The Financial Brand Editorial Resources

Editorial Mission

All articles should be specific to the retail banking industry. Our job is to help banking execs do their job better, faster, more effectively and more efficiently. Every article should be giving readers (bank execs) advice on what they should do, not do, or do differently? What are the steps they should take?

The Financial Brand is a source of actionable insights and how-to advice for senior leaders in the banking industry. Inasmuch, please ask *everyone* you interview about *any* topic: What should banks (or executives in the banking industry) do about this?

Questions similar to the one above can also be posed — e.g., "Where is there growth opportunity for banks (or exec in banking) here?" or "How can banks overcome this threat?"

We should stay focused on consumer-facing issues — the things that consumers can tangibly feel that influence their perceptions of a financial institution and its brand. Our articles almost always explore topics that have a direct impact on the financial decisions consumers make. What influences consumers to choose, not choose, or to continue choosing one banking provider over another?

We aren’t just targeting "banks and credit unions." Our audience includes neobanks, fintechs, etc. We can reference our audience as "senior leaders in the banking space" and "banking industry execs." It is okay to use "banks" and "banking" — and "financial institutions" occasionaly — with limited use of "credit unions" (unless the article is specifically about credit unions).

Editorial Guidelines

Length. All articles should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words in length. Some articles can be shorter (700± words) if they have charts, others can be longer if the topic warrants it (cap at 2,000 words).

Make content inclusive of all asset tiers. All concepts must scale for a wide range of readers at institutions with assets between $500 million and $50 billion — e.g., CMOs at $2B community banks, VPs of marketing at $750M credit unions, AVPs of Deposit Products at $15B+ regional banks.

Acronyms. Please don’t use acronyms such as "CUs" as shorthand for "credit unions" and "FIs" for "financial institutions." Google doesn’t know what they mean. Better to optimize the content for SEO using the full terms.

Referencing financial institutions. It is helpful to reference the size of a financial institution’s assets, but it isn’t usually necessary or important to divulge where a financial institution is located. If you must mention where the institution is based, just use the state — e.g., "Acme Credit Union in Florida," or "Deutsche Bank, based in Germany."

Keep articles evergreen (avoid the "recent" trap). Never use the word "recent," and don’t timestamp articles with relative references like "last month" or "this year." You don’t know when the reader will be seeing the article — could be next week… or five years from now. This comes up *a lot* when writing about a "recent report"; it’s only a "recent" report for a couple months.

SEO Content & Technical Requirements

Repetition & Redundancy — Whatever keyword/search term you choose for your article, you must repeat it frequently and often throughout the article. The rule of thumb is roughly one mention of the keyword per 100 words (aka the "1% rule"). That means in an article with 1,250 words, you want at least 12 references to the keyword. More is okay, but probably best to cap at around 20-25 mentions. Keywords should also appear in your headline (H1) and permalink.

H1 and H2 — "H1" is your headline. Headlines should be loaded with keywords. "H2" is a subhead, which should have keywords that are subthemes to the main keywords in the H1 headline. (We are no longer using H3 level subheads.)

Article Length — With very few exceptions, articles should be 1,500 words or less. Google traffic drops for articles that are longer than that.

H1, Meta Title and Permalinks — Must all match. Don’t edit Meta Titles unless they are too long. Don’t modify permalinks.

SEO Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions — Must always be the appropriate length and in "the green zone."

Categories — Be sure to designate the best primary category. Ideally the primary category you choose will have the same keyword(s) in the headline (or very closely related terms). Most articles should only be in one category — the primary category. Do not put any article in more than three total categories. Do not put an article into a secondary category unless at least a third of the article is highly correlated to that category.

Anchor Text — This refers the text you choose to link in your article. All linked text should be search keywords. Do not link more than 2-5 words at a time.

Internal Links — In every article, always include relevant "Read More" links to related articles on thefinancialbrand.com. Please see below for internal tracking links via the GA4 system.

External Links — There should be no more than 2-3 links in any article to a site other than thefinancialbrand.com. All external links should be set to open in a new window.

Links in Guest Posts — Links in guest posts should include the rel="nofollow" and be set to open in a new window.

Links in Sponsored Posts — Links to the sponsor’s website should include the rel="sponsored" and be set to open in a new window.

Alt Text — This refers to the alt="" tag that appears inside the HTML for images. All images should have descriptive alt text. Alt text should describe the image in a way that the visually impaired can understand what the image is about and what it says. You do not need to include all the datapoints from a chart.

Internal Tracking Links

As of March 2025, we use GA4 and their tracking link setup to track behavior around the TFB website.

For linking within the article:

INTERNALLY, IN AND AROUND TFB

For any links that you’ll find around the site, whether it be in an article or a podcast page, we’ll use the following Source, Medium and Campaigns.

Source: Here, you’ll use the moniker that’s used to label the content you’re linking from. So, in this instance, if you are linking a read more article in a bullet list, you’ll use the six-digit article ID of the story.

Medium: We won’t have a whole bunch of mediums. It’ll probably be pretty straight forward:

• "Article" if linking from an article
• "Podcast" if linking from a podcast
• "Webinar"
• "Report"
• "Whitepaper"

Campaign: This is where more of the creativity can happen. If you guys think of new ones, please feel free to suggest them when and where you find instances of them. For the internal linking of read mores and such, I think it’ll be fairly simple, and using what we’ve already had going for years:

• internal-link-blist
• internal-link-sngl
• internal-link-embd

Example: If I’m uploading my story (Are Your ATMs Just a Commodity? Or Can They Drive Meaningful Differentiation? — ID: 186934) and I’m linking a read more to another ATM story (Maximizing ATM Marketing Deepens Customer Relationships — ID: 170833), this is how I would set up the link:

• Read more: Maximizing ATM Marketing Deepens Customer Relationships
• And the link would look like: https://thefinancialbrand.com/news/bank-marketing/how-to-use-atm-marketing-to-deepen-customer-relationships-170883/?utm_source=186934&utm_medium=Article&utm_campaign=internal-link-sngl

SOCIALS FOR WRITERS

Source: Just keep it easy. "Socials" is just fine.

Medium: The medium will be whatever platform you’re posting it on. I think all of us are only using LinkedIn, so we’ll just keep it "LinkedIn".

Campaign: These we’ll establish the same link composition for all the writers: [First initial][Last name][MMDDYY/month day year of the day you’re posting] —

• Steve’s would be "SCocheoMMDDYY" or "SCocheo030325" if he was posting today.
• Matt: "MDoffing030325"
• Jim: "JMarous030325"

Example: If Steve was promoting his article on Thursday on his personal LinkedIn that he published today, this is what the link would look like:

• https://thefinancialbrand.com/news/bank-marketing/how-to-use-atm-marketing-to-deepen-customer-relationships-170883/?utm_source=Socials&utm_medium=LinkedIn&utm_campaign=SCocheo030625

SOCIALS ON TFB

Apply the logic from the examples above.

• /?utm_source=Socials&utm_medium=LinkedIn&utm_campaign=LinkedIn

TFB EMAILS

Apply the logic from the examples above.

• /?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=edigestM1
• /?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=BYO
• /?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=BankingTransformed
• /?utm_source=C-B_Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=company_cobrandednews_MMDDYY

H2 Class = Subhead

The standard subhead used to separate sections within articles published by The Financial Brand is shown above. It uses bold type and includes dotted divider line above it. Here are two other pre-defined CSS subhead styles shown below.

H2 Class = Callout Subhead

Same size and weight as "subhead" but there is no dotted line above it.

H2 Class = Red Subhead

Same size and weight as "subhead" but the type is red, and there is no dotted line above it.

H2 Class = Large Text

This is an example of "Small" type.

Ordered List

1. Item one. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
2. Item two. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit.
3. Item three. In voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Unordered List

• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
• Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit.
• In voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

1.) Topic Goes Here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

(2) Next Subject. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit.

#3 – Numbered List. In voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

1.) Topic Goes Here. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

(2) Next Subject. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit.

#3 – Numbered List. In voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Pull Quotes

"This style of quote is aligned to the right side of the article."
— John Doe, Company

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

"This is a larger style of quote that puts gray vertical bars left and right, and places the text inline within the article. This can be used in lieu of a graphic panel from Robert."

— John Doe, Company

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

"This is the largest style of pullquote we have. This can be used in lieu of a graphic panel from Robert."

— John Doe, Company

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Key Points

Please try to insert at least 2-3 of the following key points in every article.

‘Text’ for "Subhead" Goes Here?:

The body of the ‘keypoint’ goes here, including a "quote" from someone.

Super Big Text

How It Works:

Retail investors look for a heavily shorted stock, then gang up to drive share prices higher. Institutional investors who shorted the stock are forced to buy shares to cover their position, driving share prices even higher.

What It Means:

Facing increased technology and regulatory demands, credit unions with less than $1 billion in assets will struggle to survive.

Why It Matters:

Digital payments are accelerating, and cryptocurrencies will be increasingly popular with more and more younger consumers.

Key Question:

Can smaller institutions realistically leverage advanced analytics like artificial intelligence and machine learning?

Key Fact:

Only 1 in 4 consumers who say they might switch banking providers actually do so.

Key Insight:

People often say they don’t trust banks generally, but almost always say they trust their own banking provider.

Between the Lines:

Many analysts privately worry (but are reluncant to say publicly) that trends point to an impending downturn with potentially cataclysmic consequences.

Don’t Forget:

We’ve heard this before. People have been saying ‘branches are dead’ for nearly 20 years.

Reality Check:

Partnering with fintech is easier said than done. Many financial institutions have been disappointed with their results.

The Big Picture:

Mobile phones replaced cameras, watches, calculators and phones — all items we once carried around. Wallets are next.

What’s Next:

Google announced its "Apollo" update (scheduled for spring 2022) will severely restrict results with sponsored links.

What to Watch:

Regulators under Biden’s administration may take their cues from Sen. Warren and implement sever penalties for financial institutions that don’t comply.

Bottom Line:

Retail banking providers won’t maximize their ROI until they get this under control.

Blockquote

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

This is a regular blockquote. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

This blockquote uses the ‘big-type’ span class. Dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Image With Round Corners, Keyline and Drop Shadow

This image has a caption. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.

This is a sample caption. This image, which shows a graphic of a whole bunch of credit cards, also has a generic drop shadow.

The above image has a drop shadow, although there are different sizes you can also use in a drop-shadow. If you inspect the image, you can edit the drop-shadow class to see the other styles:

• .drop-shadow
• .drop-shadow-sm
• .drop-shadow-md
• .drop-shadow-lg
• .drop-shadow-xl
• .drop-shadow-2xl

The width of the body content column in articles is 720 pixels.

Featured Images are 800 pixels wide x 419 pixels tall.

All featured images (articles, webinars, podcasts, etc) need to be no smaller than: 620w x 325h. However, any size between 620×325 and 1200×627 (with aspect ratio 1.91) works fine.

Banner ads are 1500 pixels wide x 250 pixels tall.

Buttons

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Standard Red Button

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Using Large Type

Basic HTML Table

Fig. 1 – Chart Title

You can also go to DivTable to generate copy/paste code for HTML tables.

Table with Specific Column Widths (in Pixels)

IT/Dev Audit Checklist

MISC.:

• Print option on posts
• Social media sharing on posts
• Search tool and results (and page 2)

PAGES:

• Power 100 Social Media lists
• Neobank Tracker
• Webinars
• Podcasts
• Reports
• Article Archive (Categories & Tags)

GRAVITY FORMS:

• Gravity Form pass-through variables from and subscribe on home page
• Gravity Forms styling
• Test subscribe form

MOBILE:

• Responsive
• No Pop-Ups, other ads still show