Course

Financial Services Marketing

Faculty
Commerce & Business Administration
Department
Marketing
Course code
MARK 3500
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15 Weeks
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Online
Hybrid
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
In recent years, marketing in the financial services sector has experienced significant growth. Marketers are challenged to keep pace. Fuelled by new technologies, tighter regulations, increased competition and heightened consumer expectation – the industry has undergone significant change. This course will take an in-depth look at Canada’s financial landscape. It will distinguish between banks and credit unions; it will dissect and analyze a variety of positioning and branding strategies used by both.

In addition, it will explore how marketers develop a deep understanding of financial service segments, tailor products accordingly, and communicate via channels of the target market’s choice. The marketing mix for financial services will be covered, along with the concepts of marketing as they apply to the unique nature of services. An emphasis will be placed on traditional marketing concepts such as brand management and strategy development, as well are more intangible ideas such as loyalty, trust, ‘stickiness’, experiential marketing, customer acquisition and retention, and relationship management.
Course content
  1. The concept of services marketing as it applies to the financial services sector 
  2. The regulatory environment and its impact on financial services marketing; describe the role of ethics and social responsibility
  3. Similarities and difference between Canadian banks and credit unions
  4. Strategies and tactics used by financial institutions to market brands, products and services
  5. Tools and resources to build, manage and evaluate customer relations
  6. Customer acquisition and retention strategies; exceed customer expectations
  7. Advertising, public relations, digital marketing, social media and personal selling into a marketing strategy
  8. Channels to reach message-resistant audiences; communicate effectively
  9. Products and services to target specific market segments; respect each’s risk profile and needs
  10. Manage and measure marketing success
Learning activities

The course will involve a blend of lectures, discussions, videos, cases, guest speakers, on-line activities, and seminars.  Presentations by students are an integral part of the course.

Means of assessment
Course participation  5% - 10%
Cases and assignments    20% - 30% 
Midterm examination  15% - 25%
Final examination 15% - 25%
Term Project  20% - 30%
Total 100%


Evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy.


Students must achieve at least 50% on the combined non-group components in order to obtain credit for the course, with the 50% calculated on a weighted average basis.


Students must complete all projects, assignments and write all examinations in order to be eligible for a passing grade in the course.

Students may conduct research as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans, which can require obtaining Informed Consent from participants and getting the approval of the Douglas College Research Ethics Board prior to conducting the research.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:

  1. Describe the key concepts and nature of financial services marketing;
  2. Explain the importance of, and challenges involved in, marketing financial services; 
  3. Apply regulatory, privacy and ethical principles to marketing activity;
  4. Analyze customer lifestyle and life-stage data; integrate into the development of products and services; 
  5. Develop strategies and tactics for effective marketing in the financial services industry;
  6. Create acquisition, retention, loyalty and promotion initiatives for the financial services’ sector using market planning, market research, segmentation, customer analysis and;
  7. Apply relevant metrics for measuring marketing success.
Textbook materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students:

Ehrlich, E., & Fanelli, D. The financial services marketing handbook, tactics and techniques that produce results. Princeton, NJ: Bloomberg Press. Latest Edition (and/or other textbook(s) and/or other material approved by the department)

Requisites

Prerequisites

MARK 1120 (Introductory Marketing) and MARK 2150 (Personal Selling)

OR MARK 1120 AND currently active in PDD Marketing

OR currently active in:
PDD Financial Planning
PBD Finance

Corequisites

Courses listed here must be completed either prior to or simultaneously with this course:

  • No corequisite courses

Equivalencies

Courses listed here are equivalent to this course and cannot be taken for further credit:

  • No equivalency courses

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for MARK 3500
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU MRKT 2XXX (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG MARK 2XXX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU BUS 2XX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU BBUS 3XXX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV BUS 3XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC COM 3XX (1.5)

Course Offerings

Winter 2025

CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum seats
35
Currently enrolled
15
Remaining seats:
20
On waitlist
0
Building
Anvil Office Tower
Room
609
Times:
Start Time
8:30
-
End Time
10:20