Bio

James Robert Lay is one of the world’s leading digital marketing authors, speakers, and advisors for financial brands. Based in Houston, James Robert is the author of Banking on Digital Growth: The Strategic Marketing Manifesto to Transform Financial Brands.

He is also the founder and CEO of the Digital Growth Institute where he has guided more than 520 financial brands on a mission to simplify digital marketing and sales strategies that empower banks and credit unions to generate 10X more loans and deposits.

James Robert has been named one of the Financial Brand’s “Top Global Financial Services Influencers to Follow,” a CUNA “Credit Union Rock Star,” and a CU Times “Under 40 Trailblazer.” His insights have been featured in outlets including US News and World Report, Quartz, The Financial Brand, American Banker, CU Times, and CU Journal among many others.

View James Robert’s speaker reel

Speaking Topics

Banking on Digital Growth: A Modern Marketing Manifesto to Transform Banking for Good

As branch traffic continues to decline, your financial institution needs an entirely new approach to sales and marketing. No longer is having a website, social media, and some digital ads enough to help you grow.

You need a unified digital growth strategy.

Attend this session and receive a digital growth blueprint you can immediately implement to bridge the digital divide between consumers and your products. You will leave inspired with new insights and a proven strategic framework to attract and acquire leads to grow your financial institution.

Banking on Change: Learn From the Past to Create the Future With Courage and Confidence

Websites. Social media. Fintech. Data and analytics. AI. Automation.

The list of digital growth strategies and tactics can feel overwhelming and frustrating as changes in technology, consumers, and competition continues all around us. But what if the solution to maximize your financial brand’s digital growth potential has nothing to do with technology or tactics?

The secret to digital growth starts by learning from the past to escape the present as you develop a future mindset that spreads throughout your entire organization. However, the challenge for many financial brand leaders is they are held back by four distinct fears as legacy systems and thinking limit their digital growth potential.

But it does not have to be this way for you as digital growth is a journey to grow from good to great. And like running a marathon, this journey takes time.

Attend this session and you will learn key lessons from the past to escape the present as you develop a digital growth mindset and operating model that accounts for more than 80% of your future digital growth potential. You will leave with actionable insights that will help you break free from the Circle of Chaos as you confidently guide your financial brand towards a bigger and brighter future.

Banking on Purpose: Elevate the Transformation of People Over the Transaction of Dollars and Cents

The hard truth: Consumers don’t care about your financial brand’s legacy mission of dollars and cents. In fact, 2 out of 3 consumers believe that all traditional financial brands care about are their own interests.

This is where a new purpose, one that puts people at the center of all of your thinking and doing, empowers your financial brand to rise among the commoditized masses of other banks and credit unions. Because at the end of the day, all consumers care about is finding someone they can trust to guide them beyond their financial stress towards a bigger and better future.

Attend this session and get inspired by other purpose-driven brands that have used their purpose as a North Star leading to exponential growth. You will also learn how to establish your own purpose-driven digital experiences that are rooted in the latest neuroscience research to maximize your future growth potential.

Banking on Stories: Steal Hollywood’s Secret to Maximize Your Future Digital Growth

Money is stressful. And this stress takes a toll on people’s health, relationships, and overall sense of wellbeing. People are looking for someone they can trust to get them to a bigger, better, and brighter future.

However, the continued promotion of great rates, amazing service, and commoditized product features from the majority of financial brands isn’t helping people much at all.

This is where your financial brand comes in to help.

But this requires an entirely new approach to marketing, sales, and positioning as a whole.

Attend this session to learn a proven marketing and sales process that will help your financial brand rise above the noise of other financial institutions. You’ll learn how to position yourself as a helpful and trusted financial guide within your community to generate 10X more loans and deposits.

Banking on Trust: Become the Helpful Guide to Generate 10X More Loans and Deposits

Money is stressful. And this stress takes a toll on people’s health, relationships, and overall sense of wellbeing. People are looking for someone they can trust to get them to a bigger, better, and brighter future.

And the continued promotion of great rates, amazing service, and commoditized product features from the majority of financial brands isn’t helping people much at all.

That’s where you and content marketing come in to help.

Content marketing is the currency of trust in a digital world and the fuel of your financial brand’s future growth engine. However, content marketing is often misunderstood by financial brands thinking it is nothing more than publishing an occasional blog or social media post.

Attend this session and you will learn how to plan, produce, and promote content in every step in the consumer buying journey. You’ll take back proven and actionable insights that will help position your financial brand as the empathetic, helpful, and trusted financial guide for people in the communities you serve to generate 10X more leads, loans, and deposits.

Banking on Technology: Build a Digital Growth Engine That Connects People Together for Good

Digital empowers financial marketers and their sales teams to sell more loans than ever before. But many financial brands are held back by legacy systems and thinking. No longer is it enough to have just a website, send some emails, and place a few digital ads because financial services is commoditized as every bank or credit union promotes the same exact thing.

It’s time for marketing and sales teams to work together and help their financial institutions rise above the promotion of great rates and amazing service. We understand digital marketing can feel complex, confusing, and overwhelming. And we know that to improve your value, you must do more than report vanity metrics like clicks, likes, and follows that mean absolutely nothing to CEOs.

Attend this session and you will learn a proven methodology that can help you transform your marketing and sales teams by building a Digital Growth Engine that generates 10X more loans.