4 toasty digital marketing tips for financials

April 1, 2019

It’s the question on every bank marketing professional’s mind: which digital marketing tactics should I be using today?

More importantly, what will be big tomorrow?

We at BrownBoots have pooled our bank marketing knowledge with the insights of other financial industry experts to reveal four digital marketing recommendations for banks and credit unions.

Welcome to the future!

1. Tap into the Internet of Stuff

From ever-smarter smart phones to wearables to virtual assistants like Alexa, the internet is almost everywhere. That isn’t likely to change, thanks to “the Internet of Stuff,” a term that refers to the increasing connectivity across mundane, everyday objects, including devices that never harnessed the internet before.

Internet-ready refrigerators are already on the marketplace, but before you dip into your digital marketing budget to buy a smart-fridge app, consider this statistic: 89% of people shopping for a home loan do so over breakfast.

And this: 72% of breakfasts include a side of toast.

“Smart toasters are a gamechanger,” said Malcolm Moneybags, CEO of Show Me The Bread Inc., which has sold more than 3 trillion of these augmented appliances in Q1 of 2019 alone.

“Imagine this: while Mrs. Newlywed is waiting for her bagel to turn golden brown, a promotion for your bank’s ultra-low mortgage rates pops up — figuratively speaking,” Moneybags said. “Butter up the customer with a toaster-friendly interface, and watch the home-loan applications slide on in.”

Digital marketers at banks and credit unions should prepare for an influx of other items impacted by the Internet of Stuff as well, especially smart toilets, e-pillows and digital pocket lint.

2. Reach the Youngest Demographic

With brick-and-mortar traffic on the decline across the industry, banks and credit unions continue to seek new ways to engage tomorrow’s customers — particularly young people who would rather use a phone (or toaster) to handle their banking.

When face-to-face relationships fall out of the equation, how can you make connections with teenagers and children?

But wait! Don’t forget about infants! The sooner you expose a person to your brand, the more likely they are to bank with you for life. That’s why your website and online banking products need to be accessible on the devices babies use most.

“We’ve already worked with a handful of banks looking for custom cartridges for our baby and toddler electronics,” said Wendy Whizbang, Marketing VP at JumpToad Enterprises, an educational toy company that in no way infringes on LeapFrog’s trademarks.

Banking apps for other kid-centric tablets are also on the rise (a 5,102% increase since 1924), and savvy marketers are also partnering with overseas manufacturers to ensure their logos are stamped on the rubber bumpers and handles that wrap around baby’s first tablet.

For somewhat older prospects, such as teens and college-aged customers, developers are busy working on a suite of cutting-edge tools that more closely relate to their lives, including a financial calculator that converts dollars into the corresponding number of energy drinks. Meanwhile, Christmas savings accounts are being replaced by March Madness snack funds at many campus branches.

And since social media is really the only way to reach a younger demographic, no channel should be ignored.

“Kids will always seek out new social media platforms to avoid their parents as well as the copious political posts that have ruined Facebook and Twitter,” said Hannah Hipster, Chief Influencer at S?shVibe, a fledgling agency on the East Coast that specializes in social media and social media alone.

“You have to make sure you’re everywhere, including LinkedIn, Pinterest, WhatsApp, QQ, WeChat, QZone, Tumblr, Skype, Viber, LINE, Snapchat, Reddit, Foursquare, Tagged, Badoo, Myspace, StumbleUpon, The Dots, Kiwibox, Skyrock, Delicious, Snapfish, ReverbNation, Care2, CafeMom, Ravelry, Nextdoor, Wayn, Cellufun, Classmates, MyHeritage, Xing, LiveJournal, Funny or Die, We Heart It, Buzznet, DeviantArt, Flickr, MeetMe, Meetup, Tout, Vero, Quora and Spreely,” she said. “Oh, and make sure you give them the opportunity to swipe right!”

“But don’t bother with Google+ because nobody uses that,” she added.

Whizbang also mentioned her R&D team has begun brainstorming ways to reach the youngest demographic imaginable via in-utero marketing.

3. Take Online Chat to the Extreme

Online chat has grown in popularity across the financial industry, rising from just 1.2% of banks and credit unions leveraging it in 2012 to 1.3% in 2018. Digital marketing experts nationwide agree that this communication channel is poised to explode in 2019.

“Live chat is going to be the biggest thing this year,” said Horace Hyperbole, president of ScreenLife Unlimited, North Dakota’s smarmiest digital marketing boutique. “But simply typing messages back and forth is only the tip of the iceberg.”

Here are a few of Hyperbole’s tips for taking live chat to the next level:

• The more emojis you make available, the better! (You’d be surprised how often that zebra gets used.)
• Don’t skimp on the animated GIFs. If pictures are worth a thousand words, then moving pictures have to be worth at least a million.
• Add exotic accents for visitors who use screen readers, including a Shrek-inspired Scottish brogue, stereotypical Australian (be sure to end every sentence with “mate” for full affect) and 23rd-century Klingon.
• Augment your interface with functionality that automatically replaces swear words with the Pig Latin translations of swear words.
• Make online chat a destination by hiring celebrity operators, such as James Patterson or Ke$ha.
• Expand your live chat to a 24/7 webcast that works like those old call-in shows; include pharmaceutical ads targeting aging customers for extra revenue.

“When it comes to live chat, there’s no such thing as over the top,” Hyperbole said. “Who wouldn’t want to discuss balance transfers with an Australian zebra sporting the literary swagger of James Patterson?”

4. Embrace April Fool’s Day Marketing

April 1st is an annual reminder that your audience is comprised of people, and 99.989% of people like fun. In even the most conservative industries, humor can evoke powerful emotions and connections.

Having said that, there’s never a bad day to be creative. The outrageous ideas expressed above might seem over-the-top on the surface, but technology isn’t slowing down anytime soon. What seems like fantasy today might well be reality tomorrow.

And we can’t help but smile when we think of BrownBoots-branded smart toasters.

This article might be a joke, but we’re serious about helping you reach your digital marketing goals. Put our creativity to the test!

We’d love to help you — for real.

See what we’ve already done and what we can do for you!