Hit Record Podcast - FI GROW Solutions

Episode 118 - How HubSpot Marketing and Sales have changed things for this Mortgage Lender

Strong marketing can generate leads, but without a system to nurture, organize, and follow up with those opportunities, growth stalls. In this episode of the Hit Record Podcast, Meredith Olmstead sits down with Frank Prinzivalli, VP of Residential Lending at Middlesex Federal Savings, to discuss how HubSpot transformed his lending process. From managing referral relationships to tracking borrower journeys and automating follow-up, Frank shares how technology helps lenders stay organized while creating a more personalized experience for borrowers.Key Takeaways:1. Organization Drives Better Follow-Up. Before implementing HubSpot, leads were coming from multiple sources, including referrals, real estate agents, attorneys, past clients, and community connections. Centralizing those opportunities into one system made it easier to track conversations, manage follow-up, and ensure no potential borrower slipped through the cracks.2. Consistent Communication Wins More Business.  Many borrowers are not ready to make a decision immediately. Automated email campaigns, educational content, and regular touchpoints help keep lenders top of mind, so when the timing is right, borrowers and referral partners know exactly who to call.Technology Helps Personalize Relationships at Scale. The goal is not to replace personal relationships. Instead, tools like HubSpot allow lenders to maintain meaningful connections with more people by tracking activity, organizing pipelines, and providing context for every interaction throughout the lending journey.

Episode 117 - What a Concession Stand Taught Me About Sales for Your Financial Institution

Episode 116 - Is Blogging Dead in the Age of AI

Episode 115 - Why AI is Driving a Resurgence of Financial Content on Social Media

Social media has become the first stop for financial advice and education for younger generations, while AI has flooded the internet with content that is not always trustworthy. In this episode, Meredith Olmstead and Sophie Bawany discuss how “de-influencing” is reshaping financial marketing, why authenticity matters more than polished sales messaging, and how credit unions and community banks can use human-first social media content to build trust, fight misinformation, and connect with younger audiences.Three Key Takeaways1. AI Can Scale Content, But It Cannot Automatically Build TrustAI makes it easy to create massive amounts of content quickly, but that creates a new challenge: credibility. Younger audiences are becoming more skeptical of polished online content, especially when it comes to financial advice. Credit unions and community banks have an opportunity to step in as trusted voices that help “de-influence” misleading financial trends.2. Social Media Is Now the First Financial TouchpointGen Z and younger millennials are not starting their financial research on Google or bank websites anymore. They are searching directly on TikTok and Instagram because they want quick, digestible, relatable information. Financial institutions that create educational short-form content can meet consumers exactly where they already spend their time.3. Authentic Content Outperforms Polished Sales MessagingToday’s audiences can spot overly produced sales content immediately. The institutions building the strongest trust online are the ones leading with honesty, education, and human connection instead of product pushes. Real conversations, relatable people, and transparent messaging are becoming the new competitive advantage.

Episode 114 - 6 Critical Website Maintenance Tasks Banks & Credit Unions Forget After Launch

A website launch is not the finish line. It is the starting point. In this episode, Meredith Olmstead and Rebecca Gwaltney break down the most common website maintenance mistakes credit unions and community banks make after launch, and how those small oversights can quietly impact performance, SEO, and conversions over time.Key Takeaways:1. Your homepage needs ongoing attention, not a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Homepage messaging can quickly become outdated if it is not refreshed regularly. Rotating promotions, updating visuals, and using smart content based on user behavior can significantly improve engagement and conversions2. Outdated content and broken paths hurt both SEO and user experience.  Stale product pages, expired promotions, and broken conversion paths can lead to lost leads and lower search rankings. Regular audits and simple testing processes help ensure your website continues to perform as intended.3. Technical maintenance directly impacts performance and visibility.  Page speed, accessibility, and SEO require ongoing monitoring. Large images, missing updates, and lack of backlinks can slow your site down and reduce discoverability, making consistent maintenance essential for long-term success.

Episode 113 - Make Sure Your PPC Campaigns Are As Efficient as Possible with Custom Goals

Most digital ad campaigns for banks and credit unions are not underperforming because of budget. They are underperforming because of how conversions are tracked. In this episode, Meredith Olmstead and Ida Burr break down a simple but powerful tactic using custom goals in Google Ads to improve campaign accuracy, optimize for real results, and better understand the full application journey.Key Takeaways:1. Custom goals create more accurate campaign optimization.   Instead of relying on default conversions, custom goals allow financial institutions to define exactly what success looks like for each campaign. This ensures Google is optimizing toward the right outcomes, such as completed applications rather than unrelated actions.2. Tracking the full application journey improves performance.  By including multiple stages like application start, mid-point, and completion, marketers can better understand user behavior and guide campaigns through the learning phase before narrowing optimization to high-intent conversions.3. Conversion value helps measure real ROI.  Assigning value to completed applications allows teams to clearly track performance and understand return on ad spend. Whether using a set value or estimated revenue, this creates better visibility into what campaigns are truly delivering.

Episode 112 - Guest Podcast with Clare Fallon from HubSpot - How AI is Changing the Game

Artificial intelligence is changing how financial institutions operate, but the real opportunity is not replacing people. It is empowering them. In this conversation, Meredith Olmstead sits down with HubSpot Partner Development Manager Clare Fallon to explore how AI is reshaping marketing, onboarding, and member engagement for credit unions and community banks. From abandoned applications to personalized onboarding journeys, the discussion highlights how institutions can combine automation and human connection to deliver smarter, more responsive experiences.Key Takeaways:1. AI enables personalization at scale. AI tools can analyze member behavior and trigger personalized messaging based on where someone is in their journey. This helps institutions recover abandoned applications, improve onboarding, and deliver more relevant communication automatically.2. AI increases efficiency while keeping humans at the center. AI handles repetitive tasks like summarizing CRM data, drafting emails, and answering common questions. This allows teams to focus on strategy, service, and higher-value member interactions.3. Sales enablement drives measurable revenue. As automation increases, audiences are gravitating toward authentic, people-driven content. Video, social media, and influencer-style storytelling help build trust and emotional connection in ways automated content cannot.

Episode 111 - The Follow-Up Failure That’s Killing Your Marketing ROI

Marketing is not the problem if your loans are not closing. In this episode, Meredith Olmstead and Danielle Fancher unpack why campaigns fail when sales follow-up falls short. From abandoned applications to speed to lead and revenue opportunities hiding in plain sight, this conversation connects the dots between marketing performance and lending execution.Key Takeaways:1. Marketing does not fail. Follow up does. Many financial institutions assume they need more leads when results slow down. In reality, the issue is often a breakdown in sales visibility and follow-up. Without structured processes for abandoned applications, clear ownership of leads, and CRM adoption, strong marketing campaigns cannot translate into closed loans.2. Speed to lead is a competitive advantage. Community banks and credit unions compete not only with each other but also with national lenders and dealerships that can close loans the same day. A five or six-day turnaround for consumer loans is no longer acceptable. Immediate acknowledgment, automated follow-up, and clearly communicated expectations are critical to winning business.3. Sales enablement drives measurable revenue. When lending teams are trained, supported, and equipped with automation tools, institutions see direct revenue impact. Even small improvements in follow-up, ancillary product conversations, or mortgage volume can quickly justify the investment in structured sales support.

Episode 110 - Built on Data - How Financial Institutions Should Structure Website Content

Episode 109 - Making the Switch - How to Lead a Successful Online Banking Conversion

Planning an online banking upgrade? Don’t overlook your communication strategy. In this episode of the Hit Record Podcast, Meredith Olmstead and Nida Ajaz break down the internal and external communication tactics that make or break a successful online banking conversion. From prepping staff before launch to segmenting member messaging and creating clear timelines, this episode is packed with insights for credit unions and banks preparing for digital upgrades.Key Takeaways:Start with internal alignment. Before any public announcement, make sure your staff is trained, confident, and equipped with FAQs, escalation forms, and clear timelines,  preferably all housed on a centralized internal hub.Segment your external outreach. Focus first on your existing online banking users with frequent, multi-channel updates. Save the broader promotional push for post-launch when the platform is stable.Create a thoughtful member experience. Incorporate surprise-and-delight elements, like contests or giveaways, and make information easy to find through a clean, updated landing page to minimize call center volume.