5 Financial Advertising Mistakes That Could Put Your Campaign at Risk

Financial advertising comes with an extra layer of responsibility.

Whether you are promoting a loan, savings product, credit facility or another financial service, your marketing needs to do more than grab attention. It also needs to communicate information clearly and responsibly.

The FCA requires financial promotions to be fair, clear and not misleading. Depending on the type of product and organisation, additional rules may also apply.

So, before your next campaign goes live, here are five common mistakes worth looking out for.

1. Focusing on the benefits without giving enough prominence to the risks

Strong marketing naturally focuses on what makes a product attractive.

But when promoting financial products, highlighting the benefits while minimising important risks, conditions or limitations can create a misleading impression.

For example, an advert might heavily promote an attractive rate or benefit while placing important eligibility criteria or conditions somewhere far less noticeable.

The FCA specifically requires certain financial promotions to be balanced and not emphasise potential benefits without also providing a fair and prominent indication of relevant risks.

Before publishing, ask:

Does the customer get a balanced picture of what is being offered?

2. Hiding important information in the small print

Disclaimers and supporting information matter, but they should not be used to correct an advert that is misleading at first glance.

Important information should be easy for the intended audience to find and understand.

The FCA states that communications should not disguise, omit, diminish or obscure important information, statements or warnings.

That means your headline, creative, caption and supporting information should work together rather than relying on small print to provide essential context.

3. Treating social media like any other advertising channel

A financial promotion does not stop being a financial promotion because it appears on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or LinkedIn.

Social media introduces its own challenges, including limited space, fast scrolling behaviour and information being truncated or separated from the original post.

The FCA has highlighted that social media will not always be an appropriate channel for promoting certain financial products, particularly where the features or risks are difficult to communicate clearly within the format.

Before adapting a campaign for social media, consider whether the format still gives customers enough information to properly understand the offer.

4. Using unclear or potentially misleading claims

Avoid using phrases such as:

“Best rate available”

“Guaranteed approval”

“Save money instantly”

Even seemingly small wording choices can change how a customer interprets an advert.

Claims around pricing, savings or benefits should therefore be reviewed carefully and any significant limitations should be made clear. FCA guidance on pricing claims, for example, says the basis of claimed benefits and significant limitations should be stated prominently.

5. Leaving compliance checks until the campaign is ready to launch

Compliance should not be the final box you tick five minutes before an advert goes live.

Building compliance into the campaign process from the beginning makes it much easier to create marketing that is both engaging and appropriate.

Your process might include reviewing:

• The wording of the offer

• Headlines and promotional claims

• Eligibility information

• Rates and figures

• Disclaimers and risk information

• Creative design and prominence

• Landing page messaging

• The platform and audience being targeted

Creating a clear internal review process can help catch potential issues before money is spent promoting the campaign.

Make compliance part of your campaign planning

Financial advertising does not need to be boring.

The goal is to create marketing that attracts attention while still giving people the information they need to make an informed decision.

That is why we created the Zync Digital Financial Ads Compliance Checklist.

It gives financial organisations and marketing teams a practical checklist to work through before publishing their next campaign.

Download the free Financial Ads Compliance Checklist and give your next campaign a final compliance check before it goes live.

Download the Financial Ads Compliance Checklist

Need support planning, creating or managing your financial advertising campaigns?

Speak to Zync Digital about how we can support your paid advertising and digital marketing.