Much like other high street businesses, banks and other financial services require the assistance of marketers in order to promote their products and increase brand awareness across the general public in the UK. This can provide great opportunities for those with marketing qualifications and experience to get involved with truly exciting projects. However, what is involved in the financial services sector when it comes to marketing? We shall take a look.
Types of marketing jobs in the finance industry
Entry-level positions
Marketers will invariably need to take on some entry-level positions in order to gain insight into the financial services sector and have some valuable experience added to their CV. These positions include but are not limited to road-show assistance, sales support and customer assistance. Many of these positions will be temporary in their nature and only last for a short time, but could lead to permanent opportunities for the right candidates. Sometimes candidates will be able to skip this stage and progress onto some of the more prominent marketing roles in the financial services sector.
Marketing communications
This broad term is perhaps best used as a catch-all that encompasses a whole range of marketing roles. For the most part, those who specialise in marketing communications will mostly deal with the more traditional side of things that includes customer relations, advertising, creating internal communication campaigns and is increasingly involving social media management that includes managing Twitter and Facebook pages. Those who choose this role tend to focus on the communications aspect of it as opposed to the marketing side of things, which tends to be fed from a higher position within the chain of command. However, it suits those with considerable experience in PR and communications and otherwise appeals to those who are willing to keep up to date with the latest developments in social media. It is also suitable for those with extensive copywriting experience.
Take a look at our marketing communication jobs in the financial services sector.
There is no one true workload for this position as it will involve creating and managing communication strategies, collaborating with different departments and professionals in order to create a communication plan, then working closely with individual departments including sales and customer service to help publicize those very ideas.
Investment writing
Investment writers serve two key functions within a financial business. They must first provide an analysis of market trends and report these communications to their clients, which in itself requires the development of a more efficient business solution for various communications that ensures the smooth delivery of messages across a network of customers and personnel. They must also gather upcoming financial information surrounding the markets they cover and make projections based on their findings so as to maximise the growth of their clients' portfolios.
This is by far one of the marketing positions that require a good understanding of finance, but is also involves a good knowledge of business communications so as to relay this highly technical information across different levels of understanding. It is quite easy to get lost in the mix when it comes to these sorts of messages, so having excellent interpersonal skills are key to success in this role.
Browse our investment writing jobs.
Internal communications
While sometimes handled by those in the marketing communications department, internal communications personnel ensure that business-side messages are able to follow a clear chain of command. They will look for ways to make message delivery more efficient and allow smoother communication between all levels of personnel, through to upper management and executives. Those involved with internal communications are also likely to be responsible for company newsletters and other global communications that are handed to all personnel at all levels. This requires a firm command on adaptive communication styles in order to ensure that company messages are delivered clearly and intelligibly.
Product management
In such a highly competitive market like the financial industry, marketers are needed to ensure products are positioned in such a way that they attract the highest number of customers while still meeting the company's overall ethos and mission statements. This is something that product managers choose to specialise in. They are thoroughly aware of what their bank or other financial service has to offer customers and pitches them in such a way that they capitalise on the number of prospective customers and convert them to customers. It can be perceived as largely sales oriented, but it is not the job of the product managers themselves to make the pitch: only to create the materials and messages that will be used in such a pitch.