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Banzai 101 Quickstart

Banzai helps your institution meet and maintain company-wide objectives: employee and client wellness, site traffic, service hours, and more. When used at full capacity, Banzai becomes an essential piece of promoting financial wellness in the community.

This quickstart walks you through your first steps as a new Direct partner: getting connected, defining your goals, picking the right team, and planning your launch.

Your First Three Steps​

Send your institution's logo as an SVG, AI, or EPS file to your Banzai Representative. The sooner you send your logo over, the sooner our team can start setting up your Banzai site. We'd love to have a co-branded site designed for you by our very first meeting.

Step 2: Get to know your Banzai Representative​

In the days following your Direct sign-up, a Banzai Representative will reach out to you. This representative will be your eyes, ears, and voice for everything Banzai related — from onboarding and branding setup to community engagement strategies.

Step 3: Implement the Banzai program​

Your Banzai Representative is here to support you every step of the way. These initial calls and meetings are crucial, so include everyone who will be actively involved with Banzai in the onboarding process.

Plan Your Program​

Before launching publicly, take time to define a few key things up front. The clearer you are on these, the easier the rest of the rollout becomes.

Define your goals​

What areas could your institution use support in? Whether it's marketing and promoting products, bettering employees' and account holders' lives, tracking product interest, or simply promoting a culture of financial literacy, Banzai can help. Pick the goals that matter most so the rest of your decisions ladder up to them.

Define your program lead​

You'll need someone who can voice your institution's motivations and concerns to the Banzai team. More importantly, Banzai has huge potential in the hands of a dedicated advocate — someone willing to tie this program into existing marketing or service operations. Likely candidates:

  • Marketing Manager
  • Social Media Manager
  • Community Relations Manager
  • CRA Manager
  • Branch Manager
  • Human Resources

Define your audience​

Banzai can build and bolster relationships with account holders, partners, and employees, and educate communities at large. Who do you envision serving with this program?

Partners — Create and share a co-branded microsite with community partners such as non-profits and businesses.

Communities — Use Banzai's community-facing Wellness Center, complete with over 200 life-literacy resources like calculators, Coaches, articles, and assessments, to promote services, encourage learning, and motivate change.

Employees — Banzai offers the ability to build custom employee pages or a microsite that employees can use as a life-literacy learning resource. This feature helps you highlight resources within Banzai that touch on employee benefits and other life-literacy content.

Define your communication channels​

How will you let people know about the new resources coming to your site?

  • Your website
  • Social media
  • Member newsletters
  • Local news outlets
  • Branch magazines
  • Email

What's Included with Direct​

Direct gives you access to a wide range of tools for promoting your brand and serving your community. Here's a high-level overview of what's available.

Manager & Analytics

  • Banzai Manager — Access analytics, downloadable marketing content, and partner management. Navigating the New Manager
  • Analytics — Get user data on web traffic and leads.
  • Manager Toolkit — One-stop shop for all Banzai resources for Direct partners: marketing materials, presentations, flyers, how-to guides.

Wellness Center & Content

  • Wellness Center — A community-facing website with over 200 financial and life-literacy resources including calculators, Coaches, articles, and courses.
  • Collections of Content — Bundle resources together into custom collections to feature on your co-branded Wellness Center.
  • Featured Content — Highlight specific content on your Wellness Center homepage.
  • External Resources — Add your own unpublished content (videos, activities, PDFs, more) to your Wellness Center.

Engagement Tools

  • Calls to Action — Add clickable CTAs throughout any featured resources.
  • Offers — Motivate users to take advantage of the services your institution offers.
  • Rewards — Incentivize users to complete Banzai courses, assessments, and Coach sessions.

Integration

  • Embedded Content — Embed Banzai resources throughout your site. Embedded Content and Integrations Library
  • Copy & Paste Library — Over 150 Banzai articles and hero illustrations to copy onto your institution's website. Copy & Paste Articles
  • Co-branded Partner Pages — Create co-branded microsites with community partners (non-profits, businesses).
  • Employee Pages — Build a microsite for employees to use as a life-literacy learning resource.

Marketing

  • Marketing & Social Media Content — Pre-made social posts (Instagram, Facebook, X), flyers, trifolds, and handouts. Marketing Kits

Create Your Launch Plan​

We recommend the following high-level steps to ensure a smooth launch:

  1. Outline a full communication plan, including a timeline for each phase.
  2. Identify the appropriate "messenger" for each strategy.
  3. Brainstorm resources needed (e.g. materials, departments, colleagues).

To execute:

  • Collect necessary materials.
  • Connect with organizations and partners as needed.
  • Draft your communication materials.

For a phase-by-phase walkthrough, see the full Launch Plan:

Direct Launch Plan

A four-phase launch plan covering internal rollout, non-profit partnerships, business partnerships, and customer launch.

Want the Full Onboarding Packet?​

Download the complete Sponsor Onboarding Kit as a single PDF — useful for sharing internally or onboarding new team members.

Download the Sponsor Onboarding Kit (PDF)

The full comprehensive guide to the Banzai product, including both school and community implementation.