The Financial Services Marketing Tips You Tapped Most in 2023
If best practices, tip sheets and examples from top brands are your love language, you’ve come to the right place! While closing out the year and setting yourself up for success in 2024, we invite you to lean on the expertise of our team, as shared regularly here on the Media Logic financial services marketing blog.
Whether you’re a loyal reader or just discovering us for the first time, we’re confident you’ll find the insights in our most popular posts of 2023 helpful as you prepare for the challenges and opportunities ahead.
#1 Best Practices for Marketing Youth Banking Apps and Debit Cards
In this, our most popular post of 2023, our team examines the explosion in youth banking accounts, including three factors fueling growth:
- It’s well-established that consumers are loyal to their first cards/accounts.
- Younger cohorts have a genuine interest in money and finances.
- Fintech offerings and investments have surged.
In addition, we take a quick look at marketing for Chase First Banking to reveal best practices for this category.
If you like this topic, consider reading Are Debit Cards for Kids and Teens Useful Teachers of Financial Education? There, we explore how key players – including Greenlight Debit Card, Venmo Teen Debit Card, Chase First Banking, Capital One Teen Checking and Go Henry – invest in financial education for kids.
#2 / 10 Debit Card Trends for Payment Card Marketers to Watch
In late 2022, S&P Global indicated that debit had surpassed credit as consumers’ preferred payment card, so it makes sense that this year, we’ve seen many issuers shoring up their debit card strategies. In this blog post, our financial services marketing team offers insights on how the rise in debit usage overlaps with other initiatives (like digital transformation and financial education) and intersects with various audience segments.
Interested in further reading on debit card marketing? Check out How FIs Can Benefit From Debit Card Loyalty and Rewards Programs.
#3 / Beyond the Teller: Value of Branches for Banks and Credit Unions
When determining the value of branches for banks and credit unions, the default (i.e., easy) question is, Do consumers want branches or not? Instead of approaching the answers as “either/or” (in opposition), we think it’s more helpful to consider that both are true.
Some customers rely on branches; others don’t. Some tasks favor digital; others benefit from human interaction in-branch. One size does not fit all. To get to the right value prop, FIs must understand their unique customer bases and the competitive environments in which their branches operate.
To learn more about the role and value of brick and mortar, take a look at our post on the JPMorgan Chase bank branch strategy, which also made this list (#9 below).
#4 / Financial Brands Lead Advertising Spend on Streaming Services
A Pathmatics report on the state of over-the-top (OTT) advertising indicates financial brands are investing heavily in streaming TV and video. In fact, according to the data, FS brands are the top spenders across five platforms: Hulu, Pluto, Tubi, Peacock and Paramount.
The marketing spend makes sense to us: Advertising on streaming TV and video is set to surpass linear TV within a couple of years, and these channels offer brands several benefits, like advanced targeting, audience receptivity (including completed views) and a variety of ad formats.
This blog post details these insights and features a downloadable one-sheet highlighting trends and benefits, capturing financial services spend and showcasing results from a recent Key Private Bank OTT campaign.
If you’re looking for additional emerging platforms for FS advertising, see what our experts say about the potential benefits of podcast advertising.
#5 / Fintech in the Mailbox: Digital Companies Turn to Direct Mail for Acquisition
We all know that fintech companies excel in the digital space. It’s how they’re conceived and what they’re about. But did you know that many fintechs also rely on non-digital channels for key elements of their marketing campaigns?
We’ve observed several direct mail pieces from fintech brands, particularly around customer acquisition. With help from Mintel Comperemedia, we pulled together recent examples showing how these digital companies are using DM for acquisition, including targeting the subprime audience. Our experts highlight best practices and assess how mail pieces from top fintech brands hold up. Examples include DM from SoFi, Chime, Best Egg, Upstart, Aspire, Petal, Payoff and Lending Club.
We’ve addressed additional direct mail trends in recent posts, including a 2023 report on the effectiveness of direct mail and several stats on direct mail volume and formats.
#6 / Opportunities for Financial Brands to Reach Generation Alpha
The first generation born entirely in the 21st century, Generation Alpha will be driven by omnipresent screens, a globalized worldview and a desire for authentic experiences. Born between 2010 and 2025, this generation will soon outnumber Baby Boomers and is still strongly influenced by their mainly Millennial parents.
Financial brands hoping to create opportunities with this emerging demographic must start building relationships today, walk the talk regarding their values and be fully digitally accessible.
See how other FIs are doing this in our posts about investing in financial education for kids and teens and marketing FS apps and debit cards to young consumers (#1 on this list).
#7 / Can ChatGPT Write a Blog Post About Payment Card Marketing?
It wouldn’t be 2023 if we weren’t talking about ChatGPT! Just like you, we’ve been kicking the tires on generative AI and continue to believe in its potential. Earlier this year, we gave ChatGPT a spin as a blog writing tool, asking it to write a blog post about the impact Jasper and ChatGPT will have on payment card marketing. Our blog post includes the ChatGPT-authored post, along with our assessment of how we think it did. Give it a read to see what the generative AI got right – and where it fell short.
#8 / Banks Must Match Fintech Offerings to Capture Gen Z Customers
Banks need to step up mobile and digital banking – and marketing! – efforts if they hope to compete with fintech for Gen Z customers. To help you capture market share with this demographic, we discuss several capabilities for credit unions and banks to expand, including mobile and online banking, consumer expectations, financial education via social media and outside-the-box thinking.
Last year, we wrote about additional marketing lessons banks can learn from fintech, focusing on best-in-class examples from the unconventional marketing of retail banking, payment products and B2B services.
#9 / How the JPMorgan Chase Branch Strategy Delivers for Its Bottom Line
It’s very common to hear about the demise of the bank branch. And even though the overall trend is toward branch closures, that doesn’t tell the whole story. Consumer surveys reveal that bank and credit union customers assign real value to branches, and industry experts point to opportunities that exist in reimagining physical branches.
Some banks have figured this out, most notably JPMorgan Chase (JPMC). To see what sets their approach apart from the rest – and glean lessons for other bank and credit union marketers – our team examines the bank’s branch strategy and its very positive ROI.
It’s impressive that JPMC has reimagined the franchise to become the #1 bank presence in the lower 48 US states and expertly used its branch strategy to meet business goals. The key to this success? Alignment with customer needs and preferences.
#10 / Credit Card Marketing Tactics to Address Consumer Fear About the Economy
Unfortunately, financial pressures have not eased for consumers this year. And just as they did during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, financial brands must adjust how they address consumer needs and revise messaging to reflect how their products and services meet the current moment. Credit card marketing, in particular, offers FIs an opportunity to nurture existing customer relationships and appeal to new consumers.
In this post, we dive into some recent Ipsos insights on navigating consumer uncertainty and find that a few are particularly relevant to credit card marketing. Our experts also share action items to help FIs respond to the economic stressors impacting consumers.
