In financial marketing, logic used to rule. Numbers, rates, and returns were once the language of persuasion. But in today’s climate of economic uncertainty and digital noise, trust and values have become the new currency.
Customers no longer choose financial brands solely for performance. They choose those that reflect their worldview, brands that understand what money means to them beyond transactions.
This is where value-driven marketing becomes not just a communications strategy, but a business imperative.
Why values matter more than demographics
Demographics tell us who your customers are. Values reveal why they choose you.
Two clients with the same income might make opposite decisions, one invests for growth, another for security. One saves to protect family, another to achieve independence.
Understanding these underlying motivations – freedom, security, belonging, achievement, purpose helps brands move beyond product-centric messaging to emotionally resonant storytelling.
According to WARC’s global study, campaigns that reflect a person’s dominant value outperform others by up to 28 percentage points in effectiveness. The report identified six core value archetypes – achievement, freedom, pleasure, purpose, security, and tradition and found that financial services ads rooted in achievement and tradition perform significantly above average.
“ Values-based targeting layered with demographics drives up to 193% higher predictability of campaign success.”
Trust is built on shared values
In a low-trust industry, credibility can’t be bought with ads, it’s earned through alignment.
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Wealth management clients seek empowerment, not just returns, but clarity and control.
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Insurance clients value care, protection that feels human, not transactional.
Investment platforms attract those motivated by growth and progress, people who want to build a future that reflects their ambitions.
WARC states in The Feed that
“ Trust will be vital to financial services marketing.”
And global studies reinforce this:
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EPAM found 63% of customers cite trust as their main reason for choosing a bank.
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Accenture’s Global Banking Consumer Study 2025 revealed that high-trust banks achieve 1.7× faster revenue growth.
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The Financial Brand (2024) reported that 61% of consumers prioritise trustworthy information above convenience.
Trust isn’t a soft metric, it’s a growth multiplier.
How to build a value-driven marketing strategy
1. Redefine audience insight
Go beyond demographics to value-graphics, uncover what truly drives financial behaviour.
Use qualitative interviews, social listening, and psychographic mapping to identify motivations such as:
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“I want to protect my family.”
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“I want to feel in control.”
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“I want my money to align with my ethics.”
2. Articulate your brand’s belief system
Define what your brand believes about money, success, and responsibility.
DBS’s “Live more, bank less” and Citi’s “Let’s Get It Done” are examples of belief-driven platforms that simplify complexity while empowering progress.
3. Find the intersection
The sweet spot lies where your brand’s beliefs meet your audience’s values.
This is the foundation for consistent storytelling that builds familiarity, trust, and preference.
4. Embed values across every touchpoint
From the tone of a client email to how your app surfaces advice, consistency reinforces authenticity. As WARC says in What Value Are You Creating for Your Customers? (2024)
“ Value comes in many different forms, financial, practical, emotional, and social. It’s only creative if it creates value.”
5. Measure what matters
VDM demands new metrics, traditional KPIs like CTR or CPL don’t capture emotional connection. As WARC noted in Values-Based Marketing Needs a New Type of Measurement (2019) “If values are the new growth engine, our measurement models must evolve to prove their impact.”
Leading banks are tracking brand warmth, advocacy, and trust delta, qualitative and quantitative metrics that predict long-term retention better than short-term conversions.
The ROI of values
In finance, loyalty is fragile. Rates can be matched, apps replicated but trust born from shared values is defensible.
Value-driven brands don’t just market products; they help people live by their principles, security, freedom, legacy, or progress.
And when your marketing reflects those values, you don’t just earn attention, you earn belief.
As the Edelman Trust Barometer 2024 reveals
“ 82% of consumers say they must be able to trust a brand to buy from them.”
Simon Sinek founder of The Optimism Company, explains why values, not numbers, are the key to building trust, loyalty and lasting success.
In summary
Value-driven marketing isn’t about purpose-washing or moral grandstanding. It’s about relevance through resonance.
The brands that will win the next decade of financial marketing aren’t those shouting loudest about innovation or rates, they’re the ones that listen deeply, align authentically, and deliver consistently on shared human values. Because in finance, as in life, what people value shapes what they do, and that’s where the future of meaningful marketing begins.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to know more contact The Dubs Agency we’d love to help.
[For full disclosure: The author used Gemini to research this article while the podcast was created using ElevenLabs]
