors,” he said.

In order to inform their consumers in an interesting way, brands are moving on to accept more mediums. Earlier, Quora was a platform used by inquisitive souls and now, with growing needoftransparency among consumers, more people are exploring this medium. Therefore, Quora comes in handy for brands to build the desirable image.

“Quora is getting more and more relevant today as more people are joining Quora and it gives you an honest review, feedback, and point of view. A business should have an account on Quora and especially the BFSI sector because honesty, integrity and credibility are so important and a brand should have a definitive Quora strategy in their content marketing,” said Pardiwalla.