By the numbers
Attributed sales for our clients
$3B+
In high-consideration categories
15 years
Deal pipelines built for Resilience and Savill Hicks
14
Deals managed and influenced since launch
250+
Why it's different
Why financial services marketing is harder than it looks.
Financial services marketing is harder because the buyer is sceptical and the category is regulated. People choose a home loan or a super fund rarely, and they tend to assume every ad is hiding something. Then every claim you make has to survive a compliance review before it can run.
The cost shows up between channels. An application gets started and never finished, or a quote sits in one system while the follow-up runs from another. We call that the Complexity Tax: what a brand pays for running a complex customer journey through disconnected parts.
The Garden is an integrated marketing agency with teams in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland, and closing those gaps is the work.
Claims reviewed before they run
Measured on applications, not clicks
Financial services brands we work with
Banking & lending
Bank and lending marketing that gets the application finished.
For a bank or lender, the expensive moment isn’t the click. It’s the half-finished application. We map the journey from first search to funded loan, find where people drop out, and fix it with reminders, call-backs, shorter forms and landing pages that answer the questions holding them back.
Audiences are built on real intent signals, such as product searches and calculator use, rather than sensitive personal attributes. Reporting follows each lead into your CRM, so spend is judged on approved applications rather than cost per click.
We work with lenders including Heartland Bank.
Drop-off found and fixed
Spend tied to approvals
Insurance, broking & comparison
Insurance marketing that runs on one connected CRM.
Insurance marketing works when sales and service teams can see every quote and renewal in one place. Resilience Insurance and Savill Hicks, an underwriter and a broker operating as one group, had no functional CRM and data spread across disconnected platforms.
We designed a single HubSpot environment that keeps the two businesses’ data and branding cleanly separate, each with its own pipelines, while giving leadership one view. It now runs 14 deal pipelines and four workflows for sales operations and lead allocation, and has managed and influenced more than 250 deals since launch.
Comparison brands such as iSelect face the same problem at higher volume: a customer who compares many products needs a fast, consistent follow-up that matches what they just looked at.
Separate brands, one platform
Leads allocated automatically
Superannuation & wealth
Superannuation marketing for members who never look.
Superannuation marketing has an unusual problem: most members don’t think about their fund until something forces them to. The opportunity sits in life moments, like a new job, a consolidation, a contribution decision or the approach to retirement, when attention briefly switches on.
We build the content, triggered emails, SMS and paid media that meet members at those moments, and measure them on actions that matter to a fund: consolidations, contribution changes, insurance reviews and adviser bookings.
Our webinar on marketing super to disengaged members covers the approach in detail.
Journeys triggered by life moments
Measured on member actions
Compliance-aware delivery
How we keep financial services advertising inside the rules.
We're a marketing partner, not your compliance function, and we don't give legal advice. What we do is build compliance into the workflow, so your licensee and compliance team review work that has already been built to pass.
Claims checked first
Every rate, fee, benefit and comparison claim is logged with its source before creative is built, then submitted for your sign-off.
Audiences that fit the target market
Targeting is set against your target market determinations under the design and distribution obligations.
Disclosures that are seen
Warnings and key conditions placed where ASIC's guidance on advertising financial products expects them, not buried in a footnote.
Consent across every system
Opt-ins and unsubscribes respected across CRM, email, SMS and ad audiences, in line with the Spam Act and the Privacy Act.
Key services
The financial services marketing we connect.
Financial services engagements draw on the full Marketing Operating System, The Garden's connected model for running strategy, media, creative, CRM and measurement together.
Media Buying
Search, social, video and programmatic planned as one budget and judged on applications.
CX Strategy
The application and onboarding journey mapped, with every drop-off point found.
CRM
Leads, quotes, policies and renewals in one system your sales and service teams share.
Marketing Automation
Triggered journeys for abandoned applications, onboarding, renewals and life moments.
Content Marketing
Plain-English content that answers the questions people are too wary to ask.
Analytics & Measurement
Reporting that follows spend through to approved applications and policies.
How we work
A growth loop that moves at compliance speed.
The Loop, The Garden's growth loop, runs weekly. In financial services we plan approvals into it, so testing doesn't stall waiting for sign-off.
Sense
Funnel, call centre, CRM and policy data in one view of where applications stall.
Decide
The week's highest-value fix, prioritised with your compliance calendar in mind.
Create & activate
Creative variations approved in batches, so tests can run as soon as they're needed.
Learn & improve
Approved-application and policy data fed back to sharpen targeting.
The proof
Financial services results with a number on them.
Selected results from the CRM and lead generation programs we have built for considered-purchase businesses.
The Garden rebuilt Realm Projects' HubSpot CRM, separating qualification from sale, migrating 16,000+ Pipedrive contacts, and unifying four enquiry sources into one pipeline.
The Garden rebuilt Azure's HubSpot for leasing: 15,783 contacts scored, $60M+ pipeline influenced and a 43% click-to-open rate on its Open Day emails.
Junior Adventures Group (JAG)
See how The Garden unified four brands' CRM, email and SMS marketing for Junior Adventures Group with a tailored HubSpot implementation.
Financial services marketing questions, answered.
What does a financial services marketing agency do?
A financial services marketing agency plans and runs the marketing that brings in customers for banks, lenders, insurers, super funds and advisers, inside the rules that govern financial promotion. The Garden connects advertising, the application journey, CRM and reporting, so you can see which spend produced approved applications and policies.
How do you keep financial services advertising compliant?
We build compliance into the workflow rather than leaving it to the end. Every claim is logged with its source, audiences are set against your target market determinations, disclosures are placed where ASIC’s guidance expects them, and consent is honoured across every system. Your compliance team and licensee keep final sign-off, and we plan approval time into every campaign.
Can you market superannuation funds?
Yes. Superannuation marketing is mostly about reaching members who rarely engage, at the moments they’re open to it: changing jobs, starting a family, consolidating, or getting closer to retirement. We build triggered journeys and content for those moments and measure them on member actions such as consolidations and contribution changes.
Which financial services brands have you worked with?
We work with financial services and insurance brands including Heartland Bank, iSelect, Resilience Insurance and Savill Hicks. For Resilience Insurance and Savill Hicks we built a single HubSpot environment serving both businesses, now running 14 deal pipelines and more than 250 deals managed and influenced.
Do you work with our CRM and existing systems?
Yes. We’re a HubSpot Diamond Solutions Partner and certified in Salesforce and Marketo, and we work in Dynamics 365. We’ll work with what you’ve got, and connect marketing to the systems your sales and service teams already use, so leads, quotes, policies and renewals sit in one place.
What should a financial services brand measure?
Measure the outcome the business is paid on, not the click. For lenders that’s approved or funded applications, for insurers bound policies and renewals, for super funds member actions like consolidations, and for advisers booked first meetings. We agree that number at the start and report every channel against it weekly.
What our clients say
Our reviews
Our clients love our work in financial services. Here's what working with The Garden feels like.
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Tell us where your applications stall.
Tell us the number your business is paid on. If we think we can move it, we'll show you how, with compliance in the plan from day one.