Ask the Expert: 6 Strategies for Local Financial Advertising

1. Recommend Campaigns That Showcase Their Community Involvement

Many local financial institutions have strong ties to their city and region. They often sponsor events, partner with nonprofits and support other local businesses. Lepchitz noted that bringing this into campaigns can influence consumer decisions about where to bank. She says to ask what kind of outreach and events they participate in that would be a good hook for an ad campaign.

2. Get Specific on Their Goals

As with any advertiser, you want to know their goals with advertising. Are they seeking more deposits? More loans? General awareness of offerings? The answers will guide what you propose in terms of creative and tactics.

Before contacting them, you can gather clues by visiting their website and other digital footprints to see what’s prominent. Is there a top banner on their homepage? It could be what they most want to promote.

If deposits are the objective, emphasizing their high-yield savings accounts could be an option. Those ads could run on display, geofencing and social media.

Loans such as mortgage refinancing and HELOC (home equity lines of credit) are other examples. People may be looking to consolidate debt with these products. Targeting criteria could include:

• Geography and ZIP codes
• Homeownership
• Ages that align with “borrowing years” for consumers

Another objective may be to gain more car loans. Ideally, the advertisers would want to be able to “know” who’s in the market for cars. Lepchitz noted that’s an option with our email marketing tool. She also suggested geofencing auto dealers in the city, as they are often all in one place.

Mortgage rates are becoming more favorable, and analysts predict they will fall, which will boost real estate advertising. If this is an advertiser’s focus, discuss how you can get things ready now to launch campaigns once rates decrease. Plus, with digital advertising, you can quickly change out creative to match the interest rate.

Explaining how detailed you can be on targeting will entice and interest local financial advertisers.

3. Remind Them That Digital Is Measurable

Any advertiser wants to understand how their ad dollars are working. Digital tactics are all trackable and measurable. Ensure they know that, and give them a preview of what your third-party digital analytics look like and what the data will reveal. It will often be superior to any metrics they are viewing currently.

These numbers will mean a lot to those who hold the budget strings. Lepchitz stated that being able to show reporting to the decision maker would ensure they’re less hesitant to continue investing.

4. Advise Financial Businesses That You Can Help Them Find More Customers

Some financial companies have specific criteria for customers, such as credit unions. Credit unions can be job- or resident-based. They likely don’t have every possible person who fits into these categories. Lepchitz relayed that there are a few ways to do this that credit unions may not be employing currently, such as:

• Geofencing (where permittable) job locations that align with the credit union membership, such as university professors
• Targeting specific ZIP codes within the city or state that align with certain income brackets for credit unions that allow members to be residents

These relevant ads boost any traditional outreach efforts for potential members.

5. Expand Their Idea of Advertising

The finance industry has been around for a long time. It’s evolved by going digital and mobile, but companies may still have some outdated notions about advertising. You have a chance to broaden their conceptions. One thing to talk about, per Lepchitz, is OTT and CTV. It’s the fastest-growing local digital ad tactic. It drives engagement, and the targeting is fairly sophisticated. If the customer still spends a lot on broadcast TV, shifting some to OTT/CTV could deliver better returns.

You should also talk to them about niche social media advertising. They may be experimenting with it or only funneling the budget into the most well-known profiles. However, if they want to attract younger generations, they may want to try Snapchat, Instagram or TikTok. Teen bank accounts are becoming popular, so that would be a content focus for these ads.

If they are looking for potential business customers, LinkedIn would be a way to go, targeting those in financial roles.

6. Demonstrate Trust and Storytelling

Local financial advertising doesn’t have to be all about the numbers — it shouldn’t be. A foundation of creative that drives trust will help them connect with consumers. Laying this foundation involves transparent advertising that includes real stories from customers.

Banks don’t have to be cold institutions. They can be a part of the community that helps residents purchase homes, get out of debt, invest wisely and more. Get them to talk about the human side of their work, and the ad ideas will flourish.