Explaining comprehensive solutions with Q2

What

Q2 is an Austin-based financial services company that offers digital banking and lending products for banks, credit unions, and fintechs. Its mission is to build stronger and more diverse communities by strengthening the financial institutions that serve them. Founded in 2004, Q2 has been publicly traded since 2014.

Why 

According to Dean Jenkins, VP of Product Marketing at Q2, the company has built out a comprehensive suite of commercial banking solutions since it committed to that vertical more than seven years ago—but that expansiveness is a double-edged sword. While this means it can offer tailored and automated solutions according to businesses’ specific needs, it also introduces potential challenges in explaining and marketing the full suite of commercial banking products.

“Our challenge from a marketing perspective is that, now that we have all these new capabilities and new solutions, how do we make the market aware of everything that we're doing?” Jenkins said. “And then on top of that, how do we really understand what the market is trying to do, where the market is going, and what the financial institutions are trying to do?”

How

“We created a simplified message to a complex issue,” Jenkins said, by branding Q2’s commercial banking solutions as “Q2 Catalyst.”

“It really took off from there, because we weren't having a conversation about a single solution, but were talking about our broader strategy,” Jenkins said. “One of the things that we included as part of our messaging is we want to help the financial institutions where they're at in their own journey.”

Rather than having to explain an entire suite of products—from onboarding to automated servicing solutions—Q2 now messages in such a way that financial institutions come to them with their problems, and Q2 then offers solutions according to the institution’s journey. Whether the financial institutions are trying to focus on small businesses, for example, or serve large corporates. Or whether the interested financial institution is a credit union versus a top-20 bank. “It allowed us to adapt and help and really be part of the business strategy for the financial institutions,” Jenkins said.

Q2 also updates its marketing channels to reflect the sources that its potential clients use. In addition to relevant trade publications like American Banker, it looks at podcasts and vertical-specific outlets to promote its brand and provide targeted information. It’s seen inbound interest spike as a result of its communications strategy, Jenkins said.

And finally, Q2 uses its product marketing and sales verticals as a product development pipeline. “A big part of it is getting out into the market, understanding what the problems are, and then bringing that into our product strategy,” Jenkins said.