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Lead generation has changed in recent years, and as audiences move online, lead generation strategies need to be as targeted and effective as possible. With so many competitors using digital marketing as their go-to tool to attract new customers, companies need to make sure that their leads are engaged and nurtured to convert.

Is your lead strategy working? What are you doing to ensure the quality and engagement of your leads? The Lead Gen Bootcamp for Bank Leaders from NC Bankers Association, Fintel Connect, ABA, Georgia Bankers Association, Maryland Bankers Association, Massachusetts Bankers Association, Pennsylvania Bankers Association, and Virginia Bankers Association was created to teach financial leaders how to boost, maximize, scale, and optimize their marketing strategy.

Industry leaders from top companies gathered in a two-day program to share their knowledge on boosting landing page conversions, maximizing paid search traffic, managing influencers and optimizing campaign strategies.

Find out the top takeaways from these enriching conversations to implement in your marketing strategy in 2023 to exceed your growth goals, no matter where you are on the journey.

Boost Conversions: Best Practices for Landing Pages

The bootcamp kicked off with Neha Anada, Head of Industry of the Personal Finance portfolio on Money.com. As one of the largest online resources empowering personal finance decisions, Money.com are experts in understanding what resonates with consumers. Anada led a session focused on the importance of landing page optimization from CRO to UX and UI, and shared actionable insights on some of the most significant factors on bottom line impact that you can leverage today.

1. Create single-purpose landing pages
When your customers have completed their research, are they able to land on a page to apply for their product easily? You want them to get your product as efficiently as possible, so direct them to a place where they can find what they were looking for -nothing more, nothing less.

2. Optimize your landing page
Remember the landing page is an intent space. The customer is ready to take action so make sure your messaging and user experience is optimized. You have eight seconds to engage your user: make the most of your content!

3. Think mobile
Research shows that mobile traffic is increasing by 10% YoY, so the first layout you should see and approve is the mobile layout. Make sure the mobile version offers an easy flow and friendly user experience.

Maximize Your Paid Search Traffic: How to Avoid Overspending

Session 2 was led by Anthony Costanzo, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Analytics at Cage Point, an analytics-focused media agency. Their data-driven approach to solving business challenges and to drive profitable growth is based on analyzing, measuring and optimizing. Costanzo shared his expertise and knowledge with financial leaders on analytics and the best paid search tactics and strategies to include in your marketing strategy for 2023.

1. Adapt to paid search requirements
Google is changing strategies constantly; they recently updated how paid search works and instead of focusing on keywords, they’re focusing on user intent. This means that now, more than ever, you need to understand what your user wants and be ready to give them exactly that when creating ads and content.

2. Audit your budget
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world, so maybe it’s time to include it in your strategy. Also, use free tools, such as Google Ads Performance Planner and Keyword Planner, to help you discover new keywords and get a forecast on search volume, and try Google Trends to monitor keywords performance in your area. Invest your budget in a smart way using the right channels and tools for your strategies.

3. Pay attention to the anatomy of your ad text
Messaging is critically important to reach the right audience. When building an ad, make sure to include an ad extension to get more real estate on the results page (kicking the competitors further down) -it doesn’t involve an additional cost! Also be sure to think about user intent –what does your consumer want?

Scale Your Digital Customer Referrals: Influencer Marketing to Win More Customers

Day two was hosted by Alana Levine, Chief Revenue Officer at Fintel Connect, the leading advertising technology solution for the financial industry. The first session was co-hosted with Apple Crider, talent manager, online creator, and Co-Founder of Creators Agency, where creators and brands scale their businesses and connect with relevant partners. As experts in the affiliate marketing space and driving businesses growth, Levine and Crider discussed how to achieve new customer growth and product adoption through influencer partnerships.

1. Find your brand advocates
Nowadays customers look to validate their financial decisions, and influencers provide a valuable channel to do that while helping you reach new audiences. Work with influencers that fit your brand, positioning and values.

2. Focus on your foundation
Start by having brand reviews from your affiliates: you want everyone to know who you are and what products you offer. Once you have a solid foundation for your influencer strategy, you can create or repurpose the content for your website and social channels.

3. Manage compensation and budget
There are many influencers looking for a long-term partnership. Implement a hybrid approach -a mix between a flat fee and partner marketing (CPA). This works for both the influencer and the brand as the influencer gets to experiment with different channels while the brand gets to test new opportunities in line with their budget.

Optimize Your Campaign Strategy: Tracking & Analytics for Continuous Improvement of Lead Gen

Levine’s session-two guest was Hunter Young, Founder of HIFI Agency, the go-to brand for banks and fintechs looking to elevate their media content and digital efforts. As a part of a full-service marketing partner helping businesses optimize from brand strategy to conversion, Young shared his advice on metrics to help improve marketing performance.

1. Set clear objectives
Be sure there’s transparency in the goals between you and the influencers you work with; this will help you both work towards the same objectives, avoid setbacks and ultimately achieve success.

2. Say no to vanilytics
There’s a lot of data in digital marketing, and a lot of metrics that don’t get you a seat at the leadership table. Avoid vanity metrics and use the ones that truly help demonstrate marketing’s bottom-line impact and optimize your strategies before investing more dollars.

3. Find the right technology options for tracking
Use tools that measure performance metrics and customer behavior in the application funnel. Having a clear picture of where your marketing dollars are working hardest for you will help you optimize across your strategy.

These are just a few of the top takeaways, there were many more tricks and tips to improve your lead generation strategy and help you run highly targeted and personalized campaigns for audiences who are in-market for your product or service. What are you waiting for to kick off 2023 with a strong strategy and reach relevant customers?

If you’re interested in accessing the sessions visit NC Bankers Association site and register to get the recordings, more actionable next steps and a lot of insights and advice from industry experts.

Want to improve your marketing strategy? Book a call with us. We’d love to learn more about your marketing plans for 2023 and where there are opportunities to grow your business with our specialized technology. Fintel Performance is the leading advertising technology solution for the financial industry. We enable financial brands to exceed their growth goals with our industry-specific technology, partner ecosystem and best-in-class expertise.