Warning: Ten things that will make you weep bitter tears of anguish

If you’ve read this far, it’ll be because of the crass headline. You’ve just fallen victim to the increasingly common (and occasionally controversial) trick of clickbait. This form of “content marketing”, predicated on the fact that we humans are a gullible and inquisitive species, is undeniably powerful: it’s how some tabloid websites have become the most dominant media forces in the world.

But is it relevant in financial services? Should a lender or broker, bank or building society, resort to such tricks? Maybe so: to build profile, catch the consumer’s attention and be memorable above your competitors’ noise, there’s nothing wrong with being creative and human.

But your communications strategy can’t be that simple. Public relations is, and always has been, about credibility, influence and reputation. The challenge in this industry is to strike that balance between the necessary gravitas and the colourful ideas.

A financial service provider needs its communications to be memorable, engaging, shareable – all the things that other types of consumer brands strive for. But we must remember that customer buying decisions in this sector will also be based on more concrete factors such as track record, financial performance and - that word again - reputation. Reputations are notoriously exposed and fragile in this industry.

Reputation management doesn’t begin and end with a good PR agency. We can’t work miracles if our clients don’t deliver. Your reputation is owned by each and every member of your team, and as brand ambassadors they need to understand that their every action at work will impact on how you deliver for your customers, and consequently how you are perceived by the world at large.

What the right PR agency can do though, is help you define and articulate your unique positioning. For example, what are you particularly good at? What do you specialise in? What do you want to become known for? How might we influence perceptions or behaviours?

Many brands embark upon marketing without really having a strategy behind it, and this can be very damaging to reputation. What you say to the outside world needs not only to be engaging and shareable, it also needs to be supportable and consistent.

A lot of old-school PR experts believe that the relatively new concept of content marketing threatens to cheapen our industry. After all, it doesn’t take a genius to pollute the Internet with recycled keywords and half-baked press releases – and plenty of self-appointed gurus have popped up doing exactly that.

If done properly, however, with some strategic PR-based thinking behind it, creative communications can make all the difference.

@GalibierPR