5 Marketing Strategies for Financial Institutions

Marketing an investment program at a bank or credit union comes with a unique set of challenges. You must decide if you’ll be marketing the program as a whole, helping the advisors within your program market themselves, or perhaps a bit of both. You may also have support from your institution’s marketing team and guidance from executive leadership to consider. But no matter what your path, implementing the following strategies can enhance your current marketing efforts without significant costs.

1. Establish or Enhance Your Program Website

Many investment programs are featured within a section of their bank or credit union website, but creating a separate website for the investment program could increase your visibility with clients and prospects. Consider directing marketing and promotional messages to your program website so readers can learn more about your team and services, plus benefit from value-added educational content.

Optimize the investment program’s website effectiveness by following these best practices:

• Leverage vendors like FMG Suite for pre-approved web content.
• Prominently display your value proposition on your homepage.
• Ensure your website is mobile friendly.
• Keep your site up-to-date with unique content such as blog posts, videos, and podcasts.
• Use links and visual cues to tie your website back to the bank or credit union site and brand.

2. Create an Engaging Social Media Presence for Your Program

The Financial Brand tracks the social media activity of banks and credit unions world-wide across Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube every quarter. Their Q3 2022 research showed some fascinating trends:

• The top 100 banks on Twitter are tweeting an average of 587 times per month and 146 times per week.
• Cumulatively, the top 100 banks on Facebook gained more than a million new likes on their posts—with those in the top 10 getting a quarter of them.
• The top 10 credit unions garnered three-quarters of all new YouTube views among the top 100 credit unions.

If your social metrics could use a boost, consider setting up a separate social media presence for your investment program, following applicable compliance guidelines. Post frequently and consistently, focusing on value-added content instead of overly self-promotional messaging. Remember to broadcast your message across multiple platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) to maximize visibility.

3. Offer Loyalty Rewards Programs

Loyalty programs are seemingly everywhere, but do they really work? The numbers speak for themselves:

• 79% of consumers said that loyalty programs make them more likely to continue doing business with a brand. (Bond Loyalty Report)
• 70% of customers state that rewards from financial institutions influence their decisions (Collinson)
• 20% agree that they would be more likely to spend more if offered relevant and personalized rewards. (Collinson)
• Harvard Business Review has found that referred clients will generate 15% more profits than non-referred ones.

If you’re in the early stages of creating or reimagining the financial institutions rewards program, it can be tempting to focus your marketing efforts exclusively on the perks themselves. Instead, set yourself apart by emphasizing the VIP experience you provide for your rewards members. Personalize the rewards as much as possible and make them easy and convenient to redeem. For example, allow customers to transfer or share points with friends and family, or donate them to a charitable organization they support.

4. Support Community Initiatives

Your institution plays an integral role in your community and has a unique opportunity to guide multigenerational customers through key life milestones. Seize this opportunity by offering a wide range of educational classes like financial planning for new parents, saving for home ownership, working toward the retirement of your dreams, and investment strategies.

Also, consider connecting with county administrators to bring financial literacy courses to your local schools. This could position your bank or credit union as a community leader in the national effort to increase financial literacy among students and encourage them to adopt lifelong positive financial habits.

5. Leverage LPL Marketing Tools and Resources

At LPL, we’re committed to helping financial institutions like yours become the financial hub of your community. Investment programs located at banks and credit unions who align with us have access to engaging marketing resources that help build awareness and build strong client loyalty, including:

• Marketing On Demand features pre-approved content such as articles, seminars, postcards, flyers, and more that’s customizable on behalf of an advisor or your investment program.
• The Marketing Your Practice page of the ClientWorks Resource Center features helpful tools and advice, such as our popular Marketing Content Calendar and best practice learning opportunities within the Marketing Media Library.
• The Vendor Affinity Program page on the ClientWorks Resource Center lists information about FMG and other recommended website partners.
• The Gainfully social media content library is a complementary resource for timely, shareable content that allows you to assign delegates, such as marketing staffers, to access and share content on your behalf.
• The enhanced guidelines for cobranding to generate awareness for your investment program by leveraging the resources of your financial institutions with more flexibility. Contact your relationship manager for a copy.

Questions and Consultations

LPL Marketing Consulting is here to help guide your marketing team through all of our tools and resources, answer questions, and provide one-on-one consulting to recommend marketing materials and strategies suitable for your investment program. Contact us at (800) 877-7210, Option 9, Option 5, Option 1, or email Marketing Consulting.

If you’re interested in a digital marketing strategy that is executed on your behalf, please visit LPL Business Solutions Discover Marketing to complete the form, and a member of their team will be in touch with you directly.

Consult your compliance department for information about the rules and use of social media and the review of all advisor marketing materials.

For Institutional Use Only

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Morgan is passionate about helping others with their marketing strategies and loves all things marketing. View full bio.