Reimagining marketing as your financial institution’s growth engine

Financial services providers stand at a decisive moment of transformation. Forward-thinking banks and credit unions are achieving remarkable results by reimagining their engagement strategies.

Some 200 innovative institutions of varying sizes leveraged AI-powered predictive modeling and data-driven engagement technologies to generate over $1.3 billion in new loans and $1.1 billion in new deposits within a nine-month period in 2024—concrete evidence that the future of financial growth has arrived.

This transformation is driven by changing consumer expectations that mirror experiences with tech giants like Amazon and Netflix. Today’s financial consumers demand seamless interactions across channels, anticipatory service that predicts needs and experiences that feel personal rather than transactional. Institutions clinging to conventional approaches face mounting costs, diminishing engagement, eroding market share and weakening competitive position.

Challenges hampering financial services marketing

Financial institutions face obstacles directly impacting their growth potential:

Marketing departments often operate as cost centers, struggling to demonstrate direct contributions to revenue growth. When faced with fierce competition, conventional channels yield diminishing returns despite significant investment.

Institutions struggle to efficiently identify and engage the right accountholders for products. Accountholder data remains trapped in organizational silos, preventing truly personalized experiences.

Resource allocation often follows traditional models ill-suited for digital transformation, while marketing departments remain isolated from technology innovations. The result? Customer experiences that remain transactional rather than transformational.

However, within these challenges lie unprecedented opportunities for institutions willing to embrace new approaches to engagement and growth.

The path forward: Four pillars of financial growth

The good news? The technology and resources needed to transform a financial institution’s approach are more accessible than ever. While the challenges are real, the solutions are within reach for institutions of all sizes.

By reimagining how you engage with accountholders and leverage existing capabilities, your institution can achieve meaningful growth without overwhelming transformation.

The framework consists of four practical pillars that build upon each other:

Managed Services: Optimizing your resources for maximum impact

Profit-Centered Approach: Demonstrating clear ROI on marketing investments

AI-Driven Personalization: Delivering relevant experiences that resonate

Enhanced Digital Experiences: Creating moments that strengthen relationships

These pillars aren’t theoretical concepts—they’re practical approaches already being implemented by financial institutions of varying sizes and drive measurable results without requiring massive organizational upheaval.

Pillar One – Managed Services: Resources aligned with results

Financial institutions can leverage managed services to optimize marketing resources without the overhead of building extensive in-house teams. This allows even smaller institutions to compete effectively by accessing specialized expertise precisely when needed.

Julie Morrison, director of marketing at Core CU explains, “This has been a game-changer for our team. Not only have we seen a measurable increase in member engagement, but we’ve also streamlined our marketing efforts thanks to Managed Services. It’s like having an expert extension of our team – highly effective and incredibly efficient.”

A modestly sized institution with just 17,000 accountholders and ~$150M in assets demonstrated this approach perfectly. By implementing intelligent targeting technology with expert support, they generated a 9.87% click-through rate and created over $1.16 million in new loan volume—without expanding their internal team.

The modern approach shifts focus from managing headcount to orchestrating capabilities, and from maintaining fixed resources to enabling fluid access to expertise.

Pillar Two – Demonstrating Growth: From cost center to revenue engine

The most significant shift is reimagining marketing as a clear driver of revenue and growth.

According to research, less than half of C-suite executives believe their company’s marketing expenditure significantly contributes to revenue or profitability, with the majority still viewing marketing departments as cost centers. This perception persists despite compelling evidence that institutions who transition to a revenue-focused approach consistently outperform their peers.

What’s concerning is that many financial institutions either don’t measure marketing ROI or measure it sporadically, despite aggressive spending on advertising. This lack of attribution makes it impossible to demonstrate marketing’s true value.

One Midwestern institution with $300+ million in assets exemplifies this transformation. Facing challenges in growing their deposit base amid fierce competition, they implemented targeted digital engagement strategies. The results: a 7.66% click-through rate generating 1,092 new CD account openings and over $12.7 million in fresh deposits between March and December 2024.

For this transformation to become reality, banking leadership must understand marketing not as a cost to be controlled but as a revenue engine to be optimized. This requires reimagining how marketing activities connect directly to business outcomes—a shift leading institutions are making with impressive results.

The key is moving beyond simple campaign metrics to embrace multi-touch attribution that captures marketing’s influence throughout the entire customer lifecycle. The financial impact of marketing’s role in driving AI and data-driven campaigns that result in meaningful transactions for a financial institution cannot be overstated.

Pillar Three – AI-Powered Personalization: The “show me you know me” experience

Today’s financial consumers expect personalized experiences that anticipate their needs. AI-powered personalization technology is now accessible to institutions of all sizes, enabling targeted engagement that resonates with customers individually.

Crane Credit Union’s implementation of AI/ML predictive models demonstrates this power. With $1B in assets and 68,000 members, Crane faces competition from larger institutions with higher marketing budgets. Their solution? Leveraging AI to analyze patterns across hundreds of data points and identify members most likely to benefit from auto loan offerings.

The results were remarkable: the AI-powered campaign generated 23,488 highly targeted impressions with a 2.75% click-through rate, resulting in 499 new auto loan accounts and nearly $9 million in additional loans—achieved through hyper-personalized engagement based on individual member behavior patterns.

This level of personalization goes beyond simple rule-based customization. The AI analyzes vast amounts of data in real-time to determine not just what to communicate, but when and how to engage each customer, anticipating needs before they’re explicitly expressed.

Pillar Four – Creating Exceptional Experiences: Beyond transactions to relationships

The final pillar transforms how institutions engage with customers, moving beyond efficient transactions to create meaningful moments that build lasting relationships. It’s about having the recipient say “wow” when you create moments that engage and delight.

Creating exceptional experiences requires viewing every touchpoint as an opportunity to exceed expectations with something perfectly tailored. Technology enables personalized journeys across channels, ensuring consistent experiences whether members engage through mobile, online banking, or other touchpoints. This transformation is driven by immersive multimedia storytelling and interactive financial tools that adapt to customers’ preferences, making abstract financial concepts tangible and empowering customers to explore possibilities and track progress toward their goals.

When institutions successfully implement all four pillars, the results compound. Marketing resources are optimized, revenue attribution becomes clear, personalization creates relevance, and customer experiences build lasting loyalty—all working together to drive measurable growth.

Preetha Pulusani serves as the current CEO of DeepTarget.