Key Takeaways

• • Invest in strategic partnerships, identifying and approaching potential partners in complementary industries to explore co-branded initiatives.

• • Draft and re-use compliance-approved scripts to accelerate user generated content (UGC) creation.

• • Implement media mix modeling and incrementality testing to see what’s working, spot what’s not, and ensure efficient ad spend.

• • Use traditional channels like direct mail to capture value other marketers overlook.

• • Leverage first-party data to deliver hyper-personalized remarketing without relying on third-party sources.

Invest in strategic partnerships

Kirk emphasizes the importance of partnerships in financial services marketing. At Credit.com, collaboration with credit monitoring companies played a key role in acquiring customers. These partnerships provided access to high-quality leads and built credibility.

“For any kind of programs in personal finance, debt relief, financial services in general — I think strategic partnerships are critical in that area.

We had a lot of strategic relationships at Credit.com. The core of that business — what was driving the revenue for us there — was in consumer credit management and credit repair products through not only the Credit.com brand, but we were also running with CreditRepair.com and Lexington Law as well, which were selling products to help consumers with inaccurate items on their credit reports.”

Marketers should look for complementary businesses to collaborate with to create a seamless customer experience. Examples might include credit monitoring services, loan providers, or budgeting apps. By integrating services, brands can offer added value, making their offerings more attractive to consumers.

Strategic partnerships are also an opportunity for co-branded content and cross-promotional campaigns. A well-aligned partnership allows brands to leverage each other’s audiences and build mutual trust. Additionally, these collaborations can provide data-sharing opportunities (within privacy guidelines), leading to improved targeting and customer insights.

Draft and re-use compliance-approved influencer scripts

User generated content (UGC) is a powerful tool for engagement, especially on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. However, any claim made in UGC has to stand up to rigorous compliance standards. If an influencer makes a claim that your legal and compliance doesn’t approve, it can tank the collaboration.

“When you’re a marketer in this space, you almost end up spending more time with your legal and compliance teams than you do with your own media buying and creative teams because you’re negotiating what you can and can’t say. From the marketing standpoint, we’re always going to push because we want to be aggressive and stand out in the market.

We would collaborate with our legal compliance folks to create approved scripts. We would hand the scripts off [to influencers] and then they would have to follow the script and then send that back to us. We would review it with our legal and compliance team and as long as the script was followed, then we were good to go.“

Some financial influencers can resist scripted content, preferring to maintain their own style. The key is finding influencers who are comfortable reading from a script that your compliance specialists have already approved. That gives you control over any claims made in the video and smooths out the production pipeline.

Additionally, working with a variety of micro-influencers instead of relying solely on major influencers can increase engagement. Micro-influencers often have highly engaged niche communities, and one study found that micro-influencers see engagement rates of 18% — far higher than the 5% of bigger macro-influencers. By fostering a more personal connection, these micro-influencers can generate higher quality conversions than influencers with larger audiences.

Implement media mix modeling and incrementality testing

Measuring ad spend efficiency is a top challenge for financial service marketers. Kirk stresses the need to move beyond last-click attribution to more advanced measurement techniques.

“The only way to become more efficient is to really understand what’s working and what’s not. With everything that’s happening with privacy, with third party cookies, with restrictions in terms of being able to track people across the internet, you have to use advanced measurement tools like media mix modeling and incrementality testing to really effectively understand what’s working and what’s not. Once you have that information, the key component becomes how you operationalize it within your organization.” 

Last-click attribution often fails to capture the full impact of marketing efforts. A customer may see an ad multiple times before making a purchase, but if only the final interaction is credited, valuable insights are lost. Media mix modeling (MMM) and incrementality testing solve this by analyzing multiple touchpoints across the consumer journey.

MMM applies regression analysis (often multiple linear regression) to historical data to estimate the effectiveness of different marketing channels. Marketers can use open-source tools such as Google’s Meridian and Meta’s Robyn to gain a deeper understanding of how their channels lead to conversions.

Incrementality testing involves experimentation. By comparing conversion rates between consumers who see ads and those who don’t, marketers can determine the actual lift generated by each campaign. This helps in reallocating budgets more effectively and identifying the channels that drive the highest ROI.

Use traditional channels strategically

Despite the dominance of digital marketing, traditional channels like direct mail, radio, and TV remain effective. While many modern marketers might overlook them, these legacy channels can be incredibly effective, especially in regional markets.

“Direct mail was a quarterly initiative for us because it’s one of the most measurable forms of advertising. We could run holdout tests and measure incremental lift effectively. Traditional TV still works. Radio, especially on a local and regional level, can be incredibly effective. The newer audio platforms out there, like streaming audio, also work well when targeted correctly.”

Unlike digital ads that rely on immediate click-through rates, traditional channels create a sustained presence in consumers’ minds. Combining traditional advertising with digital tracking tools like unique call tracking numbers or QR codes helps marketers measure impact more effectively.

Another advantage of traditional media is its ability to reach demographics that are less engaged online. Older consumers, for example, may be more likely to respond to direct mail than social media ads. By balancing digital and traditional media, marketers can create multi-channel campaigns that reinforce messaging and improve overall effectiveness.

Leverage first-party data

Kirk emphasizes that first-party data is one of the most valuable assets for financial marketers, particularly as privacy regulations limit access to third-party data. By leveraging internal customer information, brands can create highly targeted remarketing campaigns that drive engagement and conversions.

“Our database was pretty large in terms of lead volume, so we spent a lot of time refining those segments and refining those audiences and then building out specific remarketing journeys, really focused on email initially, to just drive that incremental value. Because everything that you can generate off of that first-party data makes a big difference in terms of incremental revenue that you’re generating, but then also it helps reduce the acquisition costs on the paid media side.”

A strong remarketing strategy starts with segmenting audiences based on past interactions, whether they engaged with a financial tool, applied for a service, or abandoned a form. These customers have already shown they’re interested, which makes any marketing that targets them especially efficient.

Whether you use email marketing, SMS, or targeted social ads, remarketing can generate significant returns. One music software retailer used retargeting to hit an average return on ad spend (ROAS) of 6.4x. Another luxury jewelry brand saw a 12x ROI with Facebook-based remarketing. AI-driven analytics can help predict which segments are most likely to convert, allowing marketers to optimize spend and focus efforts where they will yield the highest return.

A data-driven approach to growth

Kirk’s insights emphasize the importance of strategic, data-driven marketing. Whether through partnerships, UGC, advanced measurement tools, or traditional media, brands that continuously test and optimize their strategies will see sustained growth. LifeStreet makes this easy with our AI-powered programmatic platform, Nero, built for performance marketers in regulated industries like finance. With Nero, brands get precise targeting, transparent bidding, and scalable growth they can trust—even as privacy rules evolve.

With Nero, you get precise targeting, transparent media buying, and scalable growth you can sustain. To learn more, get in touch today.

For more insights from Kirk, check out his LinkedIn profile or get in touch with Tap In Digital.

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