AHC Pacific
The impact of marketing principles and digital technology on the communication of Super has only just begun to be noticed. The Super industry can be slow to react at times. In this blog I want to explore the way in which these two arenas are already beginning to change the way we think about getting key messages to audiences who have important decisions to make and for whom the need to be financially educated has never been greater.
If you’re reading this obviously you have embraced the digital world of communication! But how do you approach, use and contribute to this world? What demographic factors such as age, gender and education affect your actions and do you have an ‘integrated digital lifestyle’ or is it a contemporary add-on for you?
Lately, because of my work in marketing and online modelling in the field of Super, I’ve been looking at a lot of research, reading many newsletters, blogs and forum entries and observing the habits of colleagues, friends and family. The variation in behaviour is almost infinite although there are clear generational differences. But it’s amazing how some experts have tried to homogenise our digital experience – the very opposite of the individual and highly personal world we have been led to expect from web 2.0 and beyond.
There have been exhortations to ‘go digital’ with brand messages, sales messages, public relations exercises and the basic provision of information. But how many recommendations really take into account the social behavioural aspects of communication? The difference, for example, between a Gen Y female city office worker who lives on her mobile, texts in the dark and has 257 Facebook friends and her baby boomer father who works in a suburban retail store, turns the mobile on to make a call and struggles to use Google effectively.
Both will have superannuation accounts. Both will receive the usual annual statements. Both are ripe for financial education information that may provide for a better long term future. But how should we deliver it?
She will need a direct stimulus to access information that she can understand quickly and respond to fast. And she’ll only trust your brand if she believes you are being straightforward. He will need to be encouraged gently towards finding out more, making a considered decision. And he’s more likely to trust the brand he already knows.
According to the Grey Eye on Australia Report 2008, brands do play an important role in building trust – with “individual brands rating more strongly on trust than the category as a whole. Thus ANZ, Westpac and NAB were more trusted individually than ‘banks’. Myer was more trusted than ‘big department stores’. Bunnings was more trusted than ‘hardware stores’.” This raises the question of how best to communicate our brand message to the different demographic groups, particularly Gen X & Y, using their own media of choice and speaking to them in their own language. As sources of information, the report says,” we trust our families, our friends and professional groups. When we look online for information, reviews by consumers are well trusted, trust in blogs has declined sharply, company websites are seen as more reliable, while internet banner advertisements received a very low trust score.” And there’s a general observation that all of us still spend more time watching TV than online or even talking to each other! This means the difference in tactics and language to reflect the way in which each group uses media is just as important in digital communication as in conventional print or personalised direct mail.
So how are the different generations feeling about themselves at the moment? The ‘Eye’ Report indicates that it’s Generation X who are struggling with life in Australia today, particularly worrying about everything and living financially day to day. Baby Boomers seem focused on maintaining the status quo. They’re more worried than Australians as a whole about having enough money for retirement, the environment and the loss of a sense of community. Generation Y is trying to get on with things. They’re more concerned than the average Aussie about their finances (52% vs 45%) and more likely to seek advice from others on financial questions.
As a marketer, I’m interested in the behavioural differences between generations and the triggers that make some people more tech savvy and responsive to new media and others react against it as something unnecessary and perhaps a little evil. So, almost everyone has a mobile phone these days – many web accessible – and almost everyone has access to the internet. Does that mean we should simply include ‘digital communications’ in our marketing strategy? If so, how should our messages and calls for action be constructed?
Who is running the digital revolution? Is it the Gen Y crowd who can’t live without it... or Gen X who’ve grown up with computers all their lives? Where do the baby boomers get a look in? And what about the seniors? I have a mother in law over 80 who texts me during Wallaby–All Blacks games and sends me her digital photos by email! Personally I think that digital or electronic communication can reach all demographic and lifestyle groups but we need to speak to each group in their own language. In other words, the textbook lessons about advertising and direct mail are as relevant today as ever. One commentator I read even referred to ‘us old Gen-Xers find it hard to understand the Gen Y approach....’ Well, I’ve got news for you Mr Gen X ... the baby boomers don’t think they’re that old and many of them are seriously well connected and tech savvy about mobile marketing as well as the ‘traditional’ email and web based stuff.
Where does all this lead to for communication strategy for super funds? In February 2008, Hitwise Asia Pacific reported that banks and financial institutions represented “a dominant sub-category” that Australian internet users visit with a 4.35% market share. Compare that with search engines at 10.8% and social networking at 8% and you’ll see that we’re getting pretty used to accessing our financial services online. Admittedly much of this is probably transactional banking, but this still presents tremendous opportunities for super funds to use interactive web based solutions for financial education, brand building and positioning and, more importantly, developing customer relationships that result in retention and higher levels of engagement. Remember, trusted brands – and therefore engagement and subsequent business activity – come from word of mouth within trusted reference groups. So, when you combine sound marketing principles with exciting developments in the arena of digital technology, then prepare to hold on to your seats. The Super communications landscape is going to change more in the next 3 years than it has in the last 30!
Next time... how to get the ‘twittering’ about your brand!
Sources:
Hitwise Intelligence – Sandra Hanchard,
Research Analyst Hitwise Asia Pacific – February
2008
Grey Eye on Australia report extracts 2008