It’s easy to spend money on digital advertising. It’s much harder to turn this money into clients. And with nearly three in four financial service prospects saying they feel overwhelmed by all their choices, you need a smarter set of strategies to stand out from the crowd.
But there are lots of different financial service advertising strategies on the market. How do you balance them or pick the right set for your business?
The good news is, we did the heavy lifting for you. This article explores how to get started with financial services advertising, including compliance, audience targeting, how-tos, and examples to get you started.
- What’s the Difference Between Advertising and Marketing?
- Regulatory Compliance in Financial Advertising
- Audience Targeting for Financial Service Ads
- 5 Best Financial Service Advertising Strategies
- The Bottom Line on Financial Advertising Strategies
What’s the Difference Between Advertising and Marketing?
Digital marketing is the process of promoting your business using three different strategies: paid, earned, and organic content. Advertising falls under the ‘paid’ marketing pillar. TL;DR: All advertising is marketing, but not all marketing is advertising.
Here’s a more detailed comparison for reference:
- Some digital marketing content costs $0 to produce (like organic social media posts). But advertising always costs money to produce. That’s why it’s often considered the most expensive marketing method.
- Advertising is inherently visible to your customers (think banner ads or sponsored posts on Google). But not all marketing is customer-facing; website SEO and backlinks, for example, work their magic in the background.
- Most marketing is designed to slowly nurture audiences into a purchasing decision, like organic social media posts or personalized emails. On the other hand, advertising encourages audiences to make faster, more ‘snap’ decisions, like requesting a quote or coming in for a consultation.
To summarize, advertising is practically any marketing activity that costs money to put in front of customers.
That’s what makes it so expensive and heavily regulated, as you’ll see below.
Regulatory Compliance in Financial Advertising
Since financial services have such an enormous impact on consumers, there are multiple laws governing the language, platforms, and images companies are allowed to use. The ultimate goal is to produce truthful content that avoids deception and is transparent for consumers.
Here are the rules of thumb:
- You need a license to advertise services like insurance, mortgages, loans, investment products, and credit cards. Most advertising services require a scanned-in copy, or at least proof that you’re registered with a local financial authority.
- All advertising claims must be true and unexaggerated. For example, you can’t promise high returns on a volatile investment or say something is ‘fee-free’ when that’s technically not true.
- You must provide all necessary disclosures as required by your field and industry across all digital formats. The most common of these include eligibility limits, risks, expenses, penalties, charges, and ways to cancel or withdraw (if applicable). Even image-only ads must include FDIC/NCUA membership disclosure to keep consumers safe.
What are these necessary disclosures, you ask? That mostly depends on the industry you’re in. If you use ‘triggering terms’ (i.e., specific types of words in your ad copy), you may be required to add additional terms and disclosures, plus visual logos to help consumers get the full picture of what you’re offering.
Let’s break it down by category:
Closed-End Loans (Personal Loans)
- Triggering terms: Number of payments, amount of payment, finance charge, down payment
- Must include: repayment terms, APR, down payment details (if applicable)
- Additional: Equal Housing logo/slogan, full payment structure, tax disclaimers, and variable rate clarity
Open-End Loans (HELOCs)
- Triggering terms: Finance charge timing, APR, fee structure, balance calculation method
- Must include: Minimum charges, APR listed as ‘APR,’ membership fees
- Additional: Variable rate details, max APR disclosure, fee estimates, balloon payment disclosure
Deposit Products (CDs)
- Triggering term: APY (Annual Percentage Yield)
- Must include: APY to two decimals (i.e., 1.01%), rate change disclaimer, fee disclaimers, minimum balances, early withdrawal penalties
- Additional: Disclose timing, balances, and rate examples across multiple account types
Non-Deposit Investment Products (NDIPs)
- Must state: Not FDIC/NCUA insured, not guaranteed, may lose value
- Must do: Keep separate from insured product ads.
- Must exclude: FDIC/NCUA logos on NDIP ads.
Keep in mind that different platforms may have different approval processes and expectations, so it’s a good idea to check with specific advertising platforms before getting started. You don’t want to waste time and money on something that won’t get approved, so it may be worthwhile to chat with support (if available).
The good news is that many platforms come with built-in requirement checklists to help you keep an eye on your content. But if you’re genuinely concerned you might be doing something you shouldn’t, consult with your lawyer or a compliance team for peace of mind.
Audience Targeting for Financial Service Ads
The world’s most successful financial services have two things in common: they know their target audience, and they know how to reach them. After that, it’s a matter of using advertising to seal the deal. Write a message, place it in the right ‘town square,’ and let the leads roll in.
This sounds simple in theory, but is much more difficult in practice. It’s easy to spend lots of time, money, and effort on the wrong target audience or advertising channel. Finding the right fit requires research, patience, and trial and error.
Here are some ways to find your target audience without spending thousands on inaccurate placements:
1. Identify your high-value financial customer segments. What do you sell, and who buys from you most often? If you can’t answer this question based on what you already know about your customers, now is the time to gather more data. Remember that you’re looking for high-value customers here, which means whoever pays the most and stays the most.
2. Find the most common shared traits in your high-value customer segments. For example, let’s say your highest-value service is one-on-one financial advising, especially for retirees looking to manage their nest egg. Now you can drill down into their unique commonalities so you know exactly who they are and where you can find more of them in the future.
The easiest way to do this is to make a customer persona, which acts as a representation of your most valuable targets. Your persona should have two characteristics: demographics and psychographics.
Here’s a quick template to help you get started:
| Category | Details |
| Age Range | Example: 35–55 |
| Occupation | Example: Mid-to-senior level professional; business owner; specialist |
| Annual Income | Example: $150K–$500K |
| Location | Example: Urban or high-income suburban areas |
| Education Level | Example: Bachelor’s or advanced degree |
| Marital/Family Status | Example: Married with children or planning for a family |
| Financial Goals | Example: Retirement planning, tax optimization, building generational wealth |
| Biggest Financial Concerns | Example: Market volatility, tax liability, inflation, legacy planning |
| Values | Example: Security, legacy, autonomy, efficiency |
| Information Sources | Example: Podcasts, newsletters, books, peer networks |
| Preferred Content Formats | Example: Short videos, checklists, long-form guides |
| Preferred Social Media | Example: LinkedIn for professional content, YouTube for education |
| Tech Comfort Level | Example: Moderate to high; uses digital tools for financial management |
3. Now, narrow down your search by demographics. Like any other game of hide-and-seek, you need to guess where your audience physically is. You won’t be correct 100% of the time, but capturing most of your audience on a few select platforms can help you save time, money, and effort.
Using the information added to your persona chart, you can get a good idea of where they prefer to spend time. But if you’re still feeling stuck and not sure where to start looking, here’s a researched chart that might be helpful:
| Factors | Likely Advertising Channels | Reasoning | |
Age | 25–34 | Instagram, TikTok, Video | 76% of US adults aged 18–29 use Instagram |
| 35–49 | Email, Facebook, Podcasts | ~58% of adults in this category have watched podcasts in the last 12 months | |
| 50–64 | Facebook, Video, Email | 97% of older adults go online to send email | |
| 65+ | Facebook, Video, Email | 92% use Facebook and 88% use YouTube (video) | |
Gender | Male | X (Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn | 63.7% of all X (Twitter) users are male |
| Female | Instagram, TikTok, Facebook | Nearly 10% more women prefer TikTok compared to men | |
Income | <$100K | Facebook, YouTube, Instagram | Income brackets for $70,000- $99,999 are closely associated with Facebook use |
| $100K – $250K | LinkedIn, Video, Podcasts | LinkedIn use jumps dramatically at $100K+ incomes | |
| $250K+ | LinkedIn, Facebook, Video | 1 in 3 high net worth individuals use all three for financial/business insights | |
4. Finally, deliver your message with behavioral targeting strategies. Demographic targeting is like finding your audience’s hotel.’ In contrast, behavioral targeting is like finding the right ‘room.’ This helps you find purchase-ready prospects who share your thoughts, values, and beliefs, which makes it easier to sell a financial product and convert high-value leads into customers.
Some notes to get you started:
- Explore built-in tools. Most social media platforms let you narrow down advertising by preferences, income, and even status (like ‘grandparent’). Consider only targeting certain behaviors and excluding others so you spend less money on advertising over time. Another easy way to save money is to enable retargeting. We talk more about this in our Top Tips to Grow Your Podcast.
- Get creative with your copy. Speak directly to the target audience’s pain to ‘shake them out of the bushes’ and encourage them to interact. For example, you might advertise a webinar covering the tax risk of retirement, which speaks directly to your target audience and attracts conversions from people who might be suited to your offer.
- Segment different parts of your audience. Different leads may be more interested in different types of messages. For example, maybe you discover older male leads prefer no-frills language around retirement planning. Alternatively, you might notice younger female leads want information on tax planning for high-income, solo living. Once you discover which platforms these personas prefer, you can create specific advertising copy for each of these specific channels (like Google Search for the former or Instagram for the latter).
Audience targeting and platform selection is easily the most complex piece of the puzzle. It may not be the most thrilling, but it certainly is the most foundational.
Once you’ve narrowed down your people, platform, and message, you can safely move on to picking the right strategy.
5 Best Financial Service Advertising Strategies
So you know who to target and where they are online. Now it’s time to create your content with the strategy (or strategies) that make sense for your business.
There are five major options for financial service companies:
1. Paid Search Advertising: Best for High-Intent Prospects
Paid search is exactly what it sounds like: paying for a spot for your text, image, or video on popular search engines like Google, YouTube, or Bing. This means it’s best-suited for prospects who have an idea of what they’re looking for and are actively searching for something you provide (like financial planning or wealth advising).
There are many different types of paid search advertising:
- Text
- Video
- Display ads
- Remarketing ads
- Local Service Ads (LSAs)
- Email marketing ads (more on this later)
These appear on the search engine or on affiliated websites so you’re constantly putting your message where prospects can see. You can also drill down on specifics for targeting and websites; no need to advertise on a sister website, for example.
Just keep in mind that paid search advertising can be tricky depending on the platform in question. Google in particular has a long list of expectations and requirements, although these are high-level at best (and the company has final authority on decisions) It might be worth collaborating with an experienced financial paid search expert to help position your copy and comply with regulations.
Examples of Paid Search Advertising
Here’s an example of paid search sponsorship, such as a Local Search Ad:
Here’s an example of a dynamic banner ad on CFO.com:
And another example of an ad on Investopedia:
How to Start Paid Search Advertising for Financial Services
- Start by selecting the right keywords for your advertisements. There is far too much for us to cover in this guide, but most platforms (like Google) offer built-in tools to help with search. You might want to consider high-intent keywords that encourage conversion rather than nurture leads. Limit yourself to two or three campaigns with five to eight keywords per group to get the optimal amount of conversions for your dollar.
- Write compliant ad copy that converts. Lean heavily into your primary keyword here and check the platform’s requirements for both approval and listing. Add as much detail as possible to take up more space on the page. For example, you might fill in ad extensions, add callouts, tack on sitelinks, and enter descriptions and headers for maximum value.
- If applicable, create an optimized landing page for those who click through. You might want to make this as detail-rich and graphic-heavy as possible, with plenty of charts and graphs, long-form content, and clear calls to action. Don’t forget to add in UTM parameters so you can track where clickers came from, as well as what keywords brought them to your landing page.
- Measure search ad performance over time. Digital marketing for financial services isn’t always easy to track using traditional tools. Platforms like AdWords offer some helpful statistics, but you can also use third-party analytics platforms like Mixpanel.
- Benchmark, update, and improve future campaigns. For context, the average clickthrough rate for a paid search ad is around 2.91%. It also costs around $3.44 per click. If you’re spending more than that (or seeing clickthrough rates lower than the average), it may be worth taking a second look.
2. Social Media Advertising: Best for Targeting Specific Demographics
Social media is one of the most common places where financial services advertise. And no wonder: a whopping 64% of the world’s population are active social media users.
There are three different ways to approach social media advertising: in-app ads, and social media influencers. These are organized from least to most expensive so you can dip your toe in the water wherever it makes more sense.
First, traditional ads. There are many different ad formats that work for financial services, including:
- Sponsored or boosted posts (usually text-only)
- Videos or short clips
- Static images
- Carousels (multiple images chained together)
- Messages and conversations
The price of each ad depends on the outcome you want. For example, if you want people to click through to a landing page, you’ll need to pay per click. If you want more brand awareness, this might be paying for views or engagement. And if you want more sales, this could be paid per lead or per sale on a specific target page.
Social media ads also come with built-in targeting, so you can hunt for the perfect recipients of your message. You can break down by age, life stage, and milestones, like starting a business or entering retirement.
Your second option is influencer content. This is where you pay online content creators to advertise your services. This might be through product demos, ad scripts, or even mentioning your brand name, depending on the outcome you’re looking for. Just keep in mind you’ll have less control of your message, and you’ll have to manually research audience demographics/psychographics before investing in an influencer.
Either way, the goal is to focus on community building through social advertising and creating engaged listeners.
💡Sidenote: It’s possible to run ads and promote sponsored content on live social media platforms such as Twitch or YouTube Live. However, this can be difficult to manage or hard to control for growing brands. You can read more about it in our section on video advertising.
Examples of Social Media Advertising
There are lots of options depending on your preference.
Here’s an example of a boosted post (ad) for Facebook:
And here’s an example of a sponsored post (traditional ad) with LinkedIn:
How to Start Social Media Advertising for Financial Services
- Pick your platforms. No matter which platforms you wish to try, you’re going to need to know how to promote a podcast on LinkedIn. You can also target Facebook and Instagram, which are also popular options among high-income populations.
- Create your ad copy. In almost all instances, this is a short title, a description, and a call to action. Your call to action might be a landing page, gated content (like a downloadable file), or a way for the customer to get in touch (think calling, booking a timeslot, or gathering leads).
- Pay the platform and monitor results. You might limit your spend to a modest amount, especially if you’re just getting started with ad testing.
- Assess results and make improvements. For example, you might test different versions of the copy to see which one performs better. Or maybe you change up your call to action to see if one provides better rates of return than others.
- If you’re considering working with influencers, now’s the time to start researching prospects. You have a better understanding of what works (and what doesn’t) so you’re only investing in relationships that will move the needle. Plus, you can use tools like HypeAuditor to determine the reach, price, and impact of working with specific influencers.
3. Video Advertising: Best for Educating Prospects
Video ads are the quintessential tool for advertising on the internet. Not only do they boast 34% higher conversion rates compared to static images, but they can be easily repurposed into dozens of other content types.
You don’t necessarily need a perfectly polished video to publish on digital marketing platforms. There are several different options at your disposal:
- GIFs
- Animated images
- Long-form content
- Short-form content
- Stock footage with overlay text
- Repurposed footage as an ad on YouTube
Keep in mind that ads can be expensive to produce and even more expensive to run online. It’s often best-suited to market outreach and brand awareness.
Still want to use video for lead generation? This is possible, but a touch trickier. Considering direct purchases are more common on social media platforms, you might want to keep your video(s) within one of these platforms:
- Facebook (39% of direct purchases)
- TikTok (36% of direct purchases)
- Instagram (29% of direct purchases)
Examples of Video Advertising
Father Knows Best-ish | MassMutual
How to Start Video Advertising for Financial Services
- Choose your platform and video style. Will you go long-form and post to YouTube? Or short-form for Instagram Reels or TikTok? If your audience skews older or affluent, LinkedIn and YouTube may be more suitable options.
- Write a script that simplifies your message. The first five seconds of any video is key. Make sure your value prop is crystal clear and the visual is engaging enough to keep someone watching.
- Produce your video with quality in mind. You don’t need a production studio, but you should still try to avoid stock or generic visuals. A hint of humor can also take you far. It might not eliminate your need for quality completely, but viewers may be more forgiving if the ad can make them chuckle.
- Run the campaign and monitor watch times. Completion rate (how many people actually watched until the end) is a great way to track how much your content resonates with viewers. You can also track engagement signals (think likes, comments, and shares), which also indicate trust and interest for future videos.
- Consider video ads on other content (including video podcasts). Creating engaging financial video content that blends seamlessly with what the viewer is already watching is a great way to get engagement while piggybacking off existing content.
- Repurpose your content as often as possible. Video ads are a big investment, but repurposing can help to stretch your dime as far as possible. For example, you can turn your 90-second video ad into Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and even social media posts. Run it through a transcription tool, and you can repurpose it as a blog post, static ads, or blog embeds.
4. Email Advertising: Best for Nurturing Segmented Audiences
Email advertising is the process of creating and publishing ads that show up in an inbox (either via placement or via manual sending processes).
There are two different ways financial brands can approach this:
- Sponsored or promotional emails: These are direct messages you create and send to your own list, like drip campaigns, newsletters, onboarding sequences, or one-off promotions.
- Email Ads (inside email): These show up as display-style ads (usually in Gmail’s interface). When clicked, they expand like a full email, but they’re technically paid ads managed through a third party. These aren’t things you’re sending through a platform like Mailchimp, Omnisend, or HubSpot.
Both types of email advertising are particularly good for nurturing leads across long sales cycles. Since email lets you personalize, segment, and automate emails to specific audiences, you can easily write messages for customers with similar traits.
Just keep in mind that your strategy and compliance approach will look different depending on the methods you use.
Examples of Email Advertising
Here’s one example of a direct banking email:
And another ad inside an email account:
How to Start Email Advertising for Financial Services
- Pick a goal. Do you want to build trust? Convert leads? Re-engage previous clients? Knowing your objectives up front will help determine your messaging.
- Segment your audience. Use CRM data or behavior tracking tools like Google Analytics to create campaigns for each customer persona. If you’re not sure how to start, consider grouping by income, age, or job title.
- If you’re sending emails, write content that adds value. Don’t just pitch. Provide insight, education, or helpful tips that keep you top of mind.
- If you’re creating display ads, aim for short, sweet, and pithy. Be sure to follow all compliance regulations for advertising based on the details above (plus any specifics from your advertising partner).
- Sign up for a platform that offers automation, A/B testing, and analytics. Popular options include platforms like Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, or HubSpot.
- Keep tabs on your email’s performance. Open rates tell you how many people have read the email, while clickthrough rates show how many people have pressed a button inside your email. Conversions will tell you which messages are working, and which segments are your highest-value options.
5. Podcast Advertising: Best for Loyal, Affluent Audiences
Nearly one in five (18%) of financial service purchasers stream podcasts on a daily basis. This presents an enormous opportunity for advertising on the right platforms, shows, and distribution networks.
Youl have a few different options depending on your preference:
- Sponsor your own podcast. You can start your own podcast and incorporate advertisements into the mix.
- Sponsor a third-party podcast. You can pay to have an existing podcaster advertise via audio or video to their audience. This can provide additional exposure, add social proof, and build relationships with outside audiences.
- Set up traditional dynamic ads to run on related podcasts. This is typically cheaper than sponsorship, but less precise and easier to skip. It might also be more expensive in the beginning as you learn the ropes of your audience.
Keep in mind, you can choose to advertise on either video or audio-only podcasts. Of course, this mostly depends on the podcast (and podcast distribution platform) you’re advertising on. Nielsen recommends at least 50% audio advertising and 20% video advertising for best results.
Examples of Podcast Advertising
Expanding Financial Inclusion for Women | Sponsored by Mastercard
How to Start Podcast Advertising for Financial Services
- Pick your podcasting hosting platform of choice. This could be Spotify, Buzzsprout, Apple Podcasts, or something more niche for your specific audience.
- If sponsoring, create your ad copy. If this is pre-recorded content, you can create this yourself or outsource to a third party. If this is a host-read ad, just hand your script to the podcast host and let them do the work.
- If rolling ads, set up your targeting parameters. These are the behaviors and demographics you brainstormed in your client persona document(s).
💡Related: Choosing a Podcast Hosting Platform
The Bottom Line on Financial Advertising Strategies
Anyone with a wallet can set up financial advertisements. But not everyone can make their ads actually convert clients. That’s why picking the right strategies and setting realistic objectives matters: you’re sent safely,
Keep in mind the ‘perfect’ advertising process won’t magically appear overnight. For most financial service companies, it takes weeks and even months to perfect. The best course of action is to start small and stick to a budget. The more ropes you learn, the easier it gets, and the more you can refine your overall approach.
Looking to read up in the meantime? One of these resources may be helpful: