Great brands build trust. Trust provides resilience. Now is the time for financial sector firms to strengthen their brands.
The finance sector is mature; customers and clients have a wealth of similarly high quality offers to choose between. The power of brand is to articulate why they should choose your proposition over someone else’s.
This is a sector that operates on trust. Trust is what allows customers and clients to rest easy while their chosen brands take care of their savings and investments. It’s what makes people more likely to open printed materials they receive in the post if they can tell it’s from a finance brand.
But it’s not only trust between brands and their customers that’s important. As more and more of life moves online, employees are playing a much larger part in representing the brand. For a brand to keep control of its image and reputation, it’s essential to build and maintain the trust of its people.
Building trust is all about matching words to deeds, promises to actions. It’s about different parts of the organisation all saying the same thing, not contradicting each other, not offering something with one hand and taking it away with the other. In short, it’s about telling a cohesive story, presenting a cohesive vision. That’s the potential of your brand. To put your vision out there consistently, differentiate your offer from the crowd, and build trust.
Financial firms that realise the full potential of their brand, and forge strong bonds of trust with their audiences, will find themselves stably positioned to navigate whatever changes the market may bring.
Download the Brand ReportThis is a sector that operates on trust.
Find the full story, including many more insights, in this Brand Report by Redhouse.
Inside, we turn our attention to the finance sector, analysing a notable selection of brands in search of best practice to celebrate – and great opportunities for ambitious brands to seize.
We’re covering finance and investment in this report because it’s a sector we know well. For more than 30 years, we’ve delivered brand, design and content projects for major players in finance, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, the National Employment Savings Trust, GFX Prime, and the Payment Systems Regulator.
A financial sector brand – like any brand – needs to perform well in five areas: clarity, differentiation, visual identity, engagement, and cohesion. A brand that delivers in all five areas is one that will provide measurable value for the university, its students, its staff, its community, the sector … even the world.