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Financial Services

Overcome Random Acts of Marketing® with services tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities of financial services providers: banks, credit unions, wealth management firms, insurance companies, fintech innovators, and financial advisory businesses.

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Stats

Financial Services

Our Experience By The Numbers

63 %

of our CMOs have served this vertical

137

years of combined industry experience
FAQ

Financial Services

Common Marketing Challenges

Pattern
We lack strategic marketing leadership.

“We have compliance-focused marketers and product specialists, but lack a true marketing leader who can balance regulatory requirements with compelling customer experiences that drive growth.”

We're not sure where to invest our marketing dollars.

“We allocate budget across traditional and digital channels, but struggle to track conversion paths and determine which investments actually influence customer acquisition and retention.”

Our brand feels commoditized.

“In a category where most institutions promise similar benefits—security, service, expertise—we find it difficult to articulate meaningful differentiation that resonates with potential clients.”

Regulatory constraints limit marketing innovation.

“Compliance requirements create necessary guardrails, but they often slow our marketing processes and limit creative approaches. We need strategies that work within these constraints.”

We struggle to connect with younger generations.

“Our traditional customer base is aging, and we’re challenged to develop relevant messaging and experiences that attract millennials and Gen Z without alienating our core customers.”

Marketing and sales aren't aligned.

“Our advisors, relationship managers, and agents operate independently from marketing, creating disconnects between our brand promise and the actual client experience.”

Digital transformation is moving too slowly.

“Customer expectations for seamless digital experiences are rising faster than our ability to modernize our marketing technology and processes.”

Managing marketing across different business lines is complex.

“Each of our divisions and product areas has distinct target audiences and value propositions, making it difficult to maintain brand consistency while meeting specific business objectives.”

We're data-rich but insight-poor.

“We collect extensive customer financial data but struggle to translate it into personalized marketing experiences while maintaining privacy and compliance.”

Solutions

Our Solutions for Growing Businesses

Marketing Transformation

Proven. Practical. Powerful.

Authentic Growth® is the Marketing Operating System
for entrepreneurial businesses.

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Outsourced Leadership

Tested. Trusted. True Executives.

We guarantee right-fit fractional CMO leadership
for growing businesses.

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Marketing Execution

Vetted. Specialized. Expert Execution.

Tap into our curated
Ally Network of Agency Partners.

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Leadership Peer Group

High-Value. Free to Attend.

LIFT Integrator Community™ is for all
“second-in-command” leaders.

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Island Section

Our Proven Approach to Marketing Transformation

Our Authentic Growth® Marketing Operating System provides a structured framework for developing and executing marketing strategies that drive measurable business results for growing businesses. This methodology has been refined through years of experience working across a wide variety of business types, industries, and models.

Learn more about our Marketing Operating System.

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Cards Section

Success Stories in Financial Services

Pillar Bank: Client Story

Pillar Bank: Client Story

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Objective Investment Banking & Valuation: Client Story

Objective Investment Banking & Valuation: Client Story

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Boundary Waters Bank: Client Story

Boundary Waters Bank: Client Story

Read More »
Testimonials

What Our Clients Say

  • “Having our fractional CMO step in to provide strategic guidance, leadership, and a clear roadmap was transformative for us. Witnessing the leads start to trickle in was our ‘aha’ moment, proving the strategy’s effectiveness. It’s incredibly exciting!”

    Mandy Woods
    COO, Objective Investment Banking & Valuation

  • “[Our rebrand] has legitimized who we are. It really has taken us from a small town, rural community bank to something much larger. It definitely has given us a different feel in the community and with customers, even online.”

    Shane Bauer
    President & CEO, Pillar Bank

  • “As bankers, we like to think we know a lot about [marketing], but in all actuality, we don’t. We know nothing about marketing or advertising. And what we tend to do – and what this bank has done in the past – is waste dollars on different types of advertising or marketing, thinking we were getting our name out or the product out to the people. What brought us to Authentic: We were getting nowhere, we needed some traction, and we needed somebody with the expertise to bring this bank into the market. …The beauty of Authentic is: you bring them on, they bring you the ideas, and they help you get to your goal.”

    Sarah Kolek
    President & CEO, Boundary Waters Bank

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Pattern
How does Authentic help financial services companies grow through smarter marketing?

We help financial services firms shift from reactive marketing to strategic, compliant, and trust-building growth systems.

Using our Authentic Growth® Marketing Operating System, we assess and strengthen your:

  • Brand message and differentiation in a sea of sameness
  • Marketing alignment with compliance and regulatory standards
  • Digital footprint and lead nurturing in a trust-driven environment
  • Cross-functional support for sales, advisors, branches, or partners
  • Visibility into what’s working through custom dashboards and diagnostics

Our goal is to turn scattered marketing efforts into a disciplined, measurable engine—built on credibility, aligned with your business strategy, and designed to scale.

What makes Authentic different from a financial marketing agency or consulting firm?

Most agencies are built to execute campaigns, not lead strategy. Consultants can advise, but rarely embed and build.

Authentic provides an experienced marketing executive—an Authentic marketing leader—who becomes a part of your leadership team to:

  • Design a compliant, trust-first growth strategy
  • Integrate marketing with sales, service, and customer success
  • Optimize spend and performance with data, not guesses
  • Coordinate internal teams and agency partners under one unified plan

We bring leadership, structure, and visibility, so your team knows what you’re doing, why, and how it supports business objectives. And we stay in the seat to drive outcomes.

How quickly can we expect to see meaningful results?

Our first goal is clarity. Within the first 30–45 days, we complete our comprehensive Authentic Growth® Activation Discovery process that includes:

  • Stakeholder interviews
  • RAMS™ (Random Acts of Marketing Assessment)
  • Spend audits
  • CRM and digital performance review
  • Regulatory and compliance impact assessment

From there, we create a 90-Day Action Plan with priorities tailored to your business stage, marketing gaps, and risk profile. You’ll see improved focus, stronger alignment, and measurable progress—often within the first quarter.

How do you help financial firms build trust with clients and prospects through marketing?

Trust is your brand. And in regulated, service-based environments, how you show up matters just as much as what you offer.

We help you:

  • Clarify your value proposition, brand promise, and core differentiators
  • Build messaging that’s both authentic and compliant
  • Establish a digital presence that educates and builds confidence
  • Ensure every advisor, rep, or branch is using consistent messaging and tools
  • Leverage AI thoughtfully—with our Authentic Intelligence™ approach—to create scalable, personalized content without compromising quality or compliance

Our marketing systems are built to elevate your reputation, deepen relationships, and drive sustainable growth.

How do you navigate compliance requirements in regulated industries like banking and insurance?

Authentic marketing leaders are experienced in working within regulated environments. We don’t push risky tactics—we build scalable, compliant systems for modern marketing.

Here’s how we ensure alignment:

  • Partner closely with your legal and compliance stakeholders during planning and execution
  • Document approved messaging and maintain brand voice libraries for consistency
  • Create content workflows that incorporate required approvals without slowing everything down
  • Use the Authentic Growth® Roadmap to align marketing strategy with governance needs

We believe compliance should be a partner in growth, not a roadblock—and we build processes to reflect that.

Do you replace or support our internal marketing team and agency partners?

We work alongside your existing team and vendors to bring clarity, leadership, and results.

Here’s what we provide:

  • Executive marketing leadership to develop and drive strategy
  • Role clarity so internal staff and agency partners can work efficiently
  • Support in defining and hiring for new roles or expanding the team
  • Integration with agencies, freelancers, and internal stakeholders—so every player knows what they’re doing and why

We also bring access to our Ally Network if you need additional vetted talent for specific executional gaps.

Our firm includes advisors, branches, or distributed sellers. How do you bring alignment across decentralized teams?

This is a core strength of our model. Many financial firms operate in a hub-and-spoke or distributed model, which can create confusion, inconsistency, and missed opportunities.

We help bring alignment by:

  • Leading Quarterly Workshops to set clear marketing priorities with business and revenue leaders
  • Creating toolkits and playbooks for advisors or branches, with compliant messaging and resources
  • Running a Weekly Marketing Cadence™ meeting to keep teams connected and accountable
  • Building dashboards to track what’s working, what’s not, and where support is needed

Whether you have 10 producers or 1,000 reps, we help your team move together as one, with shared language and measurable outcomes.

We've worked with agencies before, and it didn't solve our bigger marketing challenges. Why is this different?

We hear this often—especially from financial firms trying to modernize or unify marketing across service lines, branches, or partners.

Let’s be clear: We value agencies and strategic vendors. Many bring deep expertise in brand, digital, or content. But most are focused on execution—not orchestration.

Here’s where Authentic is different:

  • We embed an Authentic marketing leader on your team—focused solely on your business strategy, goals, and regulatory environment
  • We lead your holistic marketing plan, ensuring every contributor—internal or external—is aligned and accountable
  • We don’t sell services, so there’s no incentive to push a particular solution. We connect you with the right talent, at the right time, for the right reasons through our Ally Network
  • We provide structure through the Authentic Growth® Roadmap, Quarterly Action Plans, and ongoing cadence meetings to keep everyone moving in sync

In short: We don’t replace your agency—we give them a strategy, a leader, and a system to succeed within. That’s how you get marketing that’s compliant, consistent, and revenue-aligned.

Island Section

Ready to Transform Your Financial Services Marketing?

Schedule a consultation to discuss your specific challenges and goals. Our team understands the unique dynamics of marketing regulated financial services and can help you activate the Authentic Growth® Marketing Operating System that drives sustainable growth.

Schedule a Consultation