The Headache: Even in the midst of a recessionary period, competition continues morphing, means of reaching customers and prospects evolve, and even demographics are changing in front of your eyes.
Our Question: How has your bank changed the way, look, or means of its marketing?
Come see what other bankers think, and add your own views
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What is your bank doing about marketing?
Marketing and promotion continue to be in a turmoil. The nature of the banking business has done much shifting in the last few years, just as the means of reaching out to both customers and those with whom you'd like to do business grow in number and complexity. The days of simply running a weekly rate ad in the local paper is long gone for most banks. What comes now and what comes next--that's open to debate. And it's not just about the web and social media! Banks face a multi-dimensional challenge.
Below is a sampling of what we've heard from community bankers. Please add your own ideas and suggestions.
And if you would like to join our regular list of "prescribers," to whom we send questions, please email
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today.
Let's hear your views and ideas below! (Editorial Note: Contributions to Pass the Aspirin may also appear in our print edition. While we will ask for your e-mail address, this is only as an aid to verifying identity and will not be used for any marketing or promotional purpose. The e-mail address will not be published.)
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Susan Eno, president and CEO, Citizens National Bank, $259.8 million-assets, Cheboygan, Mich.
said:
| We totally changed our marketing efforts when we hired a nonbanker as our Marketing Director. My bank is located in northern Michigan and finding an experienced bank marketing professional wasn't going to happen. As a result, we found an excellent person with a great marketing background--her experience just didn't include banking. What an eye-opening experience. Our new marketing director went through all of our advertising and really challenged us: Do your customers really understand your message and your ads? Thanks to our marketing director we now have an advertising campaign that the public understands and does not include banker-speak! Next time when considering filling a position, maybe not having banking experience is a good thing? | |
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Bryan Luke, executive vice-president, Hawaii National Bank, $577.9 million-assets, Honolulu, Hawaii
said:
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We launched a new advertising campaign in early 2010 to increase the brand awareness for the bank and shifted our heavily radio based media mix to include television. The new media mix allowed us to reach a broader audience. New ads were developed with a consistent look and feel, which helped with advertising recall. The ads focused on the corporate logo as the singular visual, using typographic treatment and clean and bold messaging. The look also emphasized the use of an updated brand color palette. In 2011, we included customer images in our advertising, still keeping the framework of our advertising consistent with our brand look. Looking forward, to reach consumers shifting to online banking services, we will include online media in the mix too. The online advertising will target a younger demographic and promote our Value Checking product. Value Checking encourages customers to utilize services such as eStatements, Online Bill Pay, and signature-based debit card transactions for rewards such as free ATM transactions, music downloads, credit reports, reimbursement for gas, and other benefits. We also renovated and relocated branches during the lull in the construction industry here. The renovations incorporated our new color palette and we installed digital signage and large-format window signage. |
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Jim Tibbetts, president and CEO, First Colebrook Bank, $225.9 million-assets, Colebrook, N.H.
said:
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Our main office is located in the northern rural area of the state, whereas our branches are located in the southern metropolitan areas. Historically we have been able to use consistent advertising throughout all of our markets. However, now we are seeing an outmigration of young people and working-age people from our northern markets. This is due to loss of a substantial number of jobs. Conversely, we have had an influx of retired or semiretired people into the northern market. This results in this region being the funding vehicle for the other regions. Just the opposite has taken place in our southern markets. We have had to split our marketing approach to reflect the changing demographics. On the small business side, marketing is easier. We do very little advertising in the northern markets, as we have a substantial portion of the market share. However, since we have such a small portion of the market in the southern regions we are using testimonial advertising to bring word of our relationship banking approach to the targeted audiences. |
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Larry Myers, president and CEO, First Savings Bank, $523.4 million-assets, Clarksville, Ind.
said:
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Recently we rebranded First Savings Bank, keeping the old name but introducing a new logo. Being a community bank, our marketing tended to be "homegrown," using the our own resources and local marketing agencies. This time we decided to step it up a notch and hired a national advertising agency. Though slightly more expensive than what we previously used, it was well worth the cost. They were able to generate advertising using our people to keep that community feel, but with an end product that was very professional. Through cable television, we were able to secure advertising time specifically directed to our southern Indiana market on nationally recognized programs on cable networks such as ESPN and HGTV. In addition we stepped up the use of billboards along all the major highways in the area. We are a bedroom community to Louisville, Ky., so many of our commuting clients see our messages daily. New branch signage made a tremendous impact. Besides giving us a clean new look, we incorporated channel lettering on our properties that pops against the night sky. To kick off our rebranding week, we held a Red Carpet Affair for our clients and the community. With valet parking, a band, and plenty of food and drink, we hosted a wonderful event our most significant clients and prospects. The positive impact was beyond our expectations. |
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