

Banking on Digital Growth
James Robert Lay
If you’re part of a financial brand marketing, sales, or leadership team, you know the entire industry is in the midst of exponential change fueled by new technologies. Consumers now make purchase decisions long before they walk into a physical branch location, if they walk into a branch at all, while mobile banks, digital lenders, and fintechs have transformed traditional growth models rooted in legacy broadcast marketing and branch sales strategies.Get ready to gain practical insights, proven ideas, and empowering inspiration as financial brand marketing and sales leaders, along with the leading digital marketing and sales technology firms, share their stories to help you maximize your digital growth potential here on Banking on Digital Growth.
Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 15, 2021 • 42min
142) #ExponentialInsights: Data Takes Marketing from Cost Center to Revenue Center
Imagine a football game where every stat is measured flawlessly… except for the ones that tell you the score.
How do you tell if your team won?
Most marketing teams don’t need to imagine it — they’re playing it.
And nobody knows if they’re winning.
That’s why Kevin MacNeil, Vice President Accounts at Metric Marketing, is adamant that the first step every financial brand should take to turn their marketing teams from cost to revenue center is getting better data.
In this episode, we discuss:
- The importance of data-driven marketing decisions
- The third-party integrations ruining your data
- Why nearly every financial brand’s website is terrible
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts , on Spotify , or here .
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Nov 9, 2021 • 21min
141) #ClarityCalls: Why Cost of Acquisition Per Loan Is the Most Critical Metric
How does your financial brand measure cost per acquisition?
If it isn’t per funded loan…
Well, it’s not telling you what you need to know.
In this Clarity Calls episode, I discuss why with Carlo Cardilli, CEO at Alpharank, an organization helping financial brands remove the unnecessary friction driving their would-be customers away.
We cover:
- Why measuring per funded loan is the only true way to gain insights into your marketing costs
- The easily-avoidable friction driving customers away from financial brands
- Why compliance isn’t an excuse for poor customer experience
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Nov 8, 2021 • 34min
140) #ExponentialInsights: Are You Prepared for a Techno-Socialist Future?
The way we work is changing.
It’s not just the pandemic — the economic world is transforming.
Whether that change is good or bad depends on whether we can adapt the system to embrace the future or let the future be guided by fear and uncertainty.
For Brett King, Founder, Executive Chairman at Moven and Author of The Rise of Techno-Socialism, the way we need to adapt this system is clear.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why Techno-Socialism is the best path for a better, brighter future
- The costs of techno-unemployment
- Why corporate citizenship is as important a metric as corporate viability.
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Nov 2, 2021 • 33min
139) #DigitalGrowthJourneys: KEG Culture: On Tap Credit Union’s Recipe For Growth
Good ingredients aren’t enough. You need the right recipe, too.
Every great marketer knows this, including Janelle Herrera, our next guest.
As the VP of Marketing and Business Development at On Tap Credit Union, she has continually improved her recipe for digital marketing success. She joins us to discuss:
- The foundations and growth paths for credit union marketing
- A healthy approach to automation and iteration
- The importance of reaching out to experts and asking questions
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Nov 1, 2021 • 23min
138) #InsideDigitalGrowth: It’s Time to Go ALL-In on Human-Centered Growth
Do different markets require a different approach to digital growth? Yes and no.
Regulations, economies and cultures may be different.
But human-centered growth is universal.
In this solo episode, I’ll be answering a question about Fintech deployment in Latin America — but the answer transcends borders.
I cover:
- How to focus on the uniqueness of emerging markets like those in Latin America
- Human-centered growth
- Why you need to go ALL-in on your digital growth
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Oct 26, 2021 • 37min
137) #ExponentialInsights: Financial Literacy: All It Takes Are the Right Stories
Biology explains why kids trust their parents, but why their teachers?
Education — that’s the key to building trust.
Financial brands who get that will thrive and may just fix our culture’s financial literacy problems in the process.
That’s what Arindam Nag, Chief Executive Officer at CentSai, is banking on. At CentSai, he’s telling the right stories to help build financial literacy — and he was gracious enough to share them in today’s episode.
We discuss:
- The issues with financial literacy
- Why smart money management doesn’t take a career in Wall Street to learn
- Why education (and the trust it builds) will shape the future of finance
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Oct 25, 2021 • 41min
136) #ExponentialInsights: Failure is Just Extreme Market Research
Fin tech leaders have big goals and even bigger dreams.
But it’s vitally important to celebrate where you’ve come from and the progress you’ve made thus far.
Dan Sullivan, Founder and President at Strategic Coach , has high-achieving entrepreneurial clients in 35 different countries.
He’s also a best-selling author, and his new magnum opus is The Gap and The Gain: The High Achievers' Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success.
In this episode, we’ll dive into:
- How Dan leveraged virtual tech during the pandemic to reach amazing growth
- Focusing on your successes instead of what you haven’t achieved yet
- The gap and how to avoid it
- How failing is just “extreme market research”
- Creating freedom and a new future
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts , on Spotify , or here .
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Oct 19, 2021 • 41min
135) #ExponentialInsights: Going All In on the Future: Financial Literacy for Kids
When it comes to financial literacy, most of us are failing our children.
Schools won’t teach it, parents are scared to teach it, and banks don’t seem to care — but they should…
Your financial brand’s future is being shaped by the education kids are getting (or not getting) right now.
Today, I’m excited to welcome to the show Scott Donnell , Founder at GravyStack, where he is gamifying children’s financial education — equipping parents with the tools to teach finances and saving kids from dry, boring lectures they won’t remember anyway.
In this episode, we discuss:
Why schools and parents struggle with teaching financial literacy (and what to do about it)
The value of gamification, goal-setting and getting hands on with finance
Why banks don’t care — even when their own futures depend on it
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts , on Spotify , or here .
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Oct 18, 2021 • 39min
134) #InsideDigitalGrowth: Your Digital Growth Marathon Starts with 12 Easy Steps
Your digital growth journey is not something that just happens on auto pilot— it requires planning and preparation.
And while every journey starts with a single step…
There are 12 steps everyone must take on their digital growth journey.
I’m flying solo in today’s episode from the Inside Digital Growth series to cover the 12 steps you need to take to inculcate a digital growth mindset in your organization.
I cover:
- The 4 transformations that must happen to achieve digital growth
- Why we need to ACT
- The 12 steps you must take to create a digital growth mindset
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts , on Spotify , or here .
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Oct 12, 2021 • 43min
133) #ExponentialInsights: Legacy Infrastructure Is Holding Your Financial Brand Back
ou can’t move forward if you are relying on the tools of the past.
Digital transformation is about, well… actually transforming.
But most banks aren’t just stuck in the past — they’re built on it.
That’s what Nathaniel Harley, Co-founder & C EO at MANTL , sees as the biggest impediment holding back financial brands from their digital growth journeys.
In this episode, we discuss:
Why community banks need to play to their strengths
The need for innovation in finance
Why customers have higher expectations than ever
You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to Banking on Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or here.
Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Banking on Digital Growth in your favorite podcast player.
Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.