How Programmatic Digital Advertising Drives Engagement Marketing

Consumers spend much of their day online, and that’s where financial decisions begin. As of 2025, U.S. adults spend an average of 7 hours and 3 minutes on their screens daily, totaling a huge 49 hours and 21 minutes per week. Every one of those hours is a chance to reach your account holders with the right message at just the right time.

Programmatic digital advertising is the automated buying and placement of digital ads, guided by data about where and when your audience is most active. It takes the guesswork out of ad buying and ensures your campaigns run more efficiently, changing how banks and credit unions can connect with people online.

For financial institutions, it’s one of the most profitable engagement marketing channels, delivering privacy-safe precision, powering always-on retargeting, and proving results tied directly to real goals.

Global ad spend shifts to digital

Global ad spend continues to shift toward digital. In 2025, digital ad spending is expected to reach $678.7B worldwide, making up more than two-thirds of all ad budgets. Programmatic buying will drive most of that growth. It will account for 96.8% of new display ad dollars in 2025 and is an estimated 90% of all display ad spend worldwide by 2026.

This shift matters for marketing for financial institutions. People compare rates, read reviews, and explore product options online. They may never walk into a branch. If your institution is absent in those digital moments, you risk losing their business altogether.

Programmatic digital advertising helps you reach your account holders where they already are. Instead of buying a block of ads that may never get seen, programmatic bids on each impression in real time. That means your message only shows up when the match is right. It is efficient, measurable, and built on first-party data.

Proven results in action with programmatic digital ad campaigns

$2.8B institution drives a 66% lift in conversions
One $2.8B institution set out to grow product adoption across certificate of deposits (CDs), checking, home equity, mortgages, and Instaline. Over four months they launched five programmatic campaigns. More than one million impressions reached their account holders, all without exposing personal data. The result was 135 added conversions and a 66% lift overall. The effort created $5.8M in value. Source: Alkami customer data, 2022.

$12B institution achieves 14x ROI
A $12B institution wanted to grow direct deposit use and expand adoption across auto refinance, checking, money market, and credit card. Over six months, they delivered more than three million impressions across the internet. That activity drove 6,731 additional conversions. The return on investment (ROI) was 14x, creating $41M in product value. Source: Alkami customer data, 2022.

These results show how programmatic digital ad campaigns turn engagement marketing into measurable growth.

Three goals for stronger engagement marketing

1) Stay top of mind in a crowded market
Your account holders scroll through content constantly. Programmatic digital ads help you stay visible across the sites they already use. Behavior and intent signals let you place messages when people are more likely to pay attention. Frequency controls help prevent oversaturation and wasted spend.

2) Win more share of wallet with precision and privacy
Competitors are targeting your account holders every day. You can meet them with offers that fit their needs. First-party data creates the starting point. Privacy-first methods, like Alkami’s patented One Way Trust integration, ensure internet delivery without exposing account holder data. You decide where your ads show with customizable block lists. Account holders see relevant ads, and their trust is protected.

3) Prove ROI with clear reporting
Executives want evidence. Programmatic digital ads deliver it. You can bid on millions of real-time ad auctions every second and track impressions, clicks, and product openings. Per-impression billing with daily audience updates keeps budgets efficient and focused on the right people. Campaigns can be optimized by shifting dollars toward what works and pausing what does not.

3 pillars of effective engagement marketing

How to get started

1. Identify retargeting strategy
2. Set campaign budget
3. Select audience
4. Develop campaign assets
5. Initiate and track campaign

You don’t have to launch every campaign at once. Pick two key products this quarter. Build audiences from your customer relationship management (CRM) system. Define your main conversion and a secondary metric. Create three ad concepts per product. Set a clear budget and launch.

Add a retargeting campaign for people who visited product pages but didn’t convert. Then, launch a prospecting campaign that uses what you know about your best account holders to find new people with similar profiles. Share results with sales and leadership early. That builds confidence and makes it easier to expand the budget later. Financial institutions like yours are already turning data and budgets into real results and you can too.