Financial Services Marketing
Curriculum guideline
Lecture: 2 hours/week
Seminar: 2 hours/week
OR
Hybrid: 2 hours/week in class; 2 hours/week online
OR
Fully online
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.
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.
- The concept of services marketing as it applies to the financial services sector
- The regulatory environment and its impact on financial services marketing; describe the role of ethics and social responsibility
- Similarities and difference between Canadian banks and credit unions
- Strategies and tactics used by financial institutions to market brands, products and services
- Tools and resources to build, manage and evaluate customer relations
- Customer acquisition and retention strategies; exceed customer expectations
- Advertising, public relations, digital marketing, social media and personal selling into a marketing strategy
- Channels to reach message-resistant audiences; communicate effectively
- Products and services to target specific market segments; respect each’s risk profile and needs
- Manage and measure marketing success
On successful completion of this course, the student should be able to:
- Describe the key concepts and nature of financial services marketing;
- Explain the importance of, and challenges involved in, marketing financial services;
- Apply regulatory, privacy and ethical principles to marketing activity;
- Analyze customer lifestyle and life-stage data; integrate into the development of products and services;
- Develop strategies and tactics for effective marketing in the financial services industry;
- Create acquisition, retention, loyalty and promotion initiatives for the financial services’ sector using market planning, market research, segmentation, customer analysis and;
- Apply relevant metrics for measuring marketing success.
| 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.
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)
Courses listed here must be completed either prior to or simultaneously with this course:
- No corequisite courses
Courses listed here are equivalent to this course and cannot be taken for further credit:
- No equivalency courses