Thought Leadership Marketing: Ten Pearls of Wisdom

From established brands to edgy disrupters, consumers have a bewildering number of financial services brands to navigate. So how do they choose one from another? And how are financial brands using words to try to stand out from the crowd?

Pete Dewar is creative director for language at brand consultancy The Clearing, helping brands use words more imaginatively to engage the people that matter to them. He chairs a panel of financial brands to examine how they can use tone of voice more effectively to gain a competitive advantage.

Can you tell a Kotler quote from an Aaker without batting an eyelid? Do you remember which rather natty-looking mammal appeared in First Direct's TV adverts? And exactly how long has the Lloyds Bank black horse been around?

Test your marketing general knowledge and be in with a chance of winning £50 for a charity of your choice, by taking part in our quiz. Which Member will taking the crowning glory? We can't wait to find out.

We hope that the quiz will be a fun way to welcome the summer months, competing against fellow Members to win money for a good cause.

Coronavirus has turned our world on its head as businesses and consumers alike grapple with the financial fallout of Covid-19. Lenders scrambled to provide billions in business loans and mortgage holidays to keep the country afloat and investors watched their savings implode. A whopping 9 million are expected to join the government’s furlough job retention scheme, bringing new meaning to the phrase ‘welfare state’.

Sharing knowledge, expertise and learning is in The Forum’s DNA; never has this been a more urgent imperative if FS businesses are to survive the global crisis and help keep the UK economy going. Our weekly CMO Surgery features a panel of senior marketers discussing the challenges thrown up by the pandemic. Everyone is welcome: grab a coffee and come armed with questions.

With countries gradually starting to emerge from lockdown marketers must focus on planning their post-pandemic recovery. While the majority of FS means brands have had to find ways to continue functioning, it’s unlikely there will be a return to ‘business as usual’ any time soon. What are the considerations, then, to getting marketing activity back up and running amid a tsunami of budget cuts and spending freezes? How can brands reconnect with customers – whether B2B or B2C– many of whom are suffering financially? And what does recovery look like for sectors particularly impacted by Covid-19 such as insurance? Join our expert panel as we discuss practical approaches to all this and more.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns sit at the heart of any digital strategy; done well they should drive revenue and business growth, but a successful campaign requires careful planning. This session will use real-life examples to examine the importance of digital PR in the wider marketing mix, consider what an effective campaign structure looks like and how tailored content can supercharge your SEO campaign. Attendees will find out how to maximise a PPC campaign, understand latest developments such as smart bidding, and key considerations to drive traffic, enquiries and revenue. Join us for a practical and detailed look under the bonnet of SEO and PPC.

According to a March 16-31 survey by Ebiquity 80 percent of brands are planning to cut media spending for the rest of the year with offline budgets taking the biggest hit, with online spending down only 2 percent. The biggest media losers in the survey were out-of-home, print and radio. In contrast, of the business leaders and CEOs who are posting on LinkedIn since the crisis began, half of them are getting the best reactions they have seen on a post all year. So in our new Covid 19 reality, which marketing channels should FS brand be using and what are the key messages? Come join the channel specialists from Teamspirit who will share their insight into which channels to prioritise and how to determine the most relevant content to your audience.

Sharing knowledge, expertise and learning has never been a more urgent imperative if FS businesses are to survive the global crisis and help keep the UK economy going. This week our CMO Surgery panel of marketing and reputation experts will look at the actions of brands in response to the crisis, and public perceptions. Everyone is welcome, so grab a coffee and come armed with questions, and help our community to get through this together.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures; brands that have instinctively understood the urgent need to stand together and do everything possible to help at a time of unprecedented national crisis are emerging as the heroes of the day. Supermarkets, food and catering businesses, even luxury brands like LVMH and Formula1 – not the likeliest of contenders – have garnered an extraordinary degree of public approval and goodwill by their actions; others have aroused widespread ire for poorly considered edicts. This session will consider how brands should behave in times of crisis and delve into the values and purpose behind differing corporate responses. We'll consider the characteristics driving public affection - and whether that can build trust and, ultimately, translate into longer-term consumer loyalty when the pandemic passes.

In times of great change, rigorous planning supported by clear communications can help create an element of certainty, even in the most fast-moving and challenging scenarios such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Good crisis communication in the face of adversity can even build long-term trust with stakeholders, restore brand reputation afterwards and increase shareholder value in the long-term. Through insight, case studies and best practice, our practical webinar led by Instinctif Partners will help you:
•Develop guiding principles for effective crisis communication
•Consider how social media will impact your response
•Anticipate how a crisis situation could develop
•Understand which stakeholders will be most valuable to you – and what they need from you
•Understand how a growth mindset can make you more resilient.

Sharing knowledge, expertise and learning is in The Forum’s DNA; never has this been a more urgent imperative if FS businesses are to survive the global crisis and help keep the UK economy going.
In this session our weekly CMO Surgery will shine the spotlight on fintechs, looking at the challenges different types of fintech are facing as a result of the pandemic compared to established players. How has this sector responded? Has their relative agility in terms of size and tech given them a clear advantage over the established incumbents with much deeper pockets? How have they adapted to the new business environment? Indeed has it been a spur for innovation? What can traditional models learn from fintechs - and vice versa?

Talking through the challenges we are facing in today's circumstances from a marketer's perspective.