Transcription:
2022 Media Buying Trends for Financial Institutions

Bill Klaproth (Announcer): When you've been searching for the right insight, advice and information on financial marketing, you know where to go, the Speakeasy. The exclusive source for financial marketing insights, with a shot of human starring Kelly Hellickson and Hillary Reed from EmpowerFi. Strategy infused, data-driven marketing solutions for financial institutions nationwide. And on this episode, Hillary Reed welcomes Todd Babish, Vice President of Client Services at Viamark Advertising, as they'll be talking about media buying trends for financial institutions in 2022. Now here's your host, Hillary Reed.

Hilary Reed (Host): Hi, Todd. Thanks for being with us today.

Todd Babish (Guest): Oh, no problem. Glad to be here.

Host: Yeah, I'm so excited to talk to you. We have been working together for a very long time. I feel like I say that about every guest I talk to these days, but, Todd and Steven and I go way back, I guess. Oh gosh, if I had to put a date on it, what would you say 2007 or eight or something like that?

Todd: It was that yeah, the, the mid to late time period, 2000.

Host: Crazy. So, we've been doing credit union media buying purchases, marketing, and all of that since about 2008 together when I worked for a credit union. And today we're going to be talking about trends in the media buying space for 2022. My, how things have changed over the last couple years. And especially since 2008, things have changed, but especially in the last couple of years too. So, Todd first and foremost, Todd is with Viamark. So maybe Todd, you can explain just a little bit, Viamark is our partner at EmpowerFi for all things media buying. They do all the media buying for all of our financial institution clients. Todd, can you just give a quick overview of what it is that Viamark does?

Todd: Yes, we're a full service agency. We handle a variety of clients. And we're thrilled to be partnered with you with your clients. We do everything from, you know, your traditional media buying, television, out of home, radio and all the way through to today's digital advertising on things like SXM media,

which is the formerly Pandora radio. We do all types of different advertising to meet today's needs.

Host: Awesome. Yeah. All that stuff that credit union and bank marketers want to do, but don't have the time or half of the expertise to do. These guys do it all for you. They negotiate on your behalf. I mean, it's really a truly amazing thing that you can just hand this over to guys like Todd. So, in today's day and age, 2022, what exactly does media buying consist of? You mentioned a little bit of it there, but when someone says Todd help me, I need to do some media buying. What's that process? And what does media buying consist of for financial institutions today?

Todd: What we have to do is really identify the goals and what the target audience is. And you guys do a really good job with that. You supply us with so much information. We practically know the favorite color of the people that we're targeting. So, we really think it's a great partnership in that you guys provide us with everything your client is looking for, and then we go out and we define the market. It's usually a very geographic specific area, very targeted typically on who exactly we're looking to become members or clients if it's a bank. But basically, we go out and we just use all the tools in our toolbox to market to those people that you guys have identified as prospective targets.

Host: Okay. Awesome. And if a credit union doesn't have that kind of data at their fingertips, or it doesn't work with that kind of predictive modeling, they can kind of work with you, I'm assuming to help determine the target market, right? Like talk about their goals and you guys can help them.

Todd: Sure we can look back at, what clients and members they've already acquired and then sort of use that as a model to get more of those. And, yes in today's landscape, we really rely on multi touchpoint of these people. We really go out and we look at it like, what did these people like to do. Where did they live? How do they consume media in today's world? Back when you and I first met, it was a whole different ball game. Now it's so different with today with people streaming more television and people streaming radio and digital and whatnot. But what's interesting is we really do rely on what we call tradigital, which is tradigital advertising, which is really mixing of the traditional advertising, which I mentioned earlier is TV, out of home, radio, what people now say the old school type advertising. And we mix it in with today's advertising, which is a big thing, a trend this year is podcasts. Podcasts are really becoming a big part of the audio advertising landscape.

Host: Oh, I like that little plug for a podcast.

Todd: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. This is my first one, it's really out there and it's really becoming something that as I said, SXM media, which was formerly Pandora, they purchased Pandora. It's Sirius and they partnered and bundled their assets. And now when we advertise, it's not just streaming on Pandora, it also includes podcasting. It's whatever that target person that we're trying to hit is listening to.

Host: Yeah. People consume so much media these days, I mean, in marketing, what do they say? Seven times you have to reach somebody in order for the concept to stick or for them to remember your brand. But people consume so much media. So I love that. Tra, what was it traditional?

Todd: Tradigital. We it's basically mixing traditional advertising with digital. We want people when they go to search for something. We have some clients that are very, it's something that happens in their life that causes them to have to seek out our client. We have a worker's comp lawyer. We have an adoption agency that we work with and it's something happened in your life. So, the idea is that they've seen your name. They've kind of grown to know you through this traditional advertising. Just to clarify TV, we really stick to local news programming and sports things that people really don't DVR and jump through the commercials. We cut and keep it very local, very newsy.

But that type of thing gets them to know you and love you. And then the digital, when they're looking you up, when something's happened in their life, they need a new bank. They need something happens where they're seeking you out then. Boom. They look you up online and they already know and love you.

So then there's oh yeah, I know that name, and then boom, click on your listing versus someone else's. That's sort of, our strategy is it's almost like, I always say it's almost sort of like dating. The traditional part is sort of the getting to know and falling in love. And then the digital is the actually marriage or making it happen.

Host: Oh, that's awesome. I love it. I thought you were going to say like online dating apps versus actually meeting someone in person. Oh, yeah,

Todd: No, no, no. I was going down, uh, down a little bit different road.

Host: Since COVID, which we've talked so much about COVID over these last couple of podcasts and last year's, but I'm really curious what you've seen in terms of media buying and media trends changing from COVID to now? What changes have happened in shifts happen that credit unions and banks need to be aware of?

Todd: That is a great question. And there have been a lot of shifts. When COVID first hit, we renegotiated our out of home advertising. This people just weren't going out in their cars. We had a couple of clients that had giant billboards on turnpikes and different things, and people just weren't going out. So, we renegotiated that based on eyeballs, based on traffic counts. The radio listening in cars was obviously way down. We call it terrestrial radio, is the AMFM radio listening went way down because people just weren't leaving their home for awhile. That's changing and getting a little bit back to normal. When you go out now and drive, unfortunately, the traffic is back or not fully back, but back closer to what it was then when it was for, you know, all of 2020. And then on the conversely television consumption and anything in home, went through the roof. People were suddenly watching daytime TV that hadn't been watching TV cause they were at their office. Now they're home. We're working from home.

So, we're seeing a lot of success too with OTT. They call it OTT, which is over the top television or CT. Which is CTV, which is connected TV. People that have cut the cord on cable, but are still consuming streaming through their television. That's increasing tremendously. We went from being an out of home media consumption to sort of in the home. So, things did very much shift during COVID.

Host: That's so interesting. I mean, it's things that you would expect, but just hearing you say that, the whole concept of renegotiating your billboard costs based on eyeballs, right? Based on the people who are driving by and seeing it, it's now half or less during COVID and renegotiating that like.

If I didn't know you or weren't working with you as a negotiator and an agency, I would have never known that I to do that. And that's a huge value add that working with someone like you guys brings to the table. And you actually defined it. I was going to ask you to define it, but one more time, the OTT and I believe they say, O-O-H, which is out of home, right? Out of home consists of things like billboards, bus wraps. What else? Anything else?

Todd: We actually do quite a bit of bus shelters where the shelters, and we're not really doing it as much for the people that are standing waiting for the bus, but it's really the people driving by.

And, again, during COVID that changed a little because there weren't as many people driving by, but that's going back to normal levels now, but, yeah, it's anything out of home and it can be the smaller poster boards. It doesn't have to be the, just the giant billboards on turnpikes. It could be smaller, in town poster type boards 10 by 12s, 10 by 14s versus the big 14 by 60s. So, there's different types of out of home. The OTT and the CTV that stands for anything that's streaming through your television, where you're doing Hulu or Roku or anything like that. People that don't have cable television, they're not paying every month for cable. But they sign up for all the subscriptions, like Hulu and Netflix and things like that.

Host: Okay. And does, YouTube, pre-roll does that fall in the OTT category?

Todd: That actually is a little more. We consider pre-roll to be a little bit more digital in the digital space than, I mean, all of it to a degree is digital, but that I wouldn't say that YouTube is considered OTT. Cause a lot of people are doing YouTube on their phones and things like that. Whereas Hulu and things like Roku and things like that, that's definitely mostly through televisions.

Host: Okay, good to know. I love those definitions. So, when it comes to the ROI of media buying in 2022; tell us about some ways that you guys track conversions and clicks and the overall success of a media campaign when it uses multiple mediums.

Todd: I will say it's a little bit tougher when you're using so many different things, but like I said, that is really important. You mentioned about seven different touch points with people. You really have to hit them from different ways. It makes it a little tougher. The, obviously the easiest one to quantify it would be digital because you're seeing exactly how many people clicked. How many people visited your website. But what we've done is we've actually come up with some different ways. We have one client where we're doing a more of a vanity type web address on their out of home.

So, we know that if people are going to that address, typing in that address; then that's most likely from the out of home campaign or the radio. We also use it in our radio spots for the same client. So we're trying, yeah. We're trying to come up because obviously billboards, out of home a little bit more difficult for ROI. People aren't going to call your business or run into your bank or credit union saying, oh my gosh, I, I saw your billboard and I just, I just had to drive right in here right now and, you know, sign up. It's not quite like that. It's much more of a.

Host: A lot of that is branding, right?

Todd: Yeah, it's more branding. And what they're going to do is even if they saw the billboards or saw or heard you on the radio or, you know, on Pandora or Spotify or something, they're most likely when oh, how'd you hear about us? Oh, I saw you online because they're mostly going to go from your out of home, from your radio, from your TV commercial, to their computer to kind of look you up. And see, well, what are they all about? What is this credit union or bank or client? What are they, what do they have to offer me? And then their last point of contact is typically the internet. So, that's mostly what they're going to tell you.

But it's interesting that we've, there's been all kinds of studies that when you only do digital, your success is a certain amount. When you add in traditional radio, television, it goes up exponentially because people, like I said earlier, really are getting to know who you are first. And then when they look you up, they already have sort of a good opinion of you versus just blindly looking through names, list of banks and credit unions. And just, oh, I'll just pick that one, cause I liked the name. It's typically they like you first.

Host: Yeah. And that just goes to show to your point earlier, how important if you're going to do out of home media and you're going to do traditional radio and television and all those things; how important it is to really put some of your budget as well into SEO and digital advertising, google ads and social posts and sponsored posts and ads, because they're going to go looking for you on Google and other places and if you don't have an advertising presence there, you're relying on the organic search engine. And if your website is not SEO optimized, then the organic search isn't even going to come up. So, everything goes hand in hand, media being a piece of it and the other piece being the digital side. So, that was a good point.

Todd: Exactly, we can't really do one without the other. We're very strong believers and it is like you said, you need to do all of the different parts, not just one or two.

Host: My last real question here is to kind of bring a perspective from other industries. You work with a ton of different industries, whether it be retail or legal or financial, but, what can financial institutions take from other industries that you've seen when it comes to media trends? Like what are financial institutions not doing that they should be doing, that other industries are doing?

Todd: Interesting. I think the same approach, the multi-touch point, tradigital approach is what they should be doing. I don't know that all of them are doing that. I know the ones, we work with are doing that. But I think they should, they need to really take the same kind of strategies as the other industries have in that people are busy, people are moving around at all different speeds.

You really have to get them from different viewpoints, whether they're out driving in their car, whether they're home. There's no silver bullet, magic bullet for any of this, but I think it's just really getting your name out there, and being the leader in your specific market. Brand recognition, name recognition, just really getting out there. That's what I think they need to do. I think there are from when I understand, I think there are many that just take a sit back and wait, approach thinking if we put more branches up, people are just going to see us and come in and, kind of sign up. And I don't think that it works that way. You have to be a little bit more aggressive and to get people to know you and to come in.

Host: Yeah, for financial institutions, it's really difficult because you mentioned, life events and for somebody to want to switch financial institutions; I mean, imagine taking your banking the way it is now, and just moving to another financial institution. It is such an undertaking. So, you almost have to be ever present in every sense of the word, digitally and traditionally, because, when somebody has a life event that triggers, I need a new bank account. Or I need a new auto loan, or I'm looking for a credit card with rewards; you have to be that one that comes up and whether you're down the street from them, or they saw your billboard or they heard your Pandora ad. You need to be ever present so that life event, when it's triggered, they think of you. And banking is so different than so many other industries. When it's retail it, it takes a lot less for someone to go out and buy a TV than it does to go out and switch bank accounts. So, I think for financial institutions, more so than ever, having that 360 degree Omni channel type of media buying is so crucial.

Todd: Yeah, I totally agree.

Host: We sometimes don't have the budget for that. So, I would definitely encourage any financial institutions listening, if you have a small piece of your budget that is dedicated to media, contact someone like Todd, contact an agency that can help you get the most bang for your buck. Because, if you just take that and spend it on only Pandora ads; then you're probably not getting the brand equity and the brand recognition that you need, but take that piece of your budget and see how it can be divided up and get some expert opinions on that. You don't have to have a million dollar budget, but you have to use that budget properly.

Todd: Yeah, you have to be smart about it. You, there are different times of the year that we, we think people are way too distracted to really focus on it. We don't tend to, if clients do, like you said, have a limited budget, they can advertise 365 days a year. We, we sort of go for the sweet spots. We kinda know when the timing is better, when people aren't as distracted with holidays and different events going on. So, that makes, that's a big factor too is spreading the budget so that it works for you when the best timing is available.

Host: And not spreading it too thin, not doing two ads every month for the whole year, you know? So, we definitely would encourage everybody to ask an expert, ViaMark, Todd, Steven, you guys are great. Definitely add an, ask an expert, whoever that may be, give you a little bit of strategic advice. Well, thank you so much, Todd, coming. Is there anything else you want to make sure our listeners know?

Todd: No, I think we covered a lot. I think it's, you really just have to be smart in today's world. You know, it's not inexpensive to advertise it really isn't, but if you do it correctly and you know, what you're doing, you can really maximize your budget.

Host: Love it. Great way to wrap up. Thank you so much, Todd, for your time.

Todd: Thank you.

Bill Klaproth (Announcer): And thank you for joining us and to connect with Hillary or Kelly to simplify your credit union marketing needs within EmpowerFi's full service marketing and design support, please visit empowerfi.org. You can also email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you.

This is the Speakeasy financial marketing podcast. Thanks for listening.