The Financial Brand

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As hard as it is to believe, marketing budget season for 2025 is just around the corner. Cuts to the marketing department could not be more dangerous. In 2023, the largest and smallest banks increased their marketing budgets the most and saw superior growth as well. These findings, from Capital Performance Group's latest report, underscore how critical marketing can be to the industry's top performers. CPG's data, exclusive to The Financial Brand, underlines just how important the financial marketing budget is. But, it's not just about spending more. The challenge for financial marketers in 2024 and beyond is to prioritize revenue growth opportunities and contribute to their institution's growth goals through targeted customer acquisition and retention initiatives. 🔮 Looking ahead as 2025 budget season conversation kick off: - Marketing budgets need to be strategically allocated to compete with larger regional and national bank brands. - Financial marketers must focus on initiatives that drive both customer growth and relationship-deepening. - Institutions should benchmark their marketing spend against peers with similar business models to ensure competitiveness.

The attention span is growing shorter, making a well-crafted slogan stand out against a backdrop of cheesy and ineffective taglines. Martha Bartlett Piland, CFMP, President & CEO of Banktastic®, puts it perfectly: "A good slogan supports the overall brand promise, and over time, becomes shorthand for the financial institutions' story." Josh Fleming, Marketing Director for Bank Iowa, emphasizes the broader impact: "For a community financial institution like Bank Iowa, a brand promise must speak to our clients, communities, and culture (The 3 C's)." Creating an effective tagline isn't just about creativity — it's a strategic process involving research, collaboration, and testing. And once launched, measuring its effectiveness through brand awareness studies and perception tracking is crucial. And more importantly, as Xavier E. of Supermix wisely notes, "The best slogan is the one the bank lives up to." What makes an effective quick and snappy tagline? (The answer is in the article.)

Data is king in the digital banking world. But, financial institutions and regulators aren't the only ones vying for its protecting. Data's crown is especially heavy on the heads of bank marketers when the consumers themselves are expecting greater and greater data privacy protections to be in place — regardless of the investments on the backend. "What [marketers] have been able to do historically, vis-a-vis cookies and collection of data — sometimes without consent — we're past that era," says Capco's Glenn Kurban. Banking customers expect personalization, but not at the cost of their personal data safety. What does the balance of that look like?

In the crowded financial services arena, how do you make your brand stand out? First Horizon Bank's Paula Beale has a fresh perspective: "Brand strategy is really about finding a unique position that you can take in your marketplace to earn opportunities with prospects and clients alike." Beale draws inspiration from an unexpected source: the Savannah Bananas baseball team. Known for their on-field antics and bright yellow uniforms, they've become a ticket-selling phenomenon. First Horizon is embracing this philosophy, creating unique content like "The Money Edit" newsletter and the "Bucket Listening" podcast. These initiatives have garnered millions of impressions, proving that when it comes to financial brands, thinking outside the box pays off. As she says, she's trying to find creative ways to get consumers to engage with the First Horizon brand, even if it's less than half an hour. As Beale notes, "Getting someone to spend 20 minutes with your brand uninterrupted is a real gift for a marketer and brander."

Contrary to popular belief, consumers are actually quite happy with their primary banking providers, and it can all be traced back to stellar customer service. But, happiness doesn't always translate to long-term retention: a third of consumers are considering switching institutions in the next year, making the delivery of personalized, human-centric experiences across channels critical to fostering loyalty. https://lnkd.in/eNzSp_7K

Is your banking website taking cues from your mobile app, and vice versa? They should. According to the latest report, major banks are on a mission to make their digital platforms more alike than awkward twins at a family reunion. Susan Foulds, Keynova Group's managing director, says this trend towards uniformity is like giving customers a comfy pair of digital slippers — familiar and satisfying across all channels. But here's the plot twist: while mobile banking is stealing the spotlight, desktop banking isn't ready for its curtain call just yet. Turns out, some consumers still prefer the wide-screen experience, especially when it comes to wealth management or complex transactions. The big banks are pulling out all the stops to keep their digital dashboards shiny. From real-time transaction lists to free credit scores, they're packing more features into these dashboards. And let's not forget customer service: banks are playing a high-stakes game, as they work to balance AI chatbots with the comforting presence of human helpers. Because sometimes, even in our digital age, you just need to hear a human voice tell you that yes, you really did spend that much at Starbucks last month.

Data analytics: The secret sauce for banking success 🏦📊 In today's digital age, some bankers still rely solely on personal relationships. But what if we could combine high-touch service with high-tech insights? At Associated Bank, Chief Analytics Officer Chun Schiros is revolutionizing customer relationships through data: "Relationship managers have hundreds of customers. They can't know them all well. But data analytics can enable deeper and better relationships." Schiros emphasizes data and AI are tools, not the end goal. Her approach? Work backwards from desired outcomes to determine the right analytics strategy. Key focus areas: - Expanding lending and deposit capabilities - Enhancing digital experiences - Developing scalable products and services "Data is not something you can turn into gold overnight," Schiros notes. But with patience and a clear vision, it can become a bank's true differentiator. How is your financial institution leveraging data to enhance customer relationships? Share your thoughts below! https://lnkd.in/e5P9bPJs

Capital Performance Group (CPG)’s Ally Akins & The Financial Brand analyzed banks’ marketing budgets & financial performance. The real story here is how traditional banks are getting ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED by fintechs. Here’s the scoop: FINTECHS CUT COSTS & OUTSPEND TRADITIONAL BANKS Banks must compete with national fintechs that are playing a different game, with drastically different resources. The 9 fintech holding companies they analyzed have AVG assets of $134B: American Express Co. Capital One Financial Corp. Discover Financial Services Green Dot Corp. LendingClub Corp. SoFi Technologies Synchrony Financial Ally Financial Cass Information Systems First off, fintechs have a tremendous cost advantage: They don’t rely on large branch or physical distribution networks. Secondly, fintechs are outspending traditional banks by A TON. To put it plainly, if a $3B bank is spending $2.1M (7 bps of assets), a fintech bank holding company of that size would be spending $25.2M (84 bps of assets). That’s 12x more - & some comparisons between asset classes are worse)! Our take 👉 It’s not just higher spending that’s placing fintechs well ahead—it’s their talent for designing differentiated products & simple experiences. Banks should take note because most are drowning in a sea of sameness. AVG SPENDING AS % OF ASSETS Fintechs have deep pockets & spend 8-14X more than banks on marketing. They invested an AVG of .84% of assets while traditional banks invested .06% - .11%: Our take 👉 Neobanks opened the lion’s share of checking accounts in '23. Their fat budgets are a key reason why. Assuming marketing dollars are wisely deployed, you’d expect 8-14X more spending to result in market domination. HIGHER SPENDING ≠ BETTER RESULTS Traditional banks, in general, grew marketing more slowly in ‘23 vs ‘22. Growing revenue remained an industry-wide challenge as banks fought for funding sources & competed against rivals of all kinds for deposits. As a result, only the largest banks managed to grow revenue faster than their non-marketing spend peers, while banks <$50B saw worse negative revenue change YoY than their peers. Our take 👉Why do FIs cut marketing budgets in difficult economic climates? Doesn’t it take more to grow? And when competitors cut spending & you hold strong, you’ve got a chance to leapfrog. WHAT TO DO TO SURVIVE Marketers can’t control their institution’s ability to remain profitable & to grow profitability further. However, they can contribute to their institution’s growth goals through targeted customer growth initiatives & campaigns that aim for customer retention & relationship deepening. Our take 👉Smart banks are wisely focused on driving more ORGANIC growth. They’ve studied how fintechs stamp out friction & deliver personalized guidance & offers that convert. If you want to better compete, hit us up! Read more: https://lnkd.in/eDtQEaYn

The fire hose of technology is on full blast, and how all of these disruptive changes will reshape the banking industry is yet to be determined. It is forcing chief marketing officers at banks and credit unions across the country to rethink how their teams can be most effective. Consider the impact of neobanks, which Stride Bank, N.A.'s Lindsey Ogan calls "a massive challenge" for marketers at traditional financial institutions. Hear from Lindsey and Pam Piligian from Navy Federal Credit Union on how they are revamping their roles as chief marketing officers and what challenges they are encountering.