1. Foster Engagement
“Banks and credit unions need to build stronger emotional engagement with customers. Engaged customers have a 23% higher share of wallet and profitability. Customers are stressed out about making financial decisions. Become the resource that delivers relevant information just when it is needed and you’ve delivered something way more important – confidence.”
Stewart Rose, President
Truebridge Financial Marketing
2. Encourage Use of Digital Channels
“Branchless banking — being where the member is at all times, using ‘instant’ branchless banking delivery channels. Marketing these ‘instant’ branchless banking delivery channels which include: mobile banking, online banking, social banking, kiosk banking.”
Hilary A. Reed, VP/Marketing & Strategic Initiatives
Inspire Federal Credit Union ($88 million in assets)
3. Content Marketing
“Content marketing that creates a common brand experience across social, mobile, and traditional, while also boosting SEO performance.”
Randall C. Smith, Co-Founder/Publisher
CUInsight.com
4. Leverage Switching Triggers
“The most critical marketing trend for banks and credit unions remains the ability to convince some segment of your market to break-up with their current financial institution and enter into a relationship with you. Use digital, traditional, or yell it from the rooftops, but you need a real answer when they ask ‘why?’ We can spend a million dollars on tactics and digital and social and all the rest. Until we solve the ‘why’ question, nothing else matters.”
Shawn Temple, Chief Operating Officer
Bossier FCU ($156 million in assets)
5. Integrated and Consistent Experience
“Marketers need to be more conscious about the experience being delivered across all delivery channels. Successful marketing is all about evaluating what works, and improving what doesn’t. It’s about communicating with consumers, building relationships with them, meeting needs, and delivering a consistent and valuable experience across all channels. If you don’t do this, you get lost in the noise.”
Amanda McMeans, VP/Client Management
MarketMatch
6. Focus on the Experience
“An intensified focus on the consumer experience. Marketing will transition from being product-centric to customer-centric.”
Deva Annamalai, SVP/Marketing & Communications Technology Group Manager
Zions First National Bank ($17.5 billion in assets)
7. Back to Marketing Deposits
“Asset-liability management is critical. A lot of banks have been running off deposits for quite some time. We are seeing a growth in loan demand, as consumer confidence has improved in our area. So it’s back to the basic banking issue of managing the gap. How do we increase deposits for a reasonable price, while making loans that will stay on the books longer?”
Donna Kimes, SVP/Director of Marketing
Farmers & Merchants Bank ($885 million in assets)
8. Solve Consumers’ Problems
“Marketing professional should focus on what solutions they can provide to consumer problems. The general consumer wants to have more free time and more money. However a financial institution can provide either or both of these will increase satisfaction, engagement and overall loyalty.”
Anne Legg, SVP/Business Strategy & Innovation
Third Degree Advertising
9. Listen
“Focus on your customers and strategies your bank can implement to improve their experience with you. Listen to their feedback and take action. By listening to what your customers value in their banking relationship, it gives you the opportunity to improve their overall experience and strengthen relationships, resulting in long-term customer loyalty.”
Natasha Drozdak, Online Marketing Manager
South State Bank ($8 billion in assets)
10. Everything’s Going Mobile
“I see two trends developing as critically important: the mobile revolution will continue and developing an integrated brand. Payment systems will continue to radically change (including the digital wallet as a potential game-changer). Banks and credit unions must understand that integrated branding means every aspect of the organization and consumer experience are aligned and that branding isn’t brochures or statement inserts – it’s how every employee interacts with every consumer every day.”
Mark Arnold, Founder and President
On The Mark Strategies