Citi Launches Digital Marketing Push with Zillow

Citi recently formed a digital marketing relationship with Zillow (and subsequently StreetEasy). The new partnership is a good example of how retail banks can begin to partner with key providers of information for consumers likely to generate value for retail banks. The article for more information is:
http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/news/origination/citi-launches-digital-marketing-push-with-zillow-1044113-1.html

When you consider that somewhere between 6-10% of consumers are switching checking accounts in a given year, and of that, many are customers that are entering college, graduating college, getting married, having kids or buying a new house (in other words, those with a major life event), the opportunity to advertise with customers very likely to switch accounts or purchase a primarily bank account, is an amazing opportunity to begin a new opportunity.

I would expect many more similar deals to occur over the next 1-2 years as banks are getting much more savvy in targeting consumers likely to switch accounts.

Citi Partners with Zillow in Digital Marketing Push

In a move that proves that good old fashioned targeting and strategic marketing alliances are not old hat for digital marketers, Citi has partnered with Zillow. This new marketing move will push Citi ads to StreetEasy and Zillow users and will promote the Citi brand and deals to certified preapproved buyers. 

• This tidbit definitely made me wonder whether other similar partnerships between banks and vendors might arise in the near future. There is potential for valuable ad partnerships for banks with car companies, large retail chains with lay away programs, even with behemoth vendors such as Amazon or shopping aggregators like ShopStyle. All of these would provide the equivalent of qualified leads to the banks and would have many of the benefits of SEO, most importantly the value gleaned from knowing the site visitors' intent. These partnerships could be very valuable and boast much better conversion rates than ordinary banner advertising....

http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/news/origination/citi-launches-digital-marketing-push-with-zillow-1044113-1.html