Financial brands have the opportunity to think about themselves differently.

Exploring the intersection of digital insights and brand strategy opens endless doors to human connectivity. And while many businesses are headed in the right direction, financial brands have much room for growth in balancing the connective science and art of business and human approaches.

Lauren Tatro, SVP of Brand & Marketing Ops at Broadview Federal Credit Union, joins us from The Financial Brand Forum. As a proven and practiced expert in finance and marketing, Lauren shares her thoughts on the status and future of financial brands.

Join us as we discuss:

• Humanizing brands at the intersection of digital insights and brand strategy
• Exploring the art and science of balancing business and connectivity
• Keeping a balanced financial scorecard amidst a potential recession

Humanizing brands through digital insights and brand strategy

There are currently significant opportunities for financial brands incorporate ways to humanize what they do. According to Lauren, these opportunities lie at the intersection of digital insights and brand strategy.

There are two tracks that businesses can take: an industrial approach and a human approach.

The industrial approach will set the focus on the revenue of the business and typically has a one-size-fits-all strategy. While this approach can deliver positive results, it can come across as robotic from the consumer’s perspective and your business will miss out on opportunities for connection and growth with the consumer. A more human approach to services focuses on the individual consumer instead of only considering the masses. Customize your services for the customer to create the business-consumer bond and watch how they begin to trust and rely on you.

The art and science of balancing business and connectivity

It’s important to balance your financial brand with the growth of the business and human connections. Lauren calls it, “the art and the science.”

“It’s good to be reminded of why we’re here and to be able to connect with the “why” of our customers and our members with authenticity,” says Lauren. “To be able to bring that piece — the humans behind the technology. One approach can’t do it all, so we have to find the right balance there.”

The economy is currently under pressure and as a result, the “humans behind the technology” are, too. Many financial institutions have had to focus their objectives on increasing deposits, loans, etc., to keep up. But this poses many challenges as consumers feel the stress of increased prices and rates.

At Broadview Federal Credit Union, it’s all about creating a trusted partnership with the membership, says Lauren. With a potential recession on the horizon there’s unprecedented complexity to keeping a balanced financial scorecard, but that shouldn’t be your priority.

Be mindful of the fears and anxieties that come with uncharted economic waters and their potential to build psychological barriers between you and your customer. Speak to customers directly, come up with personalized solutions that align with their needs and find every opportunity to create partnerships.

What’s missing from the financial marketing ecosystem?

When asked this question, Lauren focuses on the word “ecosystem” and what that means for marketers.

Getting a true view of a company’s ecosystem of individuals and being able to connect those dots to get a better understanding of the customer would help marketers understand how to complement a customer’s journey instead of interacting with it in a way that causes friction.

“You can pull in anecdotal insights, but to have that collective view and to think differently about how we integrate with people’s lives is a big challenge,” explains Lauren.

If Lauren could wave a magic wand and add one thing to a marketer’s toolkit, it would be a button you could push to instantly see behavioral models of customers to understand how they operate.

But there is no magic wand or button to press — so instead, try to seek out points of connection between you and your customer to ease your way into their financial journey every step of the way.

Financial marketers today should focus on individualized services to better serve and connect with their consumers at moments of high-risk in the economy. Be there for your customer through the hard times and they will be loyal to your business, too.

Want to learn more about humanizing financial brands, balancing business and connectivity and what marketers can do to navigate the rocky economic environment? Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your podcasts.