See it in our work.
We help financial services brands see beyond the marketing clichés that have plagued the industry for years. Here are a few examples of how we've done it. (Names withheld to ward off the copycats.)
Deliver a differentiated brand for an asset manager with a difference
Challenge
The asset management industry is beset with similarity. But that does not mean differentiation doesn't exist. In fact, many managers have found unique ways to stand out on the shelves. The problem for many, however, is how to tell that story. Our client tasked us with helping them tell a different story while also articulating their unique value proposition. The good news was they truly had a different approach, even a different location. We just needed to bring that to the foreground.
Approach
The Rudin Group worked to identify what sets this manager apart from its chief competitors. One obvious clue was the location – far away from the typical financial centers in the United States. It quickly became evident that the location was not just a physical place, but a mindset. We set to work developing a rebranding, including messages and phrases that clearly describe the approach to delivering purpose-driven investment products to the industry.
Result
The Rudin Group produced a new brand look and feel, including a website unlike any others in the industry, supporting content and collateral that truly set the asset manager on a new course. Additionally, we helped them pull the story of their values-based investment products to the foreground and identify new partnerships that further elevated the brand and the firm.
Content, content everywhere, but not a word to read!
Challenge
A global bank found themselves drowning in daily, newly created technical commentaries with poor engagement and an endless cycle of content creation without purpose or measure of success. The path to success was to repurpose this technical content nightly from b-b to b-c content that could be published externally, measured, and used to drive engagement with end prospects for lead gen. For the first time, content created aligned with business objectives.
The myriad of internal content creators were all meeting their individual goals – measured by volume of pieces created – but material was overly technical and an overall strategy missing. Our client also wanted to reach end investors and needed help with all facets of this new approach – from identifying most salient topics to distribution channels to best delivery.
Approach
We began by conducting rapid discovery sessions with key stakeholders, inventorying existing content and distribution methods, and documenting future plans where they existed – creating order and transparency and, for the first time, cross-silo visibility. Importantly, we ensured that everyone had a comprehensive understanding of the business objectives from content creators to compliance teams. We needed rapid response from compliance to publish three new pieces of content for outside distribution each morning.
Applying our trademarked “Rudin Spark” process, we determined what existing material was still germane and what channels (social media, email, video, brochure) would be most effective for distribution. We created holistic calendars for formerly disparate marketing teams and dovetailed deliverables toward a single goal and consistently defined and collected metrics. We identified “white space” ideas for content creation and partnered with requisite teams to calendar and deliver.
From the application of CTAs and other best practices to the creation of rapid compliance and QC processes we changed what was done and evolved how it was done.
Result
It worked. We used Flipboard to analyze engagement by topic. And there was a single call to action “Sign-up for our newsletter” to follow these leads into a pipeline. There was a marked increase in newsletter engagement (key metrics being subscriptions + time spent) and a dramatic rise in advisor appointments scheduled. Our favorite success measure – we were told the internal teams developed a greater sense of job satisfaction as they were more connected to strategy, their efficiency had improved and they felt connected to the firm's bottom line.
Creating the story and making the news
Challenge
A highly sophisticated fintech client does innovative, impactful work that really benefits client portfolios. The market for their services is crowded, but they're the industry leader whose value-add exceeded their visibility. We knew the media would like what they do. We knew advisors - and their clients - would like what they do. The challenge was to better define their story, quantify their impact for the first time and thereby drive new - and bigger - conversations.
Approach
We believe in proactivity. Using our experience innovating the use of data and product information, we realized that we could construct a public-use measure of the value delivered to client portfolios – in dollar terms. We'd distill the complex and the technical into easy to digest data and a compelling story. For the first time we'd have an auditable, demonstrable track record for the firm itself that can be compared to the results of other firms in the space – a comparison we want to make as often as we can. The integration of data sophistication with an easy to grasp visual design were essential.
Result
Beginning with a technical analysis of the data itself and detailed conversations with their engineers, we worked with our client partners to design, construct and comply how this information should be presented to advisors and, importantly, their clients. Together we created what's becoming the industry standard for measurement. An aggressive media and promotional campaign is letting more people know it.
If your brand needs a refresh or your team needs an extra pair of hands, get in touch. We love to talk shop.
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