7 Marketing Trends to Watch out for in 2015
- Change is the only constant. And with the new year upon us, it’s time to think about some of the trends.

Change is the only constant. And with the new year upon us, it’s a good time to think about some of the trends and areas of focus that brokers and technology providers should consider as they plan their marketing for the rest of the year. So without further ado, how will marketing be different in 2015?
1. Companies become publishers
PR is Dead, Long Live PR. As PR in the traditional sense has stopped working as well, brokers are realizing that in order to get in front of the right audience they need to become Thought Leaders. Getting in front of your target audience with the right message at the right time is great for Acquisition Acquisition Acquisition means acquiring or taking possession or the securing of property, services, or abilities. To put it simply, it is the act or process of acquiring or gaining. You can acquire a work of art, you can acquire an ability such as speaking another language, you can acquire a business or shares in a company and you can acquire an accountant's service. For example, you can acquire a new car. In a broad sense, Acquisition can mean the act of taking ownership or possession of something. There are many ways to acquire or to take the acquisition of property and services. How Companies Utilize AcquisitionsIn finance, the term acquisition is most often used when referring to taking control of a company. An acquisition can be either an agreed deal or a hostile takeover. Companies also may acquire units of a company, property, or other assets. An acquisition is when one business, person, or company purchases most if not of another company's shares to gain control of that company. Buying more than 50% of a target firm's stock and other assets allows the acquirer to make decisions about the newly acquired assets without the approval of the company's shareholders. In finance, there are several types of acquisitions that one speaks of when referring to Acquisitions and Mergers. A horizontal acquisition is when two companies come together with similar products/services. Conversely, a vertical acquisition means two companies join forces in the same industry, but they are at different points on the supply chain.Moreover, a conglomerate represents two companies in different industries join forces, or one takes over the other to broaden their range of services and products. Finally, a concentric acquisition occurs when companies will share customers but provide different services. Acquisition means acquiring or taking possession or the securing of property, services, or abilities. To put it simply, it is the act or process of acquiring or gaining. You can acquire a work of art, you can acquire an ability such as speaking another language, you can acquire a business or shares in a company and you can acquire an accountant's service. For example, you can acquire a new car. In a broad sense, Acquisition can mean the act of taking ownership or possession of something. There are many ways to acquire or to take the acquisition of property and services. How Companies Utilize AcquisitionsIn finance, the term acquisition is most often used when referring to taking control of a company. An acquisition can be either an agreed deal or a hostile takeover. Companies also may acquire units of a company, property, or other assets. An acquisition is when one business, person, or company purchases most if not of another company's shares to gain control of that company. Buying more than 50% of a target firm's stock and other assets allows the acquirer to make decisions about the newly acquired assets without the approval of the company's shareholders. In finance, there are several types of acquisitions that one speaks of when referring to Acquisitions and Mergers. A horizontal acquisition is when two companies come together with similar products/services. Conversely, a vertical acquisition means two companies join forces in the same industry, but they are at different points on the supply chain.Moreover, a conglomerate represents two companies in different industries join forces, or one takes over the other to broaden their range of services and products. Finally, a concentric acquisition occurs when companies will share customers but provide different services. Read this Term purposes but much more than that, it allows any financial services company to get the brand awareness and associations needed to secure business in today’s trust-driven market.
2. Marketers will focus more on LTV
What is the Life Time Value of a client and how do we optimize it? That is a deceivingly simple question which requires a more detailed qualification. Because what a simple average doesn’t tell you is what the value of an individual client is or what it will be over time. We also need to know which marketing sources drive the highest LTV clients or what the impact of the various stages of the client lifecycle is on the value. So in 2015, financial services companies will start putting in place the systems and people to measure and optimize this; Marketing attribution, demand generation, web Analytics Analytics Analytics may be defined as the detection, analysis, and relay of consequential patterns in data. Analytics also seeks to explain or accurately reflect the relationship between data and effective decision making. In the trading space, analytics are applied in a predictive manner in an attempt to more accurately forecast the price. This predictive model of analytics generally involves the analysis of historical price patterns that are used in an attempt to determine certain price outcomes. Analytics may also be structured with a descriptive model, where readers attempt to draw a correlation and better understanding as to how and why traders react to a particular set of variables. Traders sometimes implement technical indicators such as moving averages, Bollinger Bands, and breakpoints which are built upon historical data and are used to predict future price movements. How Analytics Relates to Algo TradingAnalytics are relied upon in the concept of algorithmic trading where software is programmed to autonomously signal and/or execute buy and sell orders based upon a series of predetermined factors. In the institutional space, Algo-trading has become vastly competitive over the years as trading institutions seek to outperform competitors through automated systems and the virtual application of trading strategies.The digestion and computation of analytics are also seen in the emerging field of high-frequency trading, where supercomputers are used to analyze multiple markets simultaneously to make near-instantaneous automated trading decisions. Platforms that support HFT have the capability to significantly outperform human traders.This is due to the innate ability to be able to comprehensively analyze big data sets while taking under do consideration an innumerable sum of factors that humans are incapable of comprehending in such speed. Additionally, analytics are seen with backtesting. Backtesting is used by traders to test the consistency and effectiveness of trading strategies and software-based trading solutions against historical price data. Backtesting also serves as an ideal playground for the further development of high-frequency trading as well as evaluating the performance of manual or automated trades. Analytics will continue to have an increasingly significant role in trading as emerging technologies and the advancement of trading applications progress beyond human capability. Analytics may be defined as the detection, analysis, and relay of consequential patterns in data. Analytics also seeks to explain or accurately reflect the relationship between data and effective decision making. In the trading space, analytics are applied in a predictive manner in an attempt to more accurately forecast the price. This predictive model of analytics generally involves the analysis of historical price patterns that are used in an attempt to determine certain price outcomes. Analytics may also be structured with a descriptive model, where readers attempt to draw a correlation and better understanding as to how and why traders react to a particular set of variables. Traders sometimes implement technical indicators such as moving averages, Bollinger Bands, and breakpoints which are built upon historical data and are used to predict future price movements. How Analytics Relates to Algo TradingAnalytics are relied upon in the concept of algorithmic trading where software is programmed to autonomously signal and/or execute buy and sell orders based upon a series of predetermined factors. In the institutional space, Algo-trading has become vastly competitive over the years as trading institutions seek to outperform competitors through automated systems and the virtual application of trading strategies.The digestion and computation of analytics are also seen in the emerging field of high-frequency trading, where supercomputers are used to analyze multiple markets simultaneously to make near-instantaneous automated trading decisions. Platforms that support HFT have the capability to significantly outperform human traders.This is due to the innate ability to be able to comprehensively analyze big data sets while taking under do consideration an innumerable sum of factors that humans are incapable of comprehending in such speed. Additionally, analytics are seen with backtesting. Backtesting is used by traders to test the consistency and effectiveness of trading strategies and software-based trading solutions against historical price data. Backtesting also serves as an ideal playground for the further development of high-frequency trading as well as evaluating the performance of manual or automated trades. Analytics will continue to have an increasingly significant role in trading as emerging technologies and the advancement of trading applications progress beyond human capability. Read this Term, CRM systems, back office – all will be looked at and integrated in order to serve the goal of full insight and optimization.
3. Cross channel becomes real
With a fragmentation of media consumption across mobile, tablet, desktop, TV, print media and other channels comes the need to target your audience, wherever they are. But how do you measure the impact across channels? How do you make sure you are, in effect, not spending twice on the same client? What is the best way to divide your marketing expenditure? Through the use of improved measurement systems and attribution algorithms companies will be able to answer these questions at a lower cost than ever before in 2015.
4. Focusing on mobile experiences
While it’s no longer considered news that the mobile channel is getting more and more important, financial services companies have a long way to go in order to provide an optimal mobile experience for their clients and prospects. This year, all the tools are available at a low enough cost to be able to provide a quality advertising, website, signup and product usage experience on mobile devices.
5. Sales and marketing integration
With a focus on LTV comes accountability for the marketing team not just to drive clients but to drive revenue. This can only be achieved through a closer cooperation with the sales team and their CRM infrastructure. Besides, marketing communication is written salesmanship, so there is a lot to learn from sales people that speak to clients each and every day to try and convince them of the merits of your company.
6. Employing new advertising methods
As digital marketing is becoming more and more mature, marketers in the financial services sector will widely start to employ programmatic advertising as a way to drive additional growth. Think RTB display advertising but also, in some markets, programmatic buying of TV and outdoor. Besides RTB, we see email marketing making a big comeback, along with native mobile advertising as brokers focus on better mobile experiences. Lastly, with companies becoming publishers (see above!), we see increasing use of content promotion as an indirect way of gaining a new audience.
7. Segmentation and differentiation
With an increasingly competitive field, lower spreads and customers becoming ever more demanding, comes the need to segment the market and differentiate brands to fit niche target audiences. This will be the year in which niche brokers start to grow and larger brokers build diversified brands as a response.
Change is the only constant. And with the new year upon us, it’s a good time to think about some of the trends and areas of focus that brokers and technology providers should consider as they plan their marketing for the rest of the year. So without further ado, how will marketing be different in 2015?
1. Companies become publishers
PR is Dead, Long Live PR. As PR in the traditional sense has stopped working as well, brokers are realizing that in order to get in front of the right audience they need to become Thought Leaders. Getting in front of your target audience with the right message at the right time is great for Acquisition Acquisition Acquisition means acquiring or taking possession or the securing of property, services, or abilities. To put it simply, it is the act or process of acquiring or gaining. You can acquire a work of art, you can acquire an ability such as speaking another language, you can acquire a business or shares in a company and you can acquire an accountant's service. For example, you can acquire a new car. In a broad sense, Acquisition can mean the act of taking ownership or possession of something. There are many ways to acquire or to take the acquisition of property and services. How Companies Utilize AcquisitionsIn finance, the term acquisition is most often used when referring to taking control of a company. An acquisition can be either an agreed deal or a hostile takeover. Companies also may acquire units of a company, property, or other assets. An acquisition is when one business, person, or company purchases most if not of another company's shares to gain control of that company. Buying more than 50% of a target firm's stock and other assets allows the acquirer to make decisions about the newly acquired assets without the approval of the company's shareholders. In finance, there are several types of acquisitions that one speaks of when referring to Acquisitions and Mergers. A horizontal acquisition is when two companies come together with similar products/services. Conversely, a vertical acquisition means two companies join forces in the same industry, but they are at different points on the supply chain.Moreover, a conglomerate represents two companies in different industries join forces, or one takes over the other to broaden their range of services and products. Finally, a concentric acquisition occurs when companies will share customers but provide different services. Acquisition means acquiring or taking possession or the securing of property, services, or abilities. To put it simply, it is the act or process of acquiring or gaining. You can acquire a work of art, you can acquire an ability such as speaking another language, you can acquire a business or shares in a company and you can acquire an accountant's service. For example, you can acquire a new car. In a broad sense, Acquisition can mean the act of taking ownership or possession of something. There are many ways to acquire or to take the acquisition of property and services. How Companies Utilize AcquisitionsIn finance, the term acquisition is most often used when referring to taking control of a company. An acquisition can be either an agreed deal or a hostile takeover. Companies also may acquire units of a company, property, or other assets. An acquisition is when one business, person, or company purchases most if not of another company's shares to gain control of that company. Buying more than 50% of a target firm's stock and other assets allows the acquirer to make decisions about the newly acquired assets without the approval of the company's shareholders. In finance, there are several types of acquisitions that one speaks of when referring to Acquisitions and Mergers. A horizontal acquisition is when two companies come together with similar products/services. Conversely, a vertical acquisition means two companies join forces in the same industry, but they are at different points on the supply chain.Moreover, a conglomerate represents two companies in different industries join forces, or one takes over the other to broaden their range of services and products. Finally, a concentric acquisition occurs when companies will share customers but provide different services. Read this Term purposes but much more than that, it allows any financial services company to get the brand awareness and associations needed to secure business in today’s trust-driven market.
2. Marketers will focus more on LTV
What is the Life Time Value of a client and how do we optimize it? That is a deceivingly simple question which requires a more detailed qualification. Because what a simple average doesn’t tell you is what the value of an individual client is or what it will be over time. We also need to know which marketing sources drive the highest LTV clients or what the impact of the various stages of the client lifecycle is on the value. So in 2015, financial services companies will start putting in place the systems and people to measure and optimize this; Marketing attribution, demand generation, web Analytics Analytics Analytics may be defined as the detection, analysis, and relay of consequential patterns in data. Analytics also seeks to explain or accurately reflect the relationship between data and effective decision making. In the trading space, analytics are applied in a predictive manner in an attempt to more accurately forecast the price. This predictive model of analytics generally involves the analysis of historical price patterns that are used in an attempt to determine certain price outcomes. Analytics may also be structured with a descriptive model, where readers attempt to draw a correlation and better understanding as to how and why traders react to a particular set of variables. Traders sometimes implement technical indicators such as moving averages, Bollinger Bands, and breakpoints which are built upon historical data and are used to predict future price movements. How Analytics Relates to Algo TradingAnalytics are relied upon in the concept of algorithmic trading where software is programmed to autonomously signal and/or execute buy and sell orders based upon a series of predetermined factors. In the institutional space, Algo-trading has become vastly competitive over the years as trading institutions seek to outperform competitors through automated systems and the virtual application of trading strategies.The digestion and computation of analytics are also seen in the emerging field of high-frequency trading, where supercomputers are used to analyze multiple markets simultaneously to make near-instantaneous automated trading decisions. Platforms that support HFT have the capability to significantly outperform human traders.This is due to the innate ability to be able to comprehensively analyze big data sets while taking under do consideration an innumerable sum of factors that humans are incapable of comprehending in such speed. Additionally, analytics are seen with backtesting. Backtesting is used by traders to test the consistency and effectiveness of trading strategies and software-based trading solutions against historical price data. Backtesting also serves as an ideal playground for the further development of high-frequency trading as well as evaluating the performance of manual or automated trades. Analytics will continue to have an increasingly significant role in trading as emerging technologies and the advancement of trading applications progress beyond human capability. Analytics may be defined as the detection, analysis, and relay of consequential patterns in data. Analytics also seeks to explain or accurately reflect the relationship between data and effective decision making. In the trading space, analytics are applied in a predictive manner in an attempt to more accurately forecast the price. This predictive model of analytics generally involves the analysis of historical price patterns that are used in an attempt to determine certain price outcomes. Analytics may also be structured with a descriptive model, where readers attempt to draw a correlation and better understanding as to how and why traders react to a particular set of variables. Traders sometimes implement technical indicators such as moving averages, Bollinger Bands, and breakpoints which are built upon historical data and are used to predict future price movements. How Analytics Relates to Algo TradingAnalytics are relied upon in the concept of algorithmic trading where software is programmed to autonomously signal and/or execute buy and sell orders based upon a series of predetermined factors. In the institutional space, Algo-trading has become vastly competitive over the years as trading institutions seek to outperform competitors through automated systems and the virtual application of trading strategies.The digestion and computation of analytics are also seen in the emerging field of high-frequency trading, where supercomputers are used to analyze multiple markets simultaneously to make near-instantaneous automated trading decisions. Platforms that support HFT have the capability to significantly outperform human traders.This is due to the innate ability to be able to comprehensively analyze big data sets while taking under do consideration an innumerable sum of factors that humans are incapable of comprehending in such speed. Additionally, analytics are seen with backtesting. Backtesting is used by traders to test the consistency and effectiveness of trading strategies and software-based trading solutions against historical price data. Backtesting also serves as an ideal playground for the further development of high-frequency trading as well as evaluating the performance of manual or automated trades. Analytics will continue to have an increasingly significant role in trading as emerging technologies and the advancement of trading applications progress beyond human capability. Read this Term, CRM systems, back office – all will be looked at and integrated in order to serve the goal of full insight and optimization.
3. Cross channel becomes real
With a fragmentation of media consumption across mobile, tablet, desktop, TV, print media and other channels comes the need to target your audience, wherever they are. But how do you measure the impact across channels? How do you make sure you are, in effect, not spending twice on the same client? What is the best way to divide your marketing expenditure? Through the use of improved measurement systems and attribution algorithms companies will be able to answer these questions at a lower cost than ever before in 2015.
4. Focusing on mobile experiences
While it’s no longer considered news that the mobile channel is getting more and more important, financial services companies have a long way to go in order to provide an optimal mobile experience for their clients and prospects. This year, all the tools are available at a low enough cost to be able to provide a quality advertising, website, signup and product usage experience on mobile devices.
5. Sales and marketing integration
With a focus on LTV comes accountability for the marketing team not just to drive clients but to drive revenue. This can only be achieved through a closer cooperation with the sales team and their CRM infrastructure. Besides, marketing communication is written salesmanship, so there is a lot to learn from sales people that speak to clients each and every day to try and convince them of the merits of your company.
6. Employing new advertising methods
As digital marketing is becoming more and more mature, marketers in the financial services sector will widely start to employ programmatic advertising as a way to drive additional growth. Think RTB display advertising but also, in some markets, programmatic buying of TV and outdoor. Besides RTB, we see email marketing making a big comeback, along with native mobile advertising as brokers focus on better mobile experiences. Lastly, with companies becoming publishers (see above!), we see increasing use of content promotion as an indirect way of gaining a new audience.
7. Segmentation and differentiation
With an increasingly competitive field, lower spreads and customers becoming ever more demanding, comes the need to segment the market and differentiate brands to fit niche target audiences. This will be the year in which niche brokers start to grow and larger brokers build diversified brands as a response.