How to be a financial services business that gets Gen-Z

Gen-Z will soon make up 40% of the population, so if you haven’t already, it’s time to lean in because they’re your next big thing, says Martin. 

“For the past decade or longer, most people in financial services have been dealing with the retiring baby boomer population, but that time is sadly coming to an end. We’ve got to now look down the generations and think, where are the next opportunities? Where are the next client segments? And we’ve got to start looking now.” 

You shouldn’t have to look too far to find them. They’re all on social media. So Martin has some advice to help you get on it too.

“There’s no magic formula. You’ve got to feel your way a bit and look for inspiration from others within and outside the sector. Pick one form of content creation like podcasting or video, and get really comfortable with it. See what works for you and what resonates with your audience.”

Nervous? Don’t worry, so was Martin when he first started blogging over 20 years ago 

(and he’s since made over 600 episodes of his Informed Choice Radio podcast).

“Don’t be fearful of it; you will get it wrong, but that’s ok. When I listen back to my earlier content, it’s terrible. But only by doing that earlier, terrible content do I improve and hone my skills over time. The more you do, the easier it gets. You’ve got to start somewhere, and the best time to start is now because you can’t go back in time and start then.”

And the biggest risk if you don’t?

‘Extinction’, says Martin.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

This isn’t a time for half-hearted, half-baked approaches. If you’re going do social media, do it right, says Martin, who was one of - if not the first - financial planners in the UK to start a blog and a podcast.

“It can't just be a case of, well, we'll do it once, and if it doesn't get immediate results, we’ll say it didn't work and that it's not for us. It's got to be consistent. It's got to be creative, it's got to speak in that right tone of voice - and it's got to be multi-platform. You can't just pick one social media platform channel like Instagram and think that's enough to be future-proof.” 

Clearly you need to be in it for the long haul, so what advice does Martin have for financial advisers and financial planners struggling to find the time and motivation to do social media properly?

“You should be spending almost a day a week on this stuff, if not more. Carve out some time every week. When you’ve been doing it consistently for a year, three years, five years, you’re going to start to grow that audience and see results from it.”

So hang on in there. Or find someone to do it for you.

“To be ready for this next generation of consumers, you’ve got to understand what this generation is interested in, what drives them, what turns them on”, says Martin.

That’s unlikely to be a 50-year-old man doing TikTok dances in a suit.

“Don’t ape or copy what’s going on in other social media trends”, says Martin. “There’s a real risk to that. You’ve got to be authentic; you’ve got to be yourself. Don’t dress up for it, and don’t try to project an image that isn’t the real you. Authentic content resonates best with any viewer, any listener on social media.”

If you’ve earned a living as a dancing financial planner, all credit to you. The rest of you need to find a balance. 

“We’ve got to be professional, but at the same time, we’ve got to be approachable and friendly. If you can strike that balance, fantastic. Social media is about branding, and we should be very clear about our brand image and how the brand works on different social media channels without being ridiculed or risking looking silly and diluting our professionalism. Look at what’s trending and try to understand why it’s trending and how you can adapt those trends to your brand.”

Sea shanty, anyone?

When it comes to content creation, don’t make the mistake that Martin did.

“Be really clear about your target audience before you make your content, so you are creating content that speaks directly to them. I didn't do that and made content I was interested in.”

Not that it turned out badly for Martin, who now runs a successful content agency, Bear content.

“I took the view that if I’m interested in stuff then hopefully the clients that we’re working with will be interested too. And, because of the communication channels we use - the podcast, videos, social media platforms, it naturally started appealing to the next generations - our clients’ children mainly.” 

For Martin, when it comes to building an audience, there’s no such thing as getting too personal: “I’ve gone so far as taking people’s phones off them and subscribing them to the podcast.” (We have to admit to doing the same for Upfront).

So you know what channels you want to focus on and who you’re doing it for. Now what? Where do the ideas come from to keep fueling the social media machine?

That’s the easy part, says Martin.

“One approach I take with a lot of my content creation is newsjacking, so I look at what's happening in the world and provide some commentary around it. There's always stuff to talk about. That's the lovely thing about the world of money and life.  You can listen to the news over breakfast and come up with three to five different bits of content. 

You can also try the good old Q&A.

“Invariably, when somebody discovers you’re a financial planner, they'll ask you a question about money. It's a bit like if you're a doctor and people ask you about ailments. Listen to the questions your clients, friends and family ask, make a note of them and create pieces of content that answer the questions. It's a really effective approach because if somebody types that question into Google and your content is the best answer to that question, that’s what Google or YouTube will present to them, and that’s how you get discovered.” 

And here’s the really clever thing:

“It’s a great timesaver. For example, people often ask me, ‘how do I become a financial planner?’ - I must’ve been asked 50 or 100 times, and I thought, there’s a piece of content in this. I can make that piece of content once and use it to answer that question every time I’m asked it.”  

Boom.