By Mike Schaffman, Simplicity Lone Beacon’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
While the news cycle might suggest that AI (Artificial Intelligence) is the new “hip” thing to be following and implementing into your marketing systems, let’s not forget that it’s been around the block for many years. Of course, new software and programs are making it easier and more accessible for marketers to use, but its origins remain the same: humans and emotions. Many organizations worldwide have already adopted and deployed AI in some form. When it comes to enhancing the customer’s journey and experience, I’m not suggesting that AI can’t help. Rather, the true essence of successful marketing and advertising, i.e. humans and emotions, has not changed.
Financial advisors (and their marketing teams) are faced with conveying a difficult and perhaps one of the most complex buying decisions for a consumer to make. Convincing retirees and pre-retirees to trust their hard-earned money with someone and to have that same person ensure its security, liquidity, and growth, is a daunting task. Couple that with the fact that you actually need to consider your client’s unique personal goals and financial situations in order to properly devise and implement a plan… it’s difficult, to say the least.
The purpose of this article is to highlight the fact that humans and emotions will always exist when it comes to marketing and advertising. AI can certainly help, and it does, but it cannot fully replace the special ingredients needed for a successful campaign and positive customer experience. For over a decade, Simplicity Lone Beacon has analyzed consumer data to improve messaging and conversion for the financial advisor industry. We’ve studied behaviors and interactions across all sorts of content and outlets, both by hand and with the support of technology and AI. Our successes—and our corresponding advisor client’s successes—are deeply rooted in our understanding of their target audience and our ability to respond to their prospects and clients in ways that truly engage them and connect with them on a human level.
First, think about the complexities that surround messaging for your target consumers. AI will help, but it can fail if you don’t know its limitations and lose sight of how a human behind the machine can help. Remember, you cannot afford to let humans and their emotions fall by the wayside as a result of your use of technology. If you do, you will struggle mightily when trying to capture and convert more prospects. Plus, you may even jeopardize your current client relationships and your ability to grow and generate authentic referrals if AI makes you and your brand feel less authentic. While it’s nice to have an automated thesaurus by your side when illustrating your experience and expertise, not every one of your consumers will gravitate towards a computer-generated title, headline, call-to-action, etc. Marcus Roth said it best: By using effective language in marketing copywriting, you can create a powerful message that engages and motivates your audience to act on your calls to action.
Next, think about the methods in which your message will be deployed and ultimately received by potential prospects and current clients. Again, AI will help, but the pitfalls remain the same. Recently, Craig Foster published a study about how AI-generated ads compare to human-written ads. The digital ad space supplies endless opportunities but also has a lot of competition. You’re not only competing against other financial advisories and institutions but against any ads or message that speaks to humans and their emotions. People automatically default to say that kids are the ones with short attention spans, but in today’s social media universe, we’re all the ones with short attention spans. It’s not surprising that the study showed that human-generated ads produced a much higher conversion rate than AI-generated ads. Again, the advent of AI has not changed that marketers and advertisers, since the beginning of the industry, specialize in capitalizing on humans and emotions.
At the end of the day, nobody wants to fall behind in the technology space no matter what business or industry they work in. AI has proven that it’s here to stay; that it stands to change the way we market and advertise products and services, but that if used properly, can benefit any company or industry that yields it. However, the ways in which you choose to use and deploy it will forever decide your company’s successes or failures with the humans and emotions you aim to attract.
About the Author: Mike Schaffman joined Simplicity Lone Beacon in 2015, pioneering their core marketing platform, creating content and connecting media and broadcast components with a turnkey digital solution. Mike helped transform Simplicity Lone Beacon’s offerings and solutions into one of the leading independent financial advisor marketing services in the country today. When he’s not in the office, Mike enjoys playing golf and hockey and likes to experiment in the kitchen.
