Growth Strategies with Amanda Swanson

Hey, GonzoBankers. Tony DeSanctis back with another hot take. I wanted to talk about growth strategies. I think we’ve all had some challenges this year with our growth.

One of the areas that I think we want to touch on here is that we’ve noticed the fintechs have not had trouble growing. Some of the statistics we have show that the top four or five fintechs in the country have something like 20% to 25% of the debit cards in the country from a penetration perspective.

So I’ve asked Amanda Swanson to join us. She leads our growth strategy practice here at Cornerstone.

Amanda, what are some of the things we’re seeing in the growth space, and what are some of those fintechs maybe doing to be successful in that space?

Good question, Tony. I would say that a lot of the fintechs today are really focusing on the content that is being delivered to the younger generation, or the generations that they’re trying to go after. They are really leaning in to understand what is going to speak to them and why they should actually come and bank with them.

I would say that they are being very crystal clear in regard to the market problem that they’re trying to solve and not talking in banking terms. They’re actually able to understand how a consumer, or even the younger generation, talks. They’re not talking like we as bankers do, right? They’re actually talking to them in their terms and through the content that they are delivering.

Nice. So stay away from the jargon. Start from the customer, right? We talk about this all the time in schools. Design from the customer backwards, not from your products forward. I think that’s the challenge, right?

Correct. And so I will say this. We’re having a lot of conversations with clients today about whether we have the right checking account product, or product, to draw them in, right? So it could be a checking account. Is it even checking, right? Or it could be on the credit card side. Is it the lending product?

The one critical thing I’m working with them on is really understanding, one, what’s in the competition, but two, what is the problem that you’re trying to solve? Then, designing that product or redesigning that product to really meet that target market.

The other piece is being really loud about it, right? Once you have defined what you need to do and how you’re going to solve that problem, be loud about it. All the operational stuff is important in regard to the business planning piece.

Sure.

But it is really critical to understand the generation and the people that you’re trying to attract.

Right. So we’re going to identify the niche. We’re going to develop the product that solves that customer’s problem within that niche. Then we’re going to get really loud about it, and we’re going to talk to the customer where they’re at.

We’re not going to talk to the customer in the places we’ve historically talked to them. We’re going to find where those customers are and where they interact.

Correct. I’ll even say, I think some of our interns did a really great job in regard to our social media and really understanding how Gen Z is navigating to the various different social media platforms.

But I think the critical thing is that there are a lot of finfluencers out there, right?

Right.

So why are those finfluencers getting more traction than our banks and our credit unions? We need to kind of flip the switch and say we need to be acting like those finfluencers.

Yeah, absolutely. So make sure we’re going where they’re at. Talk to Gen Z, and then Gen Alpha is right around the corner. I love giving our interns a hard time that Gen Alpha is nipping at their heels.

We’ve got two generations there that are coming up that just live in a different world. They’ve never lived without cell phones. They’ve never lived without social media, and that’s where they get all their information and news. We can’t be working legacy platforms the way Gen X and boomers have done it in the past.

Correct. One hundred percent agree with that.

Awesome. What are you all doing to attract that next generation, or what niches are you targeting for your customers? Let us know in the comments. We want to hear from you. What’s working for you and what’s not? What are some of the successful strategies you have to attract that next generation and keep that growth moving?