Customer Reviews

The Financial Services Marketing Handbook: Tactics and Techniques that Produce Results

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Summary: This book provides a very generalized overview of 1) how to prepare a marketing plan, and 2) a variety of marketing tactics from advertising to sponsorship, the internet and sales strategies.

Review: For the independent financial services sales rep that has very little background in marketing or sales this book may be useful. However, the book does not provide anything of value to a financial services firm of any size or any professional marketers. The book is not bad, but in my opinion (marketer working in financial services, 10+ years experience) it is really only of value to a novice independent sales professional who needs assistance with planning their own personal marketing activities. In fact, if I could make a recommendation to the authors it would be that the next version of the book should focus very specifically on just that.

No one claims that marketing any service is easy, but marketing financial services is especially difficult. Today, you can buy financial products - mutual funds, insurance, banking services, mortgages, credit cards - through a variety of channels and providers, often at a discount. This creates a challenge for financial marketers, who tend to rely on proven time-tested marketing techniques from other industries that are not always effective for financial products. Here, consultants Evelyn Ehrlich and Duke Fanelli present marketing basics in a financial services context. Their best material comes from short case studies or vignettes from real financial services companies. Readers may wish there were more of these since much of the marketing content is not new. This is a good basic book for newcomers to marketing in the financial services industry, but veterans will find it less valuable. We recommend it to novice marketers or to those working in financial service firms' non-marketing areas (such as operations, shareholder services or sales) who want a marketing briefing.

An academic presentation in terms of thoroughness and professionalism-yet a "good read".
The appendix of "The Financial Services Marketing Handbook"
entitled Applying Marketing Principles to Sales Practice is a detailed Handbook and a MUST READ.

Sorry - this book purchase was a gift and as yet the recipient has not given me any feedback; I'm not even sure if she's started reading it, so I'm unable to submit a review of the book's contents at this time.