From a financial perspective, branding and marketing are understood to have transformed from their traditional forms. Previously, financial institutions used to rely on strategies such as word of mouth, TV commercials, radio broadcasts, and print ads. However, as consumer profiles matured, these conventional methods seem to have been surpassed by digital-centric applications. Considering the role that financial companies play in the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector, it is considered crucial for them to embrace innovative marketing techniques to stay ahead of the curve. Digital transformation strategies are in place at 70% of financial services firms, with a 22.6% open rate present for email marketing of financial services, as per WifiTalents, a recruiting agency.
Amidst all of this, a company which has been a part of the Indian financial sector for, reportedly, 16 years is Aditya Birla Capital. The company posted a 23.33% increase in total revenue from operations from Rs 22,229.91 crore in FY22 to Rs 27,415.65 crore in FY23, along with a 190.6% rise in total profit from Rs 1,660.07 crore in FY22 to Rs 4,824.07 crore in FY23, according to ROC filings accessed by Tofler, a business and company research platform. In a conversation with BrandWagon Online, Darshana Shah, chief marketing officer (CMO), Aditya Birla Capital, talks about managing sales and marketing in the BFSI sector, along with the prospects of financial services’ evolution. (Edited Excerpts)
As marketing has the derivative of sales to it, along with the focus on customer experience, how do you manage those areas being in the BFSI segment?
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I believe you’re asking me about the role of marketing in today’s time. In the current context, being a CMO is all about business acumen, which is able to generate the final return on investment (ROI). It also comes down to spending, with the need to balance it with the investment side. It’s not just about sales but also technology. Today, you cannot say that technology is only about the call to action (CTA) overload or other digital elements. Marketing is about focusing on chief customer custodians, and not just about creating campaigns or posters. One has to own customers, and integrate them with their business, and help the business drive that ‘change’, which’s the first part. The second thing is how to drive that funnel across the kind of audiences that we see there, given that, traditionally, BFSI has been for older audiences because they have the money but, even the younger audiences are deciding to influence that sector despite not having enough money. So, you want those people who are digital native, who can be the early adopters of what we want to provide. There’s a thin line and everybody has to be part of the same technology landscape. This is a generation for whom one needs to create the appeal factor by creating a simple financial product, for them to be able to buy online without the need to wait for an advisor or an agent. This generation is known for looking at ratings on Google,besides watching content on YouTube, which is why it’s important, as marketers, to collaborate. Marketers have to be available on financial technology (fintech) platforms, provide products and solutions, and create a knowledge base. At the top of the funnel, marketers need to create awareness and educate users, all the way to the bottom of the funnel where one would want conversions and simpler products. Moreover, marketers should also have a conventional channel, which has agents and advisors who can sell their products to the older generations, who are not familiar with everything digital when it comes to finance and money. Both sides need to have an appeal.
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In terms of ‘owning the customer’, how have you fared from an organisational perspective? With demands for transparency from the younger generations, what kind of pressure does it put on a brand?
Honestly, I believe that a brand or an organisation always doesn’t want to, genuinely, be transparent but has to be, on account of the mentioned regulations. Sometimes, marketers start using category jargon, which is where the role of regulation comes into play, as it results in communicating the product category in a way that the consumer doesn’t understand and that’s where it starts becoming alien. On that note, we don’t use asterisks in anything we say, which happens due to the presence of our brand name, resulting in customer loyalty and the progress of our business concerning financial services, health insurance, mutual funds, education loans, among others.
What is the behaviour pattern of consumers in tier-1, tier-2 and tier-3 cities, currently? Have you seen that particular demographic exhibiting interest in investing?
A lot of things have happened over regulators and brands coming together because of the financial inclusion theme under the current government, along with the digital India mission. Today, in rural areas, wallets backed by a unified payment interface (UPI) have started to become common, along with micro-finance, which has brought those areas under the financial category. As for smaller cities, financial regulators are driving that change by providing educational tools. This change is also being driven by the Internet and the kind of content present on it.
In the next five years, how do you see the banking and financial services industry evolving?
Many changes have happened from consumers’ behaviour perspective, and on account of digital technology’s adoption and data penetration. With a lot of these things coming together, the government is also putting in the effort. Organisations, in the background, are driving the change by building the kind of products and services required. With one part of the change happening on the organisation side, on the other part it is being driven on the service side. Today, it’s no more about multi-channel services rather about omni-channel services, as consumers want facilities at their convenience. We are trying to implement that change through WhatsApp, along with adopting voice as a technology, which is where generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) comes into play.
