Success leaves clues. Finance Strategists sat down with Brian Reilly of BankBound. He shared his thoughts on the past, present, and future of the company, as well as insight gained from running the business. Q: Who are you and what’s your background? My name is Brian Reilly, I’m a self-proclaimed financial marketing nerd and managing director of BankBound, a digital marketing agency that works exclusively with financial institutions. Outside of work you can typically find me chasing my kids or playing legos (mostly with my kids). Q: Who has been your biggest influence, and why did they have such a significant effect on you? Between God, family, and career I’ve been blessed with many strong influences on my life- some positive and others negative- but all unique learning experiences. One particularly positive professional influence on me was a former manager of a fast-growing agency I had the privilege of working under. I gained a tremendous amount of insight observing the power of positive leadership within an organization that was experiencing incredible growth and scaling operations rapidly. Q: Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your younger self? My younger self struggled often with seeing the bigger picture. While many early phases of our careers are often full of frustration, each offers unique learning experiences that can be invaluable (if you’re paying attention). Q: What is BankBound? BankBound is a specialized agency that works exclusively with financial institutions on digital marketing. Q: What makes BankBound different from its competitors? Our specialized focus allows us to hit the ground running and deliver measurable results for the financial institutions we partner with. Q: What led you to start BankBound? I’ve always been passionate about digital marketing because of its reach and cost-effectiveness. My struggle working for other agencies was that I never had the opportunity to really master a single industry. A typical marketing agency works with any business that will pay, requiring a vast range of knowledge across so many verticals it becomes impossible to effectively keep up with. Our approach with BankBound was to go all-in on a single industry to ensure that our entire team could truly become an extension of the financial institutions we partner with. Q: What has the experience of building the business taught you? Building the business has taught me a great many things, but one lesson of particular importance is the need for repeatable processes. Without defining and documenting a particular process, it is inevitable that you’ll remain the only person who can manage it. Over time, I found it increasingly difficult to work on scaling the business because I was so busy completing daily tasks. With only so many hours in the day, process documentation has been a critical component for growth. Q: Where do you see things headed for you and the company in the next 5 years? It’s hard to imagine what the banking industry will look like 5 years from now, much less the internet. That being said, people and businesses will still need help with their money, and I’m pretty sure the internet is here to stay. Our agency is well-positioned to continue leveraging the latest online trends to help financial institutions survive and grow. For more information, visit bankbound.com
Introduction
Who is Brian Reilly?
Business
True Tamplin is a published author, public speaker, CEO of UpDigital, and founder of Finance Strategists.
True is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®), author of The Handy Financial Ratios Guide, a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, contributes to his financial education site, Finance Strategists, and has spoken to various financial communities such as the CFA Institute, as well as university students like his Alma mater, Biola University, where he received a bachelor of science in business and data analytics.
To learn more about True, visit his personal website or view his author profiles on Amazon, Nasdaq and Forbes.
