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Financial institution marketing strategies that work
Financial Institutions: Data-Driven Marketing, Market Your Business
8 Minutes
8 Minutes
For large financial institutions down to regional credit unions, there are a handful of strategies that all financial marketers rely on: rewards and customer service programs, digital content and advertising, email marketing, and an up-to-date website.
But to truly stand out amongst a sea of financial service providers and garner attention for products, programs and services, financial marketers must take a more thoughtful and rigorous approach to level up their marketing strategies for banks and financial institutions.
The true impact of financial institution marketing
Every financial marketer knows that the landscape of financial marketing is wildly different than it’s been in the past, even as recently as five years ago. Not only have consumer behaviors shifted with the advent of new payment experiences, but the very definition of what a financial institution is has greatly evolved. Yes, some of the tried-and-true marketing strategies will still deliver results today, but if financial marketers aren’t taking advantage of all the opportunities available to reach and retain customers, another financial institution certainly will.
Common goals for financial institution marketing
Before every strategy comes a goal. When it comes to marketing for financial institutions, there are a few common goals most organizations share:
- Brand awareness: A strong brand presence helps differentiate your organization from its competitors. It also establishes trust and credibility, increasing the likelihood of attracting new customers and strengthening the loyalty of existing ones.
- Acquisition and retention: Acquiring and retaining customers is vital for revenue growth as a larger customer base may facilitate revenue stream stability and cost efficiencies, maximizing the lifetime value of each customer relationship.
- Promotion of products and services: Education is a major influence on a customer’s decision making. Promotion also facilitates cross-sell opportunities, enhancing customer retention by meeting their needs.
Strengthen your strategy with data aggregation
Financial institutions have a wealth of in-house data on their own customers to inform their marketing strategies, but financial marketers who only rely on this one source of data will leave opportunities on the table with every campaign. This is true of any KPI, whether that be acquisition, cross-selling or brand awareness. Strategy without rich data is the targeted marketing equivalent of an educated guess, and in a highly competitive market, educated guesses aren't enough to create a competitive edge.
Whether you're trying to earn the business of a new prospect or keep an existing customer, you need a complete view of their financial activity to seriously compete. External partners not only have access to proprietary information such as competitor data, but they also have the deep knowledge needed to analyze, aggregate and enhance all available data to help create a truly informed marketing strategy.
For example, third-party data allows financial institutions to determine which home loan product is best suited to a particular customer or prospect. In the current market, financial institutions need specific data to determine who to target for purchase, cash out or home equity.
The vital data elements that drive campaign response and profitability require comprehensive, accurate and timely data, so partnering with an experienced third-party provider is strongly recommended. For example, Deluxe’s data-driven marketing solution provides multi-sourced consumer and business data, including trigger and profile data. Experienced Deluxe data scientists have developed predictive scores to help financial institutions cross-sell to customers with higher spending and investment potential. The data-driven marketing team can also utilize a financial institution’s customer data to help predict the next best financial product to promote to each customer as well as rank and prioritize customers to determine how best to engage with them.
Strategies for financial marketers
With all this in mind, here are a handful of marketing strategies for banks and financial institutions that can help to build brand awareness, increase acquisition and retention and educate customers on your products and services, all driven by data to reach the right audience, including:
- Trigger marketing
- Omnichannel marketing
- Enhanced customer experience
- Consumerism of B2B marketing
- Detailed differentiation
1. Trigger marketing: Right customer, right time
Trigger marketing, a tactic that activates based on real-time information, is a crucial piece of the data puzzle. Whether a couple is purchasing their first home or have an empty nest and are ready to downsize, trigger marketing signals can send up a flare when customers have experienced major life events – even if they have inquired for credit with another lender.
Not only can trigger data be part of an effective retention strategy, but it's also important for customer acquisition marketing strategies, getting product offers in front of prospective customers the moment they're ready to make a financial decision.
These data signals are critical for financial institutions to know and understand so products can be promoted to customers on the verge of making an important financial decision. Not only can trigger data be part of an effective retention strategy, but it's also important for customer acquisition marketing strategies, getting product offers in front of prospective customers the moment they're ready to make a financial decision.
Credit triggers may also make the difference between keeping and losing a customer. For example, say you have a long-time customer who has had a mortgage with you for over 10 years, and a few days ago they requested information on a home equity loan from another bank down the street. Soon, they're talking with that bank about refinance rates, and are starting to comparison shop for primary mortgage lenders. Without access to real-time credit trigger data from a third-party provider, you won't know you're in the process of losing that customer until it's too late.
Look for multi-sourced trigger data assets to provide the most coverage and identify triggers more quickly than a single source data set. Speed is of the essence. Product response can drop off quickly – within just a few weeks of a trigger event – so it’s vital for financial marketers to identify triggers early and get an offer to a consumer in a matter of days.
2. Omnichannel marketing: Awareness on all fronts
Today’s consumer engages with media online and off, so whatever your marketing goal is, having a presence in all spaces is your best bet for leaving a lasting impression. For financial marketers, it’s rare to find an email- or digital-only campaign perform cost effectively on its own. Rather, adding email or digital communications to a direct mail campaign can help boost lift as the greatest results come from a multi-channel approach. This tactic allows consumers to see a financial institution’s offer in their communications channel of choice which can then be reinforced by messaging in other channels.
Direct mail vs. digital marketing
Even in a digitally-driven world, direct mail continues to deliver ROI for financial institutions. With the competitive nature of the digital marketplace and waning tracking data available to better target audiences, direct mail can be a powerful channel for financial institution marketing campaigns. Leaning in on your direct mail campaigns may also be more cost-effective, too. With the volume of direct mail decreasing and the projected spend falling, there’s less competition in this space, allowing your brand to stand out more easily.
Make yourself findable
Outside of reaching out to prospects via an acquisition campaign, one always-on marketing strategy for financial institutions is to strengthen your organization’s findability. When potential customers look online for products and services that you offer, a strong SEO (search engine optimization) strategy increases your chances of showing up in the search results. Keep in mind that SEO applies not just to the financial institution’s primary website, but also to any online profiles, just as a business listing or social media profile.
3. Customer experience over customer service
Most financial institutions understand the value of customer service, but in an era where more and more consumers expect a personalized brand experience, relying on good customer service alone will almost certainly be detrimental in the long term. To meet the expectations of today's consumers, financial marketers must upgrade from “customer service” to “enhanced customer experience” – and data is critical in making that happen.
Put as much thought into mapping out touchpoints on the customer onboarding and retention journeys as you do on the customer acquisition journey. On any given day, your customers are hearing from other financial institutions, and these competitors are putting their best feet forward to woo your customers away from you. Once someone is your customer, do you continue to put your own best foot forward to keep them happy and satisfied with the financial services you provide?
Relying on current customer data to understand your audience allows financial institutions to avoid more costly customer acquisition and instead focus on retaining – and growing – those relationships.
4. Take a consumer approach to B2B marketing
Just as with consumers, businesses are undergoing a reevaluation of their banking relationships. Factors such as service quality, digital banking capabilities and personalized offerings are influencing where businesses bank. While consumers are often the primary focus of financial institution marketing as they are a much less complex audience to target, not marketing to businesses would be a misstep.
Tactics such as personalization, content marketing and social proof are all consumer-forward bank marketing strategies that can be leveraged in B2B campaigns.
Financial marketers can leverage strategies and insights from B2C marketing to craft targeted campaigns that resonate with business owners and decision-makers, creating new opportunities for acquisition. Tactics such as personalization, content marketing and social proof (i.e., testimonials and case studies) are all consumer-forward bank marketing strategies that can be leveraged in B2B campaigns.
Additionally, cultivating a robust portfolio of business clients will not only bolsters the bank's revenue stream, but it also opens doors for cross-selling opportunities. As businesses rely on banks for a variety of financial services from loans and credit lines to payment processing and treasury management, establishing strong relationships may pave the way for offering additional merchant services in the future.
5. Differentiate yourself in the details
Financial marketers have a variety of tactics at their disposal. The key is to differentiate your financial institutions brand from another’s. How is that accomplished?
Competitive analysis
First, it’s critical to understand what competitors with a similar branch footprint are doing in the same space – solid competitor data is a must for filling in the gaps in your financial institution marketing strategy.
Irresistible offers
Second, any offer must be competitive. Consumers have a choice, so there will never be an opportunity for your organization to open a new account if your offer is less attractive than a competitor’s.
Flawless execution
Third, the offer must be flawlessly executed, from initial campaign selection and delivery to account opening, onboarding and any incentive fulfillment.
Additional next-level execution strategies include:
- Ask current customers what their wants and needs are. Truly listen, then respond with product and service offerings. An offer is only going to be successful if it is valuable to your audience.
- Make it quick and convenient for consumers to take advantage of any offer you market.
- Take a new perspective. It might sound obvious, but most of your clients are not operating in the financial services space on a professional level. When developing and executing offers, lean on collaborators (either in-house or third-party) who can provide a clear picture of how your marketing efforts are being received from a customer perspective.
- Carefully measure the performance of all offers, and if they’re not delivering, modify and evolve the strategy as necessary.
Financial marketers + trusted data = Strategic success
When navigating the dynamic landscape of financial marketing, one indispensable asset stands out: data. Harnessing the power of comprehensive, accurate and timely data is not merely a competitive advantage; it's a strategic imperative. Whether it's understanding customer behaviors, identifying trigger events or refining targeted campaigns, data aggregation elevates financial and bank marketing strategies to new heights of effectiveness.
As the industry continues to evolve, a relationship with a trusted data partner will only grow more essential, ensuring that financial institutions remain agile, competitive and primed for success in the ever-changing landscape of modern finance.
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