Affiliate Marketing For Lenders

This Podcast is for consumer lenders who want to grow their affiliate marketing programs. It’s hosted by Carlos Caro, a successful marketing agency founder and former fintech executive. Prior to founding New Market Growth, Carlos was a General Manager and Head Of Business Development at Credit Karma, Head of Customer Acquisition at Caribou, and a former leader in Capital One’s credit card business. NMG focuses on helping lenders build and optimize affiliate programs, and Carlos is here to share how to do it yourself. Subscribe to this Podcast to hear from Carlos and other industry leaders as they demystify what it takes to win the affiliate marketing game.

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Episodes

6 days ago

Rich Walker is a 35-year industry vet who’s been responsible for over 10 billion pieces of Direct Mail.
Rich has led direct marketing teams at Capital One, the Winterberry Group, Deluxe Corporation, 2nd Order Solutions, and more recently, Aven.
So we jumped at the opportunity to get his take on how lenders can leverage Direct Mail to grow their customer acquisition programs.
 
We Discuss:
1️⃣ Why Direct Mail still matters-$3B in spend per year-The power of pre-screened marketing2️⃣ Who should explore Direct Mail-High response, low LTV-Low response, high LTV-Breakdowns by product category3️⃣ Direct Mail vs. other channels-How does it compare to affiliate marketing?-Attribution and overlaps4️⃣ Unit economics-Cost per piece at scale (and subscale)-How costs breakdown by postage, data, creative/printing -Typical CACs & response rates5️⃣ The mechanics of a campaign-Checklist of how to go to market-Typical GTM timelines-How to go from 0 to in market in 8 weeks6️⃣ Building or renting a Direct Mail function-Case for keeping in-house-Case for out-sourcing7️⃣ Optimizing the 3 big levers-List (targeting and modeling)-Offer-Creative8️⃣ Ways to solve attribution-Invitation codes, QR codes, vanity URLs-GEO holdout tests9️⃣ The future of Direct Mail
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
 
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb
Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter:www.thefreetoaster.com

E20 - Congruence

Monday Feb 03, 2025

Monday Feb 03, 2025

What is Congruence? Aligning messaging from your ad, to your landing page, to your final conversion steps creates lift in your marketing funnel, reducing your CACs and increasing your customer acquisition volumes. It sounds elementary. Yet many organizations forget to do it.
Today we dig into examples of marketing from Wells Fargo and Discover to illustrate what it means to be Congruent across your marketing funnel.
The visuals from The Free Toaster Newsletter will help:https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/congruence
Our sponsors:
Spinwheel:
Streamline your lending application pages with 2-fields.
To see a demo, click below to chat with their Head of Growth.
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb
New Market Growth
My agency helps fintech lenders achieve explosive growth in affiliate marketing channels. 
www.newmarketgrowth.com
The Free Toaster Newsletter:
www.thefreetoaster.com
 
Where to find Carlos:
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
 
About the host: Carlos Caro is the founder of a New Market Growth, an agency focused on helping fintech lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.
Contact him at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Monday Jan 27, 2025

We chat with Kevin Bennett, a successful entrepreneur who helped grow Caribou to a billion-dollar company. Now, he's back with Further, a platform focused on helping people afford their first homes. Kevin shares important lessons for early-stage founders and gives practical advice for growing a business.
 
We Discuss:
Product vs. Distribution: Kevin explains why both product development and getting your product to customers are equally important.
Experimenting with Marketing: Kevin talks about the need to test different marketing channels and how to do it quickly.
Evaluating Marketing Channels: Kevin shares a simple framework to decide if a marketing channel is worth investing in:
Does it resonate with your audience?
Can it scale as you grow?
Are the economics (costs and returns) good?
How stable is the channel or partnership?
Speed and Cycle Time: Kevin emphasizes the need to test ideas fast and make decisions quickly.
Strategic Partnerships: Kevin talks about the value of finding strong partners who can help your business grow.
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Streamline your lending application pages with 2-fields.
If you’re anything like us, friction on application pages makes you nauseous.
It makes your CACs go up. It makes your volumes drop. It causes your CFO and CEO to say mean things.
The trouble is, application friction isn’t easy to fix. Your prod/eng is busy. We get it.
Spinwheel’s APIs streamline a lending application form with just a phone number and a birthdate - like magic (but it’s really just smart tech)! Then you get a 20-30% lift in your application rate.
Additionally, they can give you real-time, verified consumer credit data and seamless payment processing, which can help you serve customers beyond the initial application.
To see a demo, click below to connect with their Head of Growth and see this thing in action.
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=jan
 
Where to find Carlos:
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
 
About the host: Carlos Caro is the founder of a New Market Growth, an agency focused on helping fintech lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.
Contact him at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Thursday Jan 23, 2025

I just launched a new Podcast at the intersection of marketing, lending, and fintech. It includes everything you get on this show, plus more.(PS - If you're happy with Affiliate-only content, stay here. I'll keep publishing episodes I think will be relevant to you).Find the new show by searching "The Free Toaster" on your Podcast player, or by going here:https://thefreetoaster.podbean.com/Please also check out the weekly Newsletter:www.thefreetoaster.comAnd, please check out our sponsors:www.spinwheel.iowww.fiatgrowth.comwww.newmarketgrowth.com (my affiliate marketing agency)

Wednesday Dec 18, 2024

Carlos shares what he learned about brand marketing from New Balance's turnaround.
 
TL;DR - For 15 years, New Balance watched its revenues decline. Consumers saw its sneakers as “dad shoes”—safe, comfortable, but uncool. Traditional direct-response marketing wasn’t reversing the trend. In April 2020, a new CMO, Chris Davis, arrived with a bold idea: flip the marketing mix from a 70% reliance on direct-response ads to a brand-led approach. It was a big gamble that took nearly 19 months to pay off, but when it did, New Balance emerged as a revitalized global brand.
 
Written version of the story:https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/how-new-balance-s-cmo-turned-around-a-15-year-decline
 
Where to find Carlos:
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
 
About the host: Carlos Caro is the founder of a New Market Growth, an agency focused on helping fintech lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.
Contact him at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

E016 - CPA Negotiations

Monday Dec 09, 2024

Monday Dec 09, 2024

Carlos riffs on why CPA negotiations are a waste of time and 9 other things you should know about the topic as someone new to the channel.
 
Where to find Carlos:
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
 
Find Us:
Don't forget to subscribe and review our show. Contact the host at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Tuesday Nov 26, 2024

We sit with Tomas Campos, CEO at Spinwheel. Spinwheel’s product caught my attention because affiliate marketers could use their product to reduce the friction in their application processes. 
 
Timestamps:
(00:00) Meet Tomas Campos, CEO of Spinwheel 
(02:30) Ideal customers and use cases
(06:30) Success metrics
(12:35) Challenges building the business
(15:37) Partnering with lenders
(22:41) Uplift from pre-filling application forms
(28:12) What holds lenders back from buying
(34:10) The NerdWallet integration
(36:05) Other challenges lenders have
(46:52) Bank account verification
(47:10) Wrap up
 
Where to find Carlos:
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
 
Where to find Tomas:
LinkedIn
 
Find Us:
Don't forget to subscribe and review our show. If you’re interested in being a guest, email me at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Tuesday Nov 12, 2024

We sit with David Nohe, CEO of FinGoal, to discuss the CFPB’s Rule 1033 on Open Banking and the implications it has for bank marketers.
 
Timestamps:
(00:00) David Nohe, CEO of Fingoal
(01:59) The 101 on CFPB Rule 1033
(09:32) Consumer consent
(18:04) Future of subscription models
(22:52) Funnel dynamics / friction
(24:09) Credit bureau vs. open banking data
(26:43) Why be concerned or optimistic
(32:10) Banks' strategic opportunities
(41:37) Wrap up and dinner bet
 
Where to find Carlos:
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
 
Where to find David Nohe:
LinkedIn 
Twitter/X - @fingoaldavid
 
References:
Ten Take-Aways on 1033 for Community Bankershttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-take-aways-1033-community-bankers-david-nohe-yo8cc/?trackingId=WR0OUVGdRGahil7tCSZ48w%3D%3D
 
Find Us:
Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.
 

Friday Nov 01, 2024

Personal finance platforms (like Credit Karma) are now at scale, with the ability to recommend products at the 1:1 user level. Further, they’re incentivized to recommend niche products that are highly customized to each user. Lending products, however, are designed for mass audiences. This disconnect presents a huge opportunity for lenders.
 
Timestamps:
(00:00) Why personalization matters(04:06) Hyper-niche lending products(05:37) Social media and niche content(08:43) Opportunities in financial services(12:57) Where I see this all going(15:01) Wrap up
 
Where to find Carlos:
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
References:
The case for building hyper-niche lending productshttps://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/hyper-niche-lending-products
 
Find Us:
Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Tuesday Oct 22, 2024

Today we chat with Tim Hong, the Chief Product Officer at MoneyLion. He walks us through a partnership they’ve built with Plaid and other data providers to offer cash flow data at the marketing stage to lenders in the Engine marketplace.
 
Timestamps:
(00:00) Tim Hong, CPO at MoneyLion(04:06) The Engine marketplace(12:02) Open banking and UX(22:48) User permissioned data(25:15) Sharing bank credentials(27:25) Cashflow data in lending(31:09) Spark platform(37:20) Future of open banking(44:17) Wrap up
 
Where to find Carlos:
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
 
References:
Plaid & MoneyLion’s announcement: “The power of cash flow underwriting with instant onboarding: Introducing Layer and Consumer Report”
https://plaid.com/blog/layer-consumer-report-instant-onboarding/
 
Carlos’ piece: “Where's The Consumer Demand For Cash Flow Underwriting (CFU)?”https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/where-is-the-demand-for-cash-flow-underwriting
 
Find Us:
Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

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