By Mark Gibson
The role of marketing within financial institutions is evolving and expanding, with significant implications for the structure of the marketing department. External forces, such as rapidly changing technology and digital media, as well as shifting consumer behavior, are necessitating the development of new skills and capabilities. Combine this with internal pressures on marketing budgets and the need to demonstrate a return on investment, and the need for a rethink of marketing department staffing and structure has never been greater.
Trends driving the change
Several ongoing trends are impacting bank marketing. Those that most impact organizational structure and staffing are: marketing as a revenue driver; data-driven targeting and personalization; and utilizing AI to boost productivity.
Bank management is increasingly expecting marketing to drive customer and revenue growth in measurable ways. This requires the marketing team to collaborate more with other departments and be analytical in how they design, implement, and measure the success of their programs.
Data analytics and the derivation of customer insights are evergreen trends, but tight budgets combined with customers’ expectations for personalized communication raise the bar even higher. This has implications for marketing teams in terms of analytical skills as well as the availability of clean customer data and technology platforms to convert the data into actionable marketing programs.
While AI was a hypothetical concept for most bank marketers just two years ago, a shift toward practical, high-impact applications of AI is already evident across the industry. In a recent ABA survey of bank marketers, Capital Performance Group found that bank marketers see significant value in AI, and that AI adoption has nearly doubled in the past year. Today’s CMOs are expected to have well-defined plans for integrating AI across their organizations, encompassing content generation, customer journey mapping, data analysis and personalized outreach. All translating into more effective programs and reduced cost.
The changing role of marketing
Marketing has not abandoned its role of brand steward and chief communicator, but it has taken on the added responsibility of customer growth, engagement and retention. While this shift has been gradual at most institutions, it has tremendous implications for the skill sets needed in the marketing department:
Performance marketing. Growing out of measurable programs such as direct mail and digital media, an increasing number of institutions are creating dedicated roles (or teams) focused on building measurable and repeatable marketing programs to grow revenue.
Digital evolution. The shift from traditional to digital marketing is not new. Still, it is constantly evolving, as evidenced by AI partially replacing search or young consumers shifting from Facebook to TikTok. Keeping up with these rapid changes and determining their impact on the bank’s marketing programs has become more difficult and complex.
Customer engagement. Building deeper, more profitable customer relationships requires modern marketers to understand each customer’s interactions with the bank, across multiple channels. Then, marketers must create and deliver engaging content and, where appropriate, offer the right product at the right time. As customers shift to digital channels, this requires marketing to work with operations to advertise the next best product “in platform,” or within online and mobile banking, as well as the website.
Technology. Turning customer data into actionable programs requires a technology platform, whether it’s a basic email marketing system or a full-blown marketing automation platform, CRM and data management platform. The marketing team now has the responsibility of understanding the potential of these tools and how to use them effectively.
Artificial intelligence. AI is already being utilized by nearly half of bank marketers, enhancing both effectiveness and efficiency. Using generative AI for content creation is the most common use case. But social media management is a close second. For any bank using a digital media partner, the agency is undoubtedly leveraging AI and machine learning to optimize audience targeting and media mix.
Sales enablement. Achieving optimal marketing results involves partnering with sales teams within lines of business, aligning priorities and goals, and equipping frontline employees with the necessary tools to leverage marketing programs effectively. “Our sales enablement efforts have really supercharged the success of our industry vertical teams,” says Charlene Cates, EVP of strategy at Machias Savings Bank.
Implications for marketing organizational design
Time rapidly evolving environment, along with heightened expectations from management, has direct implications for the marketing department’s structure and the skills and experience it encompasses. Many larger institutions are supplementing their brand or marketing communications, public relations, community relations and digital marketing (website and social media) teams with several new functions:
- Performance marketing is often an evolution of the digital marketing function and takes responsibility for measurable revenue programs that are data-driven and typically rely on targeted addressable media such as digital display, search and direct mail, as well as “in-platform” programs to reach existing customers within online banking. While some of these programs are ‘campaigns’ with a beginning and end, others are ‘always on’ programs like onboarding, cross-sell, and trigger programs.
- Sales enablement is a critical function that serves as a bridge between marketing and sales, ensuring frontline teams have the tools, content, training and insights needed to engage prospects and customers effectively. It has become more essential as performance marketing has become more prevalent.
- Marketing data analytics digs into customer data, customer journey analytics, audience modelling and targeting, and campaign attribution, providing insights to help the rest of the marketing team optimize acquisition, cross-sell and retention programs.
- Marketing technology/marketing operations is responsible for selecting and managing the technology ‘stack’ (marketing automation, CRM, CDP, campaign tools), ensuring systems integration, data flows and coordination across platforms. These tools are required for true personalization of marketing and sales efforts at the customer level. This team also often assumes governance, compliance, vendor management and even accounting and budgeting responsibilities within marketing, as departments expand and become more complex.
The reality is that most banks don’t have the luxury of expanding their marketing departments to bring all these talents in-house. At the same time, the demands for marketing efficiency and measurement of marketing ROI are just as great. While this highlights the challenges of today’s marketing director or manager, it also suggests several essential actions they can take:
- For organizations without a dedicated performance marketing role, marketing–sales aligment often relies on clear goal-setting, structured collaboration with business lines, and consistent feedback loops. Successful teams track campaign results weekly or monthly to understand how marketing activities correlate with sales outcomes.
- Sales enablement, once centered in sales management or sales operations, is now frequently supported by marketing through content creation, campaign execution and brand alignment. These responsibilities are commonly handled by the team member(s) managing campaigns and coordinating with sales.
- Data analytics remains a specialized capability and is often outsourced to direct mail, website or online banking partners with established expertise and SOC 2 certification. Foundational analytics typically focus on onboarding behaviors and cross-sell patterns, forming the basis for targeted digital outreach with strong ROI.
- Marketing technology adds further complexity, as most automation platforms require ongoing management. Even basic email systems play a central role in activating data insights, supporting relationship-building and enabling personalization. Automation features also increase efficiency by allowing multiple campaigns to run concurrently.
- Artificial intelligence is now embedded across marketing functions. As Sonia Mahnot, VP of marketing at WebsterFive, notes, “Artificial intelligence impacts every role within marketing and needs to be woven into each function.” AI supports content development, social media monitoring, digital media oversight, personalization, and attribution, with each discipline applying it in its own way.
Marketing leadership is increasingly integration-focused, coordinating across marketing, analytics, sales, product, operations and compliance. This role often centers on aligning stakeholders and enabling unified campaign execution within a more complex operating environment.
Time for a little self-reflection
Financial services marketing is constantly evolving, which makes it both exciting and challenging. But, in addition to the day-to-day demands these changes impose, there are longer-term organizational implications. Marketing organizations are tasked with continuously evaluating the specific skills and talents their teams need to succeed. The structure of the marketing department can be examined to ensure that emerging disciplines and technologies are present, and that each team or team member is encouraged to collaborate within and across departments. This approach ensures that the marketing function remains a relevant and critical partner in the overall organization’s growth and success.
Mark Gibson is co-leader of the sales and marketing practice at Capital Performance Group, a strategic consulting firm that helps financial institutions maximize the ROI of their marketing efforts. He can also be reached on LinkedIn or at mark.gibson@capitalperform. com.
