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10 Key Imperatives of

Financial Digital MarketingA Financial Services Marketing Guide for Improving Your Millennial and Consumer Engagement Strategy

PRESENTED BY

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Modern digital marketing is an incredible opportunity for financial institutions to engage with customers and prospects like never before. Tantalizing rewards are within grasp, yet harnessing the discipline is proving challenging as marketers work to blend their marketing programs into traditional business practices, while keeping pace with continually changing technology and ramped-up consumer expectations.

Digital marketing undoubtedly can advance organizations’ efforts to acquire new customers, improve customer retention and loyalty, and upsell and cross-sell to existing customers. Most financial institutions have been online for years, and they’ve embraced marketing’s technological advances to varying degrees of success. But facing an unprecedented rate of change and shifting business dynamics has created extraordinary new challenges.

The No. 1 issue for banks and credit unions today: how to remain relevant, and most importantly, how to avoid becoming irrelevant. Digitization of banking is a huge part of the equation.

This paper explores the key imperatives of digital marketing to help financial services marketers consider ways the discipline can help them achieve their financial institutions’ business goals.

71% of banks listed

improving

digital customer

experience as

a top strategic

priority for 2017 Digitalmarketingisnotanindependentcommunicationspractice.

Customers,morethanever,aredictatingtermsofengagement.

Effectivedigitalmarketingarisesfromandhelpsdriveaculturalshift withinafinancialinstitution.

Digitalfinancialeducationisapowerfulmarketingtool.

Measurabilityisahallmarkofmoderndigitalmarketingand digitalfinancialeducation.

Ifyou’rerelatable,Millennialsarereachable.

Inherentrisksexistinspeakingtocustomersintoday’sedgy,irreverentlingo.

Millennialsareattractiveprospects,butnottheonlyones.

Digitalmarketingoftomorrowequalsunabatedchangeandrequires organizationalagility.

Marketerswhostrategicallyemploydigitaltoolscanhelptheirbankor creditunionsurvive.

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THE 10 KEY IMPERATIVES

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Digital marketing is not an independent communications practice.The frontiers of marketing made possible through technology represent a seismic shift: new ways of thinking, new ways of engaging, and ultimately, new ways of doing business. All this leads to opportunities to connect with customers, prospects, and partners in a deeper, more meaningful way than ever before. If done well, digital marketing delivers positive impact to the bottom line. It can help financial institutions attract and retain customers and improve results from their cross-sell and upsell efforts.

The single most important thing to understand? Effective digital marketing is a critical part of a comprehensive effort, not an independent component of marketing. Rather than chasing the latest trends (which can be tempting), digital marketing should be a strategic effort anchored in traditional communications principles. Above all, effective communications supports the financial institutions’ business objectives.

Recognize that digital marketing is a team effort and a requires a combination of communications expertise. Find resources that can help you integrate digital marketing

into your marketing-communications mix. Whether you outsource, hire, or give your existing employees opportunities to learn, truly integrate your efforts.

Consumers, more than ever, are dictating terms of engagement.Perhaps the most profound change in modern communications is its two-way nature. Consumers have been empowered and they now have a voice. Smart marketers are listening and using that intelligence to create relevant products and better serve their customers. They are engaging on every level, recruiting ambassadors to amplify their positive messages, and responding respectfully to negativity, which exists whether or not financial institutions choose to participate in forums.

Consumers have more banking choice than ever before, many of which are outside of traditional channels and institutions. The ways people are accessing banking services is evolving as providers rush to meet consumer expectations for immediacy, convenience, and effortlessness. If you’re not listening and responding, someone else will fill that role.

Elevate customer feedback in your marketing strategies and report it across your financial institution so it can be factored into business decisions.

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Customers are

29 times more likely to buy

through an

online education experience than

media advertising.

Financial Education: Marketing Strategy and BudgetCommercial Banks vs Credit Unions

Financialeducationispartof yourmarketingstrategy.

Youhaveadedicatedfinancialeducationmarketingbudget.

95%

Commercial Bank

80%

63%51%

CreditUnion

CreditUnion

Bank

Source: EverFi

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Effective digital marketing arises from and helps drive a cultural shift within a financial institution.Effective digital marketing is intertwined with financial institutions’ overall digitization efforts. Together, all departments aim to enrich the customer experience. None of this could exist without a culture that supports innovative thinking, willingness to meet customers on their terms, and a shift toward new ways of doing business. Success is dependent on teamwork across your organization and must emanate from the executive suite.

In a recent survey, EverFi found that marketers predict a net increase in the overall marketing budget for the coming year. They’re planning to increase in all areas except TV and radio advertising. They’re placing the greatest emphasis on online advertising, followed by email marketing, financial education, content marketing, community events and activation, and team and event sponsorship.

Marketers are devoting resources to creating a presence where customers are. They’re evaluating the plethora of tools available, including social media, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, pay-per-click advertising, affiliate marketing, beacons, and other modern technologies. Mobile phones have emerged as one of the most powerful ways to reach customers and prospects.

Create cross-functional teams charged with strategic digitization planning. Have a process in place to continually evaluate the business case for emerging technologies and platforms.

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Is financial education part of your marketing strategy?

What do you expect to happen to your budget for the following activities in the next year?

89%Yes

Does your department have a dedicated budget for financial education?

89%Yes

37%No

4%Not sure7%

No

8%Not sure

Source: EverFi

Marketers

at financial institutions are increasing

budgets for

digital and

educational efforts.

Increase No Change Decrease NetOnlineadvertising 22% 2% 67% 70%

Emailmarketing 57% 30% 3% 54%

Financial Education 45% 43% 1% 44%Contentmarketing 48% 41% 1% 44%

CommunityEventsandActivation 36% 58% 3% 33%

Overallmarketingbudget 40% 47% 11% 28%

TeamandEventSponsorship 20% 70% 5% 15%

TVandRadioAdvertising 11% 47% 24% -13%

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Digital financial education is a powerful marketing tool.The importance of financial education is growing among financial institutions. In a recent industry survey of chief marketing officers (CMOs), 89 percent of respondents said that financial education is part of their marketing mix and their marketing priorities over the next year. Forty-five percent of them expect their budget for educational efforts to increase in the coming year. Financial education provides obvious benefits to customers. It makes them more savvy about financial products and services, and helps them make informed decisions for themselves and their families.

From a financial institution’s perspective, a modern, flexible financial education program helps drive customer engagement and loyalty, and can create upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Importantly, it can support community relations efforts, compliance efforts, and business opportunities as well. Marketers, increasingly concerned about a lack of measurable ROI, are turning to digital education as part of their overall digitization efforts.

Use digital solutions to expand the reach of your consumer education efforts. In helping your customers or members understand how to achieve their financial goals, you’re also creating opportunities to deliver relevant products and services that strengthen your institution.

Measurability is a hallmark of modern digital marketing and state-of-the-art digital education.Measurement is built into every strategic marketing campaign. In the digital world, the challenge is prioritizing the seemingly limitless measurement possibilities. Data analytics help marketers understand the volumes of data they collect and transform it into intelligence to improve their marketing efforts as well as their products and services. Often it happens in real-time to influence customers at the point- of-decision.

The same goes for good web-based financial education. State-of-the-art programs are delivering information and sophisticated analytical tools so that financial institutions can determine how to best serve their customers and deliver relevant products and services as customer needs arise.

Measuring digital efforts helps marketers understand what’s working, and what’s not. And it helps build the business case for the most effective technologies and efforts. Knowing return on investment (ROI) is critical to an organization’s success.

Remember to include metrics that tie efforts into bottom-line business results.

If you’re relatable, Millennials are reachable. Millennials are highly sought after these days. While they’re seemingly elusive, they’re also reachable. Distinct characteristics and attitudes have emerged that can help marketers appropriately deliver products and services that resonate. Many of the answers lie in digitization.

Many Millennials choose to find banking services outside traditional channels. They don’t share the same loyalty to the banking industry as older generations. They’ll give their business to companies that best serve their needs.

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Customers that

purchase due to

online educational experiences are

93% more

likely to tell their

friends about

their experience

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One pressing need for Millennials is financial education that makes sense to them. National research studies have shown that this group lacks financial knowledge. Enter digital education. Contemporary programs tailor the educational experience to individuals, making it easy for them to navigate, learn, and, ultimately, make solid financial decisions for themselves and their families. Millennials trust financial institutions that provide financial education and are more likely to do business with them.

Of supreme importance to Millennials: an ethical culture and authenticity. Their expectations that a company’s values will reflect their own has become paramount in purchasing decisions, for both products and services. An ethical culture instills loyalty and fosters relationships built on respect and trust, creating an opportunity to initiate, develop, and cement relationships. Incidentally, relationship-based opportunities tend to be longer-lasting than purely transactional-based ones.

HENRYs — High Earners Not Rich Yet — are a particularly interesting subset of Millennials. Earning between $250,000 and $500,000 a year, they have little in the way of savings because of their extravagant spending habits. Financial institutions and others are trying to tap this potentially lucrative group.

Reach out to Millennials in ways that make sense to them. Consider adding Millennials to your team so direct relevance resides in your department.

Inherent risks exist in speaking to customers in today’s edgy, irreverent lingo.Social media and other modern venues lend themselves to casual conversations, and they often take on an edgy or irreverent tone. Be careful that you don’t cross a line. If you get it wrong, you risk being perceived as disingenuous, insulting, or out-of-touch — and not worthy of the offended prospects’ business.

Develop communications standards for your organization that offer employees guidance on remaining relevant yet professional in all communications.

Millennials are attractive prospects, but not the only ones.Millennials may be driving society’s rapid technological transformation but it’s not as though Baby Boomers and Gen X are sitting on the sidelines. No generation is immune to the convenience and pleasure technology brings to their lives, as evidenced by cell phones’ ubiquity.

Phones and their owners have become inseparable — no matter the generation. In the banking world that’s translated into growing use of mobile banking, more customers than ever before are using their phones to pay bills, check balances, transfer funds, make deposits, shop for financial products and services, and apply for those products and services. Financial education is making its way onto the list as savvy banks and credit unions reach out to customers and prospects on their terms.

While technology is relevant to all generations, an important fact sets many Baby Boomers and Gen Xers apart from Millennials: They have money. For that, and many other reasons, they remain attractive customers for banks and credit unions.

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Millennials trust

financial institutions that provide

financial education and are more likely

to do business

with them.

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As Baby Boomers age (they’re now 53-71 years old), the largest transfer of wealth ever has begun and will continue for the next few decades. Building cross-generational loyalty can keep assets within your financial institution. According to a recent EverFi study, 1 in 5 parents expect that banks will help teach their children about money, increasing that number can expand your bank’s visible role in families’ lives.

In your segmentation efforts, be sure to zero in on the strengths of these groups.

Digital marketing of tomorrow equals unabated change and requires organizational agility. As technology evolves, the rate of change in both marketing and the core banking business will continue to accelerate. Savvy marketers will keep pace with change and serve as a guiding force. Organizations that have embraced change as a mindset will be capable of remaining a destination for consumers.

Tweens spend an average of nine hours a day using electronic devices, according to a 2015 report by Common Sense Media. In a large-scale CNN study that same year, 93 percent of participating 13-year olds checked their social media at least once daily, and 8 percent of them checked more than 100 times a day. Imagine what the expectations these future prospective customers (and those of even younger generations) will be.

Remain entrenched in the tenets of effective communications while staying on top of the latest trends. Determine which advances make sense for your organization and your customers, and incorporate appropriately.

Marketers who strategically employ digital tools can help their bank or credit union survive.Non-traditional players have forever disrupted the order of financial services. Quite often, it’s the outsiders who are setting the agenda. Will this trend continue? Will banks and credit unions relinquish their leadership role in financial services? Or will they reassert their authority and expertise to innovate and better serve consumers?

Banks and credit unions that choose to disregard these new factors risk irrelevance. For many financial institutions, getting on board with digitization is a matter of survival. Those who don’t understand the urgency put themselves at the greatest risk.

Digital education is a great way to start and get ahead of this.

Marketers can do their part to strategically leverage digital tools within their department but also foster a culture of digitization that can help take their bank or credit union into the future.

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Learn More About EverFi and Incorporating Financial Education into Your Digital Marketing Strategy at

EverFi.com/FinancialEd

1 in 5parents expect

that banks will

help teach

their children

about money

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