Don’t Leave Your Brand Behind
Banking is no longer about who has the most branches or the best technology. Digital banking products will continue to be the fastest growing and most transformative trend in the industry. Your digital brand may be the first and most frequent contact that your financial institution has with your customer. Make the most of it.
41. Does your bank or credit union have a brand with a unique selling proposition?
With technology becoming a commodity for all financial institutions, the only way to stand out and apart is through your brand. Your logo is not your brand. Your brand is your story. Your brand must be able to tell customers and prospects what makes you different and better.
42. Do you use the same logo and tagline the founders launched with years or decades ago?
If your brand’s logo hasn’t been updated within the last 5 years, it’s time to perform a brand evaluation and audit. Make sure all brand identifiers communicate your uniqueness instead of the ‘me-too’ message.
43. Do you have a clear vision of what sets your bank apart?
As part of your brand evaluation do the research to determine specifically what your customers like and dislike about your organization. You also need to fully understand what consumers in your market expect from a bank in today’s digital age. Become that bank and spell it out in your marketing.
44. Are you communicating that vision across all mediums and channels: print, online, social and PR?
The addition of digital and social media does not change the fundamentals of marketing communication. Your marketing strategy should still focus on your USP and telling the story to your specific audience, using the same message across all mediums and channels.
45. Have you really integrated your brand into your mobile apps or did you just stick a logo on the template?
Today’s customers know the difference between a custom experience and a template with your logo on it. Take the steps necessary to customize your design and add relevant features. Only then will you be providing the apps that really add value in the customers’ eyes. For instance, if your brand is built around progressive, convenient service but your mobile apps have few features and use the same template as everyone else, it will create a disconnect between perception and reality.
46. Are you providing a confusing hodge-podge of third-party apps, mobile and online services?
There’s little perceived value in providing disparate apps and services with different names and designs. However, presenting them packaged as a branded suite of mobile and online products gives the customer a simple, single concept to embrace while differentiating your bank’s offerings.
47. Are you investing in a branded and excitement-building launch of your bank’s new digital products?
Your new digital products provide the perfect opportunity to promote your unique brand in the marketplace. They should be launched with the same (or better) effort and attention that is used when introducing a new product in the market. You must educate your employees and customers about these changes and branded content will play a significant role in communicating what’s new and how it will benefit them. Don’t leave your brand behind. Instead, polish it and use it to lead the way to transform your bank into a profitable digital competitor.
48. Are you communicating your brand to your internal audiences as effectively as you are to your external audiences?
Your employees and shareholders are your greatest ambassadors. Make them your communications ambassadors. Provide the proper training about your new digital products so they can effectively talk about the benefits, answer questions and build excitement.
49. How are you building brand awareness?
The rapid growth of digital channels has created more fragmentation of media options than ever. Advertising (offline) should still be an important part of your marketing plan in creating top of mind awareness. In order to reach your customers where they ‘live’ you should be adding an increasing amount of online, mobile and social media advertising to your media mix.
50. Are you using quality creative to communicate your bank’s brand essence and flavor across all channels?
Your digital campaigns should reflect the same kind of creativity as a TV campaign or print ad. While new communications channels bring new opportunities to get noticed and build a buzz about your bank, it is still important to stand out with creative, attention-getting campaigns. Don’t just have a Facebook page filled with self-promotional posts. Instead, stand out on Facebook with an interesting campaign (lifestyle, community topics, local events) that is being liked, shared and talked about.
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Julie White and Scott Schablow are principals with 
Hip Brand Group, a consulting firm that specializes in brand marketing and digital development work for financial institutions. Hip Brand is based in Birmingham, Ala., a leading banking center in the US. Please follow us on Twitter @HipBrandGroup