Trust Transaction - How Content Can Transform the Way Banks Connect With People

© 2014 NewsCred 1

The Trust Transaction

The Trust Transaction: How Content Can Transform the Way Banks Connect With People

© 2014 NewsCred / NewsCred.com / (212) 989-4100 / [email protected]

© 2014 NewsCred 2


© 2014 NewsCred 3


01 Introduction & Methodology

02 The Results:• Trust and Loyalty – How Content Can Transform Perceptions of Banks

• Consumers are Open to Content – When Done Right, it Drives Real Business Impact

• Socially Savvy – Who’s Engaging and on What Platforms?

• Building Trust – Who Consumers Depend on for Financial Advice

• Beyond Financial Services – How to Get Creative with Non-finance Content

• Millennials – The Most Highly Engaged Audience

• Fixing the Gaps – Where Financial Services May Be Missing Opportunities

05 About NewsCred

03 Case Studies

04 Conclusion

Table of Contents

© 2014 NewsCred 4

01 Introduction & MethodologyThe Trust Transaction

Introduction

Content marketing is no longer a buzzword -

instead firmly earning its place within the modern

marketer’s toolkit – but many are still puzzled by

how they can measure its value. NewsCred’s 2014

quantitative study, The Trust Transaction, offers

resounding support for the value of content, and

the tangible effect it can have on the financial

services industry.

NewsCred’s study reveals some important findings:

1/3 of people surveyed don’t trust their own bank,

yet half say they trust them more when they offer

helpful content.

50% of respondents also say offering helpful,

useful content delays their desire to switch banks,

demonstrating that the impact of content on

customer perceptions and behaviour should not be

underestimated.

Read on to dig into the full findings and learn about

the opportunities and gaps for content marketing in

the financial services industry...

© 2014 NewsCred 5

01 Introduction & MethodologyThe Trust Transaction

Methodology

NewsCred’s survey was conducted among 1,001 adults by Redshift Research in August 2014.

The sample was selected from Redshift’s Crowdology and Crowdology partner panels, which are

balanced across regional, age, and gender demographic factors. Each respondent completes 120

profiling questions before being accepted to join the panel. Panel quality management is carried

out frequently to ensure reliable surveys.

© 2014 NewsCred 6

02 ResultsThe Trust Transaction

Results

Trust and Loyalty How Content Can Transform Perceptions of Banks

Issues with trust and loyalty are pervasive across

the financial services industry, as confirmed in our

consumer survey, with a third of respondents not

trusting their own bank.

Yet our results show that content has a clear impact

on trust, loyalty and engagement and that there

is an opportunity for financial services to change

public perceptions through the strategic, targeted

use of content. More than half of respondents say

they trust a bank more when it offers them helpful,

useful content. Half also affirm that high quality

content makes them more likely to stay loyal to

their bank.

More than a third say they would spend longer on

their bank’s website if they provided interesting

articles – showing an opportunity to increase

dwell time and repeat visits through strategically

deployed content.

Despite this appetite for content, it appears

that financial services are largely not known for

producing it at a high level of quality – just 20%

of respondents agree that their bank writes and

posts interesting articles on financial matters and

products.

How easy content is to access also plays a strong

part in whether people find it useful or not. Email

newsletters fare reasonably well, with 42% saying

they think the emails sent by their bank are useful.

Apps resonate as useful with 32% of people,

and are considered more favourable than text

messages, with 28% agreeing these are helpful.

The difference between men and women is notable

here, with 32% of men saying text messages are

useful compared with 50% of women.

wre

would likely stay loyal to a bank that provided high

quality content

would trust a bank more if they received helpful,

unbiased content from them

55% 50% 46%

say they expect their bank to provide helpful personal

finance articles

© 2014 NewsCred 7


Consumers are Open to Content When Done Right, it Drives Real Business Impact

Banks that deliver excellent content are already

seeing a return on investment, with 31% of

respondents saying they have signed up to new

products and services based on useful content

from their bank.

People frequently look to content to understand

their finances and banks have a role to play in

guiding them in making important decisions.

Of the respondents, 58% say personal finance

content helps them make decisions and 57%

say communication from a bank can help them

understand which products are most beneficial.

But just how often are people looking for personal

finance content? The most common frequency

is a couple of times a week, as voted by 28% of

respondents. This indexes more highly for men,

34% of whom say they read personal finance

content a couple of times a week compared with

21% of women.

This is more common still among the over 66 age

group, 49% of whom read personal finance content

a couple of times a week. While 18 to 24 year olds

are the most digitally engaged, they read these

kinds of articles notably less often: a quarter say

they only read personal finance articles a few times

a year, and 24% say they never read them.

At least once a day (7%)

A couple of times a week (28%)

Monthly (20%)

Only a few times a year (19%)

Once a year or less (8%)

Never (18%)

© 2014 NewsCred 8


Socially Savvy Who’s Engaging and on What Platforms?

The survey results show the British public desires

financial content from banks, but this sentiment

does not convert when it comes to engagement on

social media. An overwhelming majority - 84% - say

they don’t engage with their bank on any social

media and just 9% say they like what their bank

posts on social media.

But, financial services could more than double their

social media engagement by boosting their content

efforts, as 19% of respondents say they’d share

interesting articles from their bank with family and

friends on social media if it was available.

For the majority of people (75%), primary digital

face time with their bank takes place through the

bank’s website. Interaction on other channels is

notably lower: apps 22%, email newsletter 15%, text

message 12%, articles about the bank on third party

sites 8%, social media 3%, corporate blogs 1%, or

none of the above 15%.

Of those that do interact with their bank on social

media, Facebook is the most common platform

(11%). This would suggest that banks are perhaps

largely still not comfortable with using a range of

social channels to drive engagement, as responses

to other platforms are very low (Twitter 5%, YouTube

3%, LinkedIn 2%, Instagram 2%, and Pinterest 1%).

19%of respondents say they’d share interesting articles from their bank with family and friends on social media if it was available.

© 2014 NewsCred 9


Building Trust Who Consumers Depend on for Financial Advice

If financial services are going to meet the demand

for content head-on, they need to develop and

carefully execute content marketing strategies, and

recruit a credible team of editorially skilled writers

and managers. Our results show there is little

interest in articles being written by representatives

of the bank – just 20% of respondents say they

would trust these, highlighting the need to invest in

editorial talent.

Despite not trusting authors who are bank

representatives, a bank’s own website is still

deemed an appropriate place for finance content

to be housed. Consumers trust articles on finance

that appear on a bank’s own website more than

those that appear in tabloid newspapers, with 43%

saying so compared with 27%. Interestingly, more

consumers (57%) trust finance articles that appear

on specific financial websites such as Money

Supermarket than those that appear in broadsheet

newspapers (48%).

Finance journalists and independent finance

experts are naturally more trusted as authors of

finance content than general journalists, with 53%

and 54% respectively saying so.

Working with bloggers has proven successful for

many brands. Our survey results indicate there is

a greater appetite for finance content produced by

independent bloggers (23%) than that featured on

popular blogs (19%) or even content produced by

bloggers directly working with financial services

(15%). However, banks can embrace working with

bloggers by harnessing their connection to lifestyle

topics outside banking - see First Direct’s case

study on page 14, as well as our stats on lifestyle

content the British public are interested in seeing

from their bank, on page 16.

trust articles on finance written by journalists who

are experts in finance

53%trust articles on finance that appear on a bank’s own website

43%

© 2014 NewsCred 10


Beyond Financial Services How to Get Creative with Non-Finance Content

Quality content will be the new beacon that helps

a bank stand out from the competition, and the test

for content marketers will be how creative they can

get. It may be tempting to stay within the comfort

zone of finance-related content – it is, of course,

the subject banks know best – but those who dare

to delve outside this realm are the ones that stand

the best chance of creating something unique and

memorable to consumers.

Indeed, our results show there’s no reason banks

need to focus solely on personal finance content

as there is a demand from consumers for quality

special-interest content from their banks. By

associating themselves with lifestyle topics - and

the money people spend on the things they love

- banks can build instant affinity and interest from

the beginning of their relationship with a consumer

and over the relationship’s lifetime.

According to our survey, the top five types of

non-finance content people would like to see from

their banks are: travel and holiday information

(28%), local area information (26%), retirement

guides (25%), tech and gadget guides (24%), and

life stage information (20%).

And banks don’t have to make a huge investment

to distribute this content – when asked about

preferred content formats, 25% say they’d most

welcome non-finance content on a bank’s website

and 23% say they’d most like to see it in an email.say they’d most welcome non-finance content on a

bank’s website

25%say they’d most like to see

it in an email

23%

© 2014 NewsCred 11


Millennials The Most Highly Engaged Audience

Millennials: is there a demographic that the media

loves to talk about more? Or one that stands to

have a more profound effect on brands, particularly

banks. Our survey reveals that 18 to 24 year olds

are the most trusting and loyal demographic

when it comes to attitudes towards banks and the

potential for engaging with content.

While many of the stats below have already been

explored in previous sections of this report,

zooming in specifically on Millennials’ attitudes to

banks and content provides some detailed insights

into how this demographic differs from the average

– and how banks can use these insights to get

closer to them.

Perhaps less surprising is the high level of digital

engagement that our 18 to 24 year old survey

respondents show; but this is more good news

for banks, as it shows that social opportunities are

there for the taking.

Eighteen to 24 year olds are the most likely of all

age groups to engage with their bank on Facebook

- 25% of them say they do this, compared with the

survey average of just 11%. Thirty-seven percent

say they’d be inclined to share interesting articles

from their bank on social media, nearly double the

survey average response. EIghteen to 24 year olds

are also the most likely to engage with their banks

via app (56%) or text message (50%).

But while 18 to 24 year olds are the most socially

engaged demographic, they read personal finance

articles notably less often than all others. A quarter

said they only read personal finance articles a few

times a year, and nearly as many said they never

read them at all.

Yet our results show that 18 to 24 year olds are the

demographic most interested in seeing non-finance

related content from their banks, specifically about

travel, careers, their local area, music, technology

and gadget guides, recipes, health, and fashion

and beauty:

66% of 18 to 24 year olds then say that they trust a bank more when it o�ers them helpful, useful content, significantly higher than the survey average of 56%

81% of 18 to 24 year olds in our survey say they trust their bank, compared

with the average response of 67%

81% 66% 59%

Over half of 18 to 24 year olds (59%) say they’d spend longer on their bank’s website if they provided interesting articles, compared with the average of

36%

© 2014 NewsCred 12


Millennials The Most Highly Engaged Audience

In Millennials, our study shows that financial services have a positive, eager audience, keen to interact, but

only if the content fits in with their lives. Whether it’s through a combination of creating original content,

licensing relevant content or working with an agency, thinking outside the box – and outside their industry

comfort zone – is evidently crucial for banks when it comes to reaching and retaining Millennials.

Travel & Holiday Information

Careers Information & Advice

Local Area Information

Music News & Articles

Tech & Gadget Guides

Recipes

Health

Fashion & Beauty

18 - 24

Average

© 2014 NewsCred 13


Fixing the Gaps Where Financial Services May Be Missing Opportunities

There are typical content traps that financial

services can fall into that cause consumers to

simply switch off. The top four as revealed by our

survey are: being too sales-oriented (19%), boring

(18%), long (12%), or hard to understand (11%).

Perhaps the biggest content faux pas of all is not

providing content. Forty-six percent of respondents

say they expect their bank to provide helpful

personal finance articles. Ten percent say they

don’t expect it, but wish their bank provided it.

19%TOO SALES-ORIENTED

18%TOO BORING

12%TOO LONG

19%HARD TO UNDERSTAND

© 2014 NewsCred 14

03 Case StudiesThe Trust Transaction

Santander

Branded content doesn’t necessarily have to mean

producing and distributing your own content from

scratch at great expense – many great content

marketing strategies depend just as much on

licensing content or working in partnership with

publishers to be successful without overburdening

your internal team.

Santander took the latter approach with the launch

of their ‘Successful Modern Entrepreneurship’

campaign last year, working with The Times to

reach small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in

the UK with helpful tips, news, and case studies,

as showcased on the SME Hub. Santander chose

one of the oldest and most prestigious newspaper

brands in England to partner with, reinforcing their

own expertise and authority when it comes to

helping SMEs with their financial demands.

The partnership kicked off with a four-page

supplement in the national newspaper last October,

and has continued with further supplements, all

featuring contributions from business experts

ranging from Dragon Den’s James Caan to Times

writers such as business features editor Carol Lewis.

Santander didn’t stop there, however: they brought

their print content to life with an online hub

(featuring blogs, videos, and live Q&As) as well as

a series of events, including The Times’ inaugural

SME Summit. This variety of channels not only

allowed Santander to stay front-of-mind with their

target audience, no matter where they might be, it

also provided the bank the opportunity to speak

in-depth about the wide array of issues affecting

SMEs.

The partnership has even benefited The Times,

who wanted to be seen as a go-to news resource

for small businesses and entrepreneurs, making it a

win all round.

Case Studies

© 2014 NewsCred 15


Barclays Digital Eagles

Queuing in line at the bank to make a payment is

increasingly being replaced by online transactions,

but these technological changes can be daunting

for some customers who are less familiar with the

digital world. Barclays decided to go the extra mile

to encourage their less Internet-savvy customers

to get online by providing them the tools – and the

confidence – to do so.

The Digital Eagles programme launched last year,

and has grown significantly as Barclays invested in

training thousands of its own employees with the

skills and knowledge to help customers – and the

general public – to get online and become digitally

active.

Aside from their free in-store ‘Tea & Teach’

sessions, Barclays also offers the same advice in a

variety of how-to videos and detailed guides that

range from general topics (eg: ‘How to keep your

computer free of viruses’) to Barclays-specific ones

(‘How to set up the Barclays Mobile App’).

But instead of just limiting themselves to these

straightforward guides, Barclays has also used a

human touch to get their message across. Their

YouTube channel features videos such as that of

the over-50 ‘Walking Football’ league that wanted

to learn how to promote their group online, and

senior citizens Kent and Val learning how to Skype,

which have both attracted thousands of views

and served as the foundation of the bank’s TV

campaign.

Digital Eagles is all part of a larger push by

the bank to provide better in-branch services-

including the roll-out of 10,000 iPads in stores, and

technology to allow deaf customers to video chat

through a sign language specialist.

By bringing this same focus on increased customer

service to their online content, Barclays has

ensured not only that their online banking services

are the best they can be, but are also actually

being used by the people they were designed for.

© 2014 NewsCred 16


Royal Bank of Scotland

Before content marketing became a buzzword,

many brands had already developed their own

magazines to promote sales and loyalty against

editorial articles. Royal Bank of Scotland honed in

on their strengths by developing ‘Business Sense’

in 2007, a magazine aimed at SMEs in the UK that

offered advice and insight – written by business

people, for business people.

While ‘Business Sense’ began as a print magazine,

RBS was quick to evolve this into a digital offering.

Working with John Brown Media, RBS successfully

transformed their print title into an online hub with

articles, videos, and briefings, all updated on a

daily basis in short doses of shareable content

designed with the busy start-up founder or small

business owner in mind.

The bank hasn’t abandoned print entirely, however:

RBS also runs a print title, ‘Business Agenda,’

aimed at the corporate world and sent directly

to CEOs, MDs, and board members. ‘Business

Agenda’ is only published three times a year, in a

clear move for quality over quantity – the glossy

mag highlights their profiles of leading industry

figures with covers worthy of Forbes or Time. These

interviews are also available online, but it’s clear

the main appeal of this award-winning magazine is

its high-quality print presentation.

Like most large banks, RBS caters to a wide array of

customers within the industry alone, and designed

their two titles with this in mind. ‘Business Sense’

and ‘Business Agenda’ prove that when it comes to

content, one size doesn’t necessarily fit all.

© 2014 NewsCred 17


First Direct

Buying your first home is as intimidating as it is

exciting for many people, especially when it comes

to the financial aspect. In true First Direct fashion,

however, this disruptive bank went in the complete

opposite direction with their own home ownership

campaign in 2013. First Direct’s #myfirsthome

campaign focussed on one of the best parts of

buying a new home: putting your own unique

stamp on it by decorating it in any way you like.

First Direct asked three interior design bloggers

- Dear Designer, Patchwork Harmony, and The

Treasure Hunter - for their tips on decorating your

first home, and then filmed them putting these tips

into action in a short, upbeat video.

The bloggers made sure to stick to the theme

of first homes by showcasing budget conscious

decorating tips like framing wallpaper for artwork

and spray-painting furniture bright colours. It

doesn’t hurt that these tips can be easily applied

to anyone on a budget, whether they actually own

their own home or are just hoping to one day.

First Direct partnered with blogger Dear Designer

again this year, launching a competition to uncover

an ‘Unexpected Interior Designer’ to design the

First Direct Arena Bar in Yorkshire. This campaign

continues with the same quirky, cheery tone,

emphasising just how different this bank is from the

old guard by living up to its core brand value of ‘the

unexpected bank.’

© 2014 NewsCred 18


HSBC

Each summer, every High Street bank competes

relentlessly to reach young students on their way to

university and provide their first bank account. This

is with good reason – research has shown that Brits

are more likely to get divorced than change their

bank accounts. Reaching these young consumers

early is the key to lifetime relationships and repeat

business, and from the amount of advertising and

marketing aimed at this demographic, it’s clear

every bank knows that.

HSBC, however, cut through the noise about

competitive interest rates and stalls at Fresher’s

Week this year with a series of compelling short

films. Produced in collaboration with We Are

Social, TMW, and Mindshare, these four short

documentaries focus on four unique individuals,

like Jethro Binns, a former pro squash player who

started an online squash training portal after an

injury ended his career.

Instead of talking about the benefits of an HSBC

account – or even mentioning the bank’s name

– Binns and the other young documentary stars

focus on the way their time at university shaped

their future careers and lives, often in unexpected

ways.

At less than two minutes each, they’re designed

to be shared across the social channels young

people already engage with every day, but HSBC

didn’t stop there. They also planned a competition

for students that asked them to upload their own

‘future selfies,’ coinciding with the release of

A-levels results. The most inspiring or enterprising

ideas and ambitions will win students a prize to

help them meet these goals. Across the whole

campaign, the key aim is for the bank to let

students know that no matter what their future

selves end up doing, HSBC can help them realise

these dreams.

© 2014 NewsCred 19

04 ConclusionThe Trust Transaction

Conclusion

Our survey results show an opportunity for financial

services to build trust and loyalty through content

marketing - if they make the right investments.

The public doesn’t trust just anyone when it

comes to financial content, so banks need to think

carefully about how they build their editorial and

content strategies, using the right teams, tools, and

insight to make an impact on their target audience.

The rewards are already starting to pay off for

banks that are investing in content through

increased conversion, retention, trust, and loyalty.

Banks play a major role in significant life milestones

for their customers and they can have a greater

impact by providing accessible, digestible content

in the right places.

As our results show, consumers don’t just rely on

this - they are demanding it - and banks are being

judged by the quality of content they deliver.

© 2014 NewsCred 20

05 About NewsCredThe Trust Transaction

About NewsCred

NewsCred is the leading content marketing

platform. Pairing cutting-edge software with world-

class content, NewsCred transforms brands into

storytellers.

NewsCred’s Content Marketing Cloud© provides

the easiest end-to-end solution for content

planning, creation, publishing, and analytics. In

one place, brands gain unprecedented access to

the world’s largest content marketplace, including

licensed content from over 4,000 publishers and

original content from NewsCred’s award-winning

journalist network.

Through NewsCred, global brands like Pepsi, P&G,

Dell, General Electric, and AIG have seen explosive

growth in social sharing, engagement, and lead

generation.

Founded in 2008 by Shafqat Islam, Iraj Islam, and

Asif Rahman, NewsCred has offices in New York,

London, and Dhaka and is backed by FirstMark

Capital, Mayfield Fund, IA Ventures, Greycroft

Partners, and others.

Learn more at newscred.com and follow us on

Twitter @newscred.

© 2014 NewsCred 21

05 About NewsCredThe Trust Transaction

© 2014 NewsCred / NewsCred.com / (212) 989-4100 / [email protected]