How to Choose the Best Marketing Platform for Banks & Credit Unions

Unfortunately, not every platform integrates with your core. Many of the most popular email marketing platforms, for example, require list uploads to get started.

In this case, marketers will have to work with IT to extract core data – in whole or in part – before uploading it to their platform of choice, where it remains unchanged regardless of what happens in the weeks and months ahead.

That process is time-consuming for a start, but the larger drawback is the disconnect between data and execution. Without up-to-date visibility into core data, targeted lists become outdated quickly and campaigns become harder to launch and harder to measure beyond basic engagement.

Here, you can segment audiences easily, using account details to determine who may be most receptive to certain offers at certain times or in certain circumstances.

As account balances change, loans mature, or activity declines, you’ll be there to respond promptly with new offers and fresh opportunities that could convert at a higher rate. Best of all, a core-integrated platform can use that data to automate communications – no list uploads required.

It’s tempting to think that the best tool for the job is one that’s built exclusively for it. A corkscrew, for instance, has few applications beyond uncorking a bottle. But that same corkscrew can be found in a Swiss army knife alongside a file, some tiny scissors, and even a toothpick.

A platform that supports multi-channel marketing can keep your strategy focused by centralizing campaigns under one roof.

The less optimal platform here is actually several of them. You might choose one for email, another (or a vendor) for print, and still one more for measuring performance. Regardless of how well these platforms claim to play together, there’s a greater potential for miscommunications and technical snags that you can hardly afford.

Aside from the added complexity and occasional confusion, operating multiple platforms simultaneously comes at a higher cost. In an age when marketing budgets are shrinking and expectations climbing, it can be difficult to justify a half dozen invoices.

To start with, the right platform comes with only one invoice. With print and digital channels in a single place, you can launch cohesive campaigns, monitor results, and adjust your strategy along the way. When campaigns conclude, you can measure and report performance across channels to demonstrate ROI in a meaningful way.

Fewer platforms also means fewer relationships to manage, saving you time, money, and headaches. Ultimately, the right platform should give you space back in your day while maximizing harmony and visibility throughout your campaigns.

Among hammers, you’ll find sledge and ball-peen, claw and rubber – varieties built around the same basic action but for vastly different jobs.

In function alone, most platforms can do the trick. They can send emails and other communications to a targeted audience and measure basic engagement (opens, clicks, etc.). But from there on, the difference between capability and suitability becomes clear.

General-use platforms are built to serve countless industries and marketing teams. That flexibility comes with features, configurations, and complexity your institution may never need – adding cost and effort without necessarily adding value.

Furthermore, these platforms won’t come with an innate knowledge of your datapoints, products, or personnel. That leaves you to bridge the gap between what the software was built to do and what your institution actually needs.

There’s a sizable difference between selling graphic t-shirts and selling home equity line of credit (HELOC) loans. The right platform for your institution knows who you are, what you sell, when you sell it, and who you sell it to.

Better still: the best marketing platform for banks and credit unions is right-sized to their needs without extra gadgets, gizmos, and deep-cut performance capabilities that they either don’t need or don’t understand.

Financial services marketers occupy a niche role in an industry that isn’t comparable to a majority of others. A rubber mallet may work for some businesses, but there’s a better tool for you.

Most tools create value by reducing effort or increasing output. But effort in this context is more than physical exertion. It’s a measure of time.

Financial services marketing teams are typically small, especially at community institutions where as few as one or as many as several attend to the task. Marketing automation allows these teams to punch above their weight, increasing results without additional resources.

There’s a rhythm to marketing that plays out each year. Every product has a season – balance transfers in February, HELOC in March, auto loans in fall. Those recurring campaigns are as regular as the seasons themselves, so why should we start over each year?

The wrong platform here is one that forces you to manually resend communications for evergreen promotions. This naturally leaves you with less time to focus on ad hoc campaigns or quarterly growth goals – both of which are important to leadership.

Then there are onboarding communications, data-driven cross-sells, and other messages that don’t fit neatly on a marketing calendar. You’ll need to run the data and manually launch these too, leaving time for little else.

If you can see a campaign or communication coming from a mile away, you may as well automate it. Create your email or postcard, set a condition for sending it, and move on to something that needs more of your focus.

The right platform uses time- and event-based triggers to send relevant messages for any number of purposes. The tell-tale signs all live in your core data – new accounts receive an onboarding drip campaign, those with high balances but no investment products receive a high-yield savings account email, and so on.

From wishing account holders a happy birthday to using account-level details for smart targeting, a core-integrated platform with automation built in can help one marketer do the work of four.

Some tools are inconvenient when they fail. Others can do real damage. When a marketing platform connects directly to your core, security can’t be another feature buried halfway down the checklist.

Compliance deserves equal consideration. Financial marketing comes with rules and responsibilities that simply don’t exist in most industries. The right platform should protect sensitive account-holder information while helping your institution communicate within the lines.

A long list of marketing features means little if you can’t trust the infrastructure behind them. Before connecting any platform to your core, understand how your data is stored, protected, accessed, and monitored – and how the provider identifies, assesses, and mitigates cybersecurity risks.

Compliance presents another consideration. Financial marketing is subject to requirements that simply don’t exist when selling shoes or software. Deposit advertising, lending promotions, email, and other communications can all carry specific rules and disclosure requirements.

Look for independently verified security controls, such as SOC 2 compliance, rather than taking a vendor’s security claims at face value. Just as importantly, understand how the platform controls access to sensitive information and supports your institution’s existing security policies.

The right platform should also make compliance review easier, not circumvent it. Built-in approval capabilities can give compliance personnel an opportunity to review postcards, emails, and other communications before they go out.

Ultimately, the closer a marketing platform gets to your core, the higher your standards should become. Powerful data can make your marketing considerably more relevant, but only when the technology entrusted with it is worthy of that trust.

The best tool isn’t always the one with the longest list of features. It’s the one that fits the job at hand – and makes that job easier.

For community financial institutions, that means finding a marketing platform that works with your data, supports your preferred channels, automates routine communications, and takes security and compliance as seriously as you do.

Choose carefully, and the right platform won’t simply add another tool to your belt. It’ll help you get more from the tools, data, and resources you already have.