It doesn’t take a degree from a high profile college or an expensive agency to create a successful marketing program for your bank. All you need is a little common sense and some imagination!
Here are five simple tips to help you get started:
Tip #1: Decide what you want.
First, decide what you want your marketing program to accomplish. Do you want to acquire new customers or sell additional products and services to your existing customers? If you are going after new business, does it matter if they are profitable customers? Do you know which of your products and services are the most profitable? This may sound simple, but knowing what you really want will help you create your plan.
Tip #2: Be consistent and persistent.
It has been said that most sales are made on the fifth call. Whether your bank uses campaigns, ads, direct mail or statement stuffers, frequency is critical. With smaller advertising budgets to work with, banks and credit unions are getting creative with marketing. (There may be some innovative ways of getting your message out there that you haven’t considered.) Be consistent. Keep your message out there and, most importantly, don’t abandon the plan once you get busy. Designate someone within your organization to keep the plan going, or consider engaging with an outside agency to help keep you on track.
Tip #3: Start with your existing customers.
It is much easier to cross-sell/up-sell an existing customer than to acquire a new one. Take a look at your existing customers and determine if there are additional products and services they need. The key is finding out what your customers need to be successful. Ask them! Send out a questionnaire and extend a special offer to those who complete and return it. Better yet, offer a product or service you provide that they have never utilized. Another idea is to create a referral program and reward those who refer new customers with one of your existing products or services.
Tip #4: Identify the customers you really want.
Before you spend a lot of time and effort acquiring new customers, analyze your existing ones to see which are the most profitable. What industry are they in? What size company? Before you go after new business, make sure it’s profitable!
Tip #5: Promote what’s profitable.
Take a look at your product and services mix and make sure everyone in your organization who interacts with your customers knows which are the most profitable. Go after those first. Create ads that promote your most profitable products. Also look at which products and services could lead to the cross-sale of other products and services.
Make sense? As you can see, developing a marketing strategy is not difficult. It is largely based in common sense. Next, we’ll talk about the hard part – implementation.
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Neal Reynolds has worked with hundreds of banks and credit unions around the country helping them to grow core deposits and market share without growing their marketing budgets. Contact him at [email protected].
