The Gender Lens

Gender Lens Editions Financial

Rowan Morrison

Group Managing Director

Editions Financial

How can you successfully engage women through smart financial services marketing?
Women now control $39.6 trillion, or about 30% of the world’s wealth. In recent years, they have also taken command of the majority of household financial decisions and their influence within business is growing with one quarter of companies in the UK now owned by females.
So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to any financial services (FS) marketer that women are worthy of serious marketing spend. What remains elusive, however, is knowing how to market to women effectively.
Part of the challenge is that the FS sector has been slow to recognise the potential of women as buyers. In fact, they have largely been ignored, excluded and even alienated from advertising and communications from banks, investment and wealth brands.
But with 2018 being branded as the ‘Year of the Woman’, it’s time for FS firms to take a closer look at how they market to women.
There are a lot of questions to consider before launching a campaign targeted at female investors. For example, do men and women actually think, act and feel differently when it comes to managing their finances? Do they have different attitudes towards investment risk? And if so, should brands communicate differently and create unique content for women – or is there a danger of this being seen as patronising?
To explore answers to these questions, and to better understand gender representation within the wealth and investment sector, Editions Financial decided to conduct proprietary research into this topic and undertook qualitative interviews with:

  • High Net Worth female investors
  • A female CMO in one of the world’s leading financial institutions
  • A female IFA

Our research explored whether there is a need for investment and wealth brands to communicate differently with women. It also identified a number of lessons that can be learned about the right, and wrong, ways of doing this.
KEY FINDINGS

  • There is a distinct lack of inspiring, emotive and authentic FS marketing campaigns aimed at women. This represents a significant opportunity for smart marketers.
  • Unconscious bias and sexism is detrimental to investment firms’ relationships with women.
  • The lack of female investment advisers and relationship managers in the industry is a significant roadblock to effective communication with women.
  • It’s time for a refresh in the way FS brands engage with women.
  • Women do not see themselves as having less confidence in their investment decisions than men. Brands should stop patronising female investors.
  • There are a number of different ways to connect with women: through online communities, events, leveraging the family theme, or championing female empowerment, for example. But not all women are the same. They should not be lumped into a single persona.
  • Targeting women needs to become part of FS firms’ DNA, not a tick-box exercise or a one-off push towards equality.

Please view the PDF document via the download button to dig deeper into the results.

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