How Search-Driven Insights Can Transform Your Financial Services Business

Unlock the Power of Search: Transform Your Financial Services Marketing. Discover groundbreaking search insights to elevate your banking, wealth management, credit card, and insurance marketing strategies. Learn how to leverage Google Search Insights to drive tangible results as presented by Financial Services Expert Aaron Tellier and Managing Partner Prasanna Dhungel.

Ready to supercharge your search marketing performance? Explore our comprehensive Financial Services offerings today. Learn more as we share more tips on the webinar below.

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Highlights for Marketing Leaders in Financial Services

📊 Data Insights: Financial services search data offers robust insights into market trends.
🔍 Search Strategy: Brands should rethink their approach to search data for broader marketing strategies.
📈 Consumer Behavior: Understanding shifting consumer mindsets is essential in a rapidly changing digital landscape.
🏦 Competitive Landscape: Publishers dominate search results, emphasizing the need for brands to adapt.
🎥 Video Content: There’s a significant opportunity for brands to enhance their presence in video marketing.
📚 Customer Needs: Basic financial education content can effectively engage consumers at the start of their journey.
🌐 AI Impact: AI-driven search results are increasingly important and can influence brand visibility.
Key Insights
📊 Robust Data Utilization: Financial services brands can leverage extensive search data to identify emerging trends and optimize marketing strategies. This data can reveal consumer needs and preferences, allowing brands to tailor their offerings effectively.
🔍 Strategic Thinking in Search: Companies need to adopt a strategic mindset towards search data, considering how it impacts SEO, brand awareness, and content strategy. A broader view can unlock new marketing opportunities.
📈 Monitoring Competitors: Brands must not only focus on direct competitors but also consider publishers and aggregators that dominate search real estate. Understanding the competitive landscape can reveal potential gaps and opportunities for differentiation.
🎥 Video as a Growth Area: The findings suggest that financial brands are missing out on video content, which is increasingly crucial for engaging younger audiences. Investing in video marketing can enhance brand visibility and customer connection.
📚 Addressing Basic Questions: By creating content that answers fundamental consumer questions, brands can position themselves as trusted resources, improving engagement and loyalty among potential customers.
🌐 AI-Driven Search Dynamics: The rise of AI in search results is reshaping how brands are perceived online. Companies must be proactive in adapting to this change to maintain visibility and relevance.
🤝 Engagement Through Customer Understanding: Brands should prioritize understanding customer needs and responding to them effectively, fostering stronger relationships that can lead to increased loyalty and market share.

Transcript

00:00:00 Welcome, and thank you for joining us today. My name is Deepti, and I’m the Marketing Operations Manager at GrowByData. We are thrilled to share insights on what data reveals about the financial services market. Before we jump in, we have a quick housekeeping note: the webinar will last about 25 minutes, with the last five minutes allocated for Q&A. If we don’t get to your questions, we will be happy to follow up via email. Without further ado, I’d like to introduce our Managing Partner, Prasanna Dhungel, and Aaron Tellier.

00:00:39 Thank you so much. I’m Prasanna Dhungel, Managing Partner at GrowByData. I work with large financial services clients to provide marketing intelligence, and I look forward to this engaging conversation today.

00:00:56 Terrific! Thank you, Prasanna. Hello, everyone! My name is Aaron Tellier, and I’m a financial services strategist with over 20 years in the industry. We have some exciting and interesting information to share. Those who have seen our insights before have often said, “Wow, you’ve opened my eyes to new information I didn’t realize.” That’s what we hope to do today.

00:01:16 We have a couple of objectives for today’s meeting. First, we want to share insights from financial search data, which is quite robust. There are many aspects and angles we’ll cover. Secondly, I challenge you to think differently about search data. Throughout my career, I’ve seen a lot of search data, and we all know common search percentages and statistics. However, I want you to consider search data in a more strategic context and how it can impact your decisions—not just related to search and SEO, but also regarding your brand, content strategy, and product strategy.

00:02:22 Lastly, we’ll share insights and ways you can use this data to improve your business. I’d like to start with a little joke: in our industry, we strive to collect as much data as possible to understand customers and enhance their experiences. Sometimes we get it right, but we often miss the bigger picture. For example, we might know a lot about a customer’s preferences, but they might respond humorously, “Do you know which bank I’m moving my account to?” This highlights that, despite our data, we can still miss the mark because customers operate within a much larger landscape. We’ll explore that further today.

00:03:00 Now, we have a quick poll: what do you think search data is most useful for? We have three options: quantifying brand visibility on Google, learning about competitor search strategies, or understanding customer needs. You can also choose “all of the above.” Please take a moment to respond in the chat.

00:04:08 Why does search data matter? First, there’s a vast amount of it. AI engines aim to gather as much information as possible for a robust perspective. Regarding search data, there are 8.2 million bank-related keywords alone. We’re focusing on the broad financial services industry, so you can imagine the multitude of keywords and strategies involved.

00:05:16 Additionally, search data helps marketers understand the shifting mindset of consumers. For instance, during the COVID era, we sought to understand how consumer behavior changed in a predominantly digital environment. Trends revealed by search data are statistically significant and can help you detect shifts early.

00:06:22 It’s not just about consumers; it’s also about competitors. By analyzing search data, you can observe your competitors’ early moves, where they’re investing, and how they’re messaging to consumers.

00:06:56 Customer journeys often begin with online searches. For example, first-time homebuyers or renters will start their journey with Google. It’s crucial for your business to be present in these searches.

00:07:59 Let’s dive into our content. We analyzed nearly 2,000 keywords across three primary industries: insurance, banking, and wealth management, along with 10 sub-industries. This includes areas like checking accounts, credit cards, car insurance, investing, and retirement.

00:08:35 We also examined the impact of artificial intelligence on search dynamics, covering 12 major markets. While I’m not a search specialist, I approach this data from a financial services strategist’s perspective, aiming to provide you with valuable insights.

00:09:46 Let’s start by looking at the share of voice across different aspects of search. This holistic view includes both organic and paid search results. You’ll notice that the landscape is largely dominated by publishers. For instance, traditional publishers like Forbes and MarketWatch are significant players. If you’re only focusing on brands like Progressive Insurance or Geico Insurance, you might be missing out on the broader competitive landscape.

00:10:25 In fact, the top nine publishers account for 42.7% of all search results. This trend persists across various industries, including insurance, banking, and wealth management.

00:12:10 Let’s narrow our focus to above-the-fold search results. Brands like Progressive and Bank of America perform relatively well here due to their investment in SEO, but publishers like NerdWallet consistently rank highly, illustrating the competitive market landscape.

00:13:20 Moving to regional share of voice, we see that competition remains intense even at the localized level. However, if we look specifically at car insurance, distinct trends emerge. For example, if you’re competing against Progressive in California, you might find them not investing in paid search there, presenting a potential opportunity for you.

00:15:01 It’s important to consider regional competitors, such as CarInsurance.com, which performs strongly in specific markets. Their focus on content and credibility is vital for search rankings.

00:17:18 Let’s shift to the savings space. In the Denver market, for instance, lesser-known competitors like Peak Bank and ENT are capturing market share. If you only analyze broader markets like Los Angeles and Colorado without this level of granularity, you might miss key competitive dynamics.

00:18:21 When we look at mobile results for checking accounts, we see different competitors emerging, including Apple Card. This emphasizes the need to consider non-traditional competitors in your strategy.

00:19:37 Now, let’s look at the top results for checking accounts. We have a mix of regional and national competitors, including some non-traditional players. When we rank them, E-Trade comes out on top, demonstrating the varied landscape of competitors in financial services.

00:20:13 Think of ETRADE for checking accounts as the very first thing that pops into your mind. They’re the online trading company, and yet here they are at the top of the list for checking accounts. What’s even more interesting is that E*TRADE is not just showing up on the top of the list; they are absolutely dominating the search market. They are appearing in 56% of the top searches, which is almost 10 times the next competitor on this list. So again, if you’re planning your launch or your pilot, and you’re not taking into consideration what’s actually happening in the market, you’re going to miss a competitor like E*TRADE.

00:20:49 So once again, another twist on this data. Let’s rotate the search data yet again and look at their positioning strategies. One of the most popular ways for brands to go to market is text ads. Here, we’ve analyzed thousands of text ads and used algorithms to parse them to determine the primary intent of each ad: is it a call to action, are they focusing on their credibility, is it more promotional, or is it pricing-oriented, or maybe some sort of seasonal perspective they’re trying to share with the customer?

00:21:23 You can see here that strategies are very different across these competitors. This tells you one of two things: one, you can see that promotional is very strong. If you’re not doing promotional-based strategies, maybe you’re missing out on a powerful tool to connect and engage with customers and get them to consider your brand. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like a lot of folks are focusing as much on credibility, and there might be a place for you to carve out a unique aspect versus someone like E*TRADE or others, where you can win in this market if you focus there.

00:22:29 Prasanna, did you want to add something?

00:22:30 Yes, in terms of white space, I don’t see seasonal really being used. If there are any kind of seasonal campaigns that you are running, that could be a strategy. This allows you to see where it’s really competitive and where there are some opportunities.

00:23:03 We’re always evolving our perspective on these search results, so look for more ways that we’re going to slice this data in the future.

00:23:43 This is a busy slide, but this is a word cloud. I took one competitor, New York Life, and analyzed all of their positioning. They have thousands of different strategies in the market, just small variations. If you look at that data on aggregate, you can see where they’re focused. If you have a strong competitor that you want to position against, you can take a look at the words they’re using. You can either mimic and improve their strategies or lean into areas they may not be focusing on.

00:24:13 So many different ways to look at this data, and we’re only halfway through the data. We have some surprising things to share in the second half of the presentation, but I want to get to those poll results and find out what people thought search data was most useful for.

00:24:46 Deepti, can you share the results?

00:24:48 Yep! For the question, “What is search data good for?” 95% of our attendees think all the above. They believe all four points we shared are important.

00:25:25 All the above is usually a pretty good answer in a setting like this, and that’s absolutely correct. As you’ve seen, there are so many ways to look at this data. I’m glad you’re coming into this presentation with that perspective.

00:25:46 So let’s go ahead and continue. I’ve got another quiz for you. We’re offering a $25 gift card to Starbucks—or if you’re a Dunkin’ Donuts fan, I suppose we can make an exception. Can you tell me who this person is? I’ll give you a second to think about it. Go ahead and put your answers in the chat.

00:26:07 Deepti, do we have any guesses?

00:26:09 Someone just said he looks like your dad! That’s very funny, and coincidentally, he does look a little bit like my father, but no, this is not my father. Good guess!

00:26:46 This is Mark Tilbury. Now, I’m not going to tell you exactly what he’s doing yet, but I have one more quiz for you. You will see Mark Tilbury at the top of this list. This is a top 20 list of something. What do these top 20 have in common, or what is this a top 20 list of? I’ll give you a hint: think insurance.

00:27:30 Does anyone have guesses?

00:27:32 Someone said YouTube videos. Exactly! This is about video. So take a look at this list and ask yourself how could this possibly be the top 20 video providers for financial services? You’re missing some major players here. Some publishers we looked at, like NerdWallet, are showing up at 10.

00:28:04 Even though they are dominating other areas of search, they are way behind in video. I can say this because I don’t see any major brands here. It’s shocking how little competition there is, or at least how little traditional brands are ranking for video.

00:28:41 The top 20 video results I shared beat the top 20 established brands. When I went through the list and pulled out financial services and insurance brands like Bank of America, Progressive, and Fidelity, I found they ranked for 3% compared to the top 20 brands, which showed up at 28%.

00:29:19 So, brands are missing the boat on video. Young people today are on TikTok and Instagram, and what’s there? Video! There’s tons of opportunity.

00:29:52 You could create a lot of content or partner with or potentially acquire some of these smaller players in the market to get a jump start on video.

00:30:30 Let’s take a look at another common feature in search: the “people also ask” section. This is almost 100% of results. You can see that publishers are dominating this area as well, often getting high ranks, which leads to a lot of clicks. Some questions are quite basic, like “What is the $1,000 a month rule about retirement?” or “Is renters insurance really worth it?”

00:31:05 Customers’ needs are complicated, yes, but often the questions they ask, especially at the beginning of their journey, are the simplest. Consider how content can help you compete here and serve your customers’ needs.

00:32:16 Looking at the AI results, non-brands are dominating here too. For example, there’s a question about how much to save for retirement by age, where Fidelity is cited for its strong content.

00:33:29 Google is giving a lot of credibility to user-generated content. If you have a high rating on Google, that helps you out in many ways, and discussions and forums are valuable too.

00:34:00 Looking at Google AI questions, you’ll find many are basic. For instance, “What is online investing?” is a top question. Consumers often have far more basic needs than we think.

00:35:09 If we look at insurance, banking, and wealth management, some brands are doing well, but even the successful ones have a long way to go. For example, Progressive seems to be doing well, but they’re missing in the video space.

00:36:14 Google is really controlling the narrative. If you’re searching for Chase Bank, you might not always see Chase’s own content but rather content from publishers like MarketWatch or NerdWallet.

00:37:06 Below that, there might be a video that isn’t even from Chase Bank but is discussing how to get free money, which could affect perceptions of Chase as a brand.

00:39:06 So how can you break into this space? You have to think about different ways to compete and capture attention.

00:40:13 The landscape is evolving quickly; brands are showing up differently. Google’s changing, consumers are changing, and if you don’t adapt and monitor continuously, as Ferris Bueller said, you might just miss it—and you can’t afford to miss it.

You also need to look beyond direct competitors. We’ve discussed publishers, aggregators, non-traditional brands, and user-generated content that’s dominating the marketplace. No matter how much effort you’re putting in, consider the broader universe and how much you’re competing against. You need to find ways to win in different sectors. Explore partnerships with publishers and influencers, and see what opportunities might arise from those collaborations.

Content is the new “location, location, location,” and Google is where you need to show up. We discussed the importance of search as part of your strategy. To secure the best location on Google, you must produce top-quality content tailored to customer needs, whether that involves leveraging “People Also Ask” or AI-generated results. Don’t miss out on the AI space—it’s just getting started, and the click-through rates for those AI results, especially those above the fold, are significantly better. This is a great opportunity to identify and monitor your competitive edge.

00:41:55 The key point is: don’t cheat yourself. Many brands become myopic, focusing solely on their search data—tracking their own brand and a narrow set of keywords. But what else is happening in the marketplace? Remember that there are over 8.2 million bank keywords. What keywords might you be missing? Open your aperture and consider non-traditional competitors.

Lastly, I’m passionate about advocating for the customer. Understanding, responding to, and serving customers through your brand’s efforts is invaluable. Think about how you can support individuals on their financial services journeys; the customer should always be at the center of your strategy.

We’ve covered a lot today, and I hope you take away how we can help broaden your perspective, keep you ahead of the curve, and uncover hidden opportunities that will drive your brand’s success—not just in search but across your business.

00:44:06 Now, do we have time for a question or two? Yes, there are questions. One question is about Reddit’s partnership with Google—how can brands compete for search real estate?

That involves user-generated content, which offers many interesting strategies. I’ve worked with brands that have engaging social strategies. Reddit mirrors social platforms in many ways. Here are two ways to approach it:

First, think about competitive intelligence. You can gain granular insights into what customers are thinking and feeling by analyzing data on Reddit. Whether you have someone read through comments or use AI to parse the data, understanding trends is crucial.

Second, engage directly with customers. They often express surprise when a brand responds to their comments, whether negative or positive. This engagement demonstrates your care and empathy for the customer.

Those are just a couple of strategies; there are many more. I think that’s all the time we have for questions. Thank you for joining today’s session. I hope you gained valuable insights. Feel free to reach out with any questions—we’ll share our contact information. Have a great rest of the week!

00:46:18 Thank you! Goodbye!

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