Scrap Your Marketing Calendar for Activating Consumer Moments
By Wendy Erhart, Director of Client Strategy at Vericast
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The most important moment in a borrower’s journey may happen before a campaign ever launches. Consumers today have more information at their fingertips than ever before, and they can move from research to action quickly. By the time a financial institution reaches out, a borrower may already be comparing options or creating a shortlist of preferred options.
Key insight: Marketing calendars help financial institutions plan around seasonal demand and predictable changes in consumer behavior. But a planned campaign doesn’t necessarily always align with the moment someone starts thinking about making a financial decision.
That gap creates a challenge for marketers who need to reach borrowers early enough to earn their consideration.
Meet Borrowers on Their Timeline
Seasonality is still a major factor in financial decisions. Take the example of home buying and selling. Spring remains a busy season, and there is certainly value for banks and credit unions to plan campaigns around that activity.
However, someone who buys a home in April might have started researching neighborhoods, rates, and lenders many months earlier. By the time a seasonal message reaches them, they may have already made up their mind. That’s where always-on marketing comes into play. Rather than relying only on a scheduled campaign, financial institutions can maintain a presence throughout the decision process and respond when consumers are showing signs of interest using appropriately sourced and permissioned engagement information.
Key insight: Because consumers bring expectations from the rest of their digital lives into financial decisions, they have become accustomed to experiences that are fast and easy to act on. When a financial institution reaches someone too late or has a message that feels disconnected, the experience can feel out of step with what the consumer needs in that moment.
The Decision Influence Window Can Be Short
Once someone starts actively researching a financial product, the consideration period can be short. They can compare rates and reviews before ever submitting an application, and by the time an application appears, much of their decision may have already taken shape. This is where timing becomes more than a media-planning issue. It can influence whether a financial institution is a part of the conversation at all.
Key insight: Appropriate, permissioned signals can help financial institutions recognize when a consumer may be moving from casual interest to active consideration. Engagement with relevant content or other indicators reviewed for appropriate use may give marketers a better sense of when outreach may be useful.
Consider someone who starts comparing auto-loan payments after an unexpected car repair. They may not be ready to apply for a loan immediately, but they could be considering their options. Providing useful information at that moment can help an institution earn consideration before the borrower builds a shortlist. Recognizing these moments requires more than just speed. Outreach should still be relevant, appropriate, and supported by the right oversight and controls.
Focus on Consumer Moments
Campaign calendars give marketing teams structure. They still have an important role to play, but they work best when they leave room for consumer needs.
Financial institutions can create more opportunities by connecting their planned marketing with real signs of intent. Using appropriately governed data, audience-selection criteria, and automation, banks and credit unions can identify indications of product interest sooner and respond while a borrower is still weighing options.
The better the timing, the greater the opportunity to be part of a borrower’s decision before that decision has already been made.
