Needless to say I was shocked to learn that America’s third-largest advertiser is dropping all of its paid advertising being done on Facebook.
First reported on Tuesday by the folks at The Wall Street Journal, we’re told that the company’s executives determined their paid ads had little impact on consumers’ purchases of the company’s products.
I expect this post will see more than the usual number of hits. Read the headline again and see if you agree. Of course, many of the visitors won’t be financial services marketers and won’t stay to read the entire post.
Joking aside, let’s look at this important marketing topic. The incentive system your financial institution uses can mean the difference between success and failure for your customer acquisition efforts.
Let’s say you’re finally fed up with your local mega-bank and have decided to move your checking account to another nearby bank or credit union. One of the reasons for making this move is the loss of free checking because your mega-bank added a $12 monthly fee and a $1,200 minimum balance requirement.
In other words, your mega-bank friends threw you under the bus.
“We deeply care about you, Mr. Resident. That’s why we sent you this important message. About nothing.”
No, that’s not what the postcard says. It’s my interpretation of the “personalized” message one of my colleagues found in his mailbox, sent by a local bank.
Front and back of this 5x7 postcard.
When does donated money become less about helping others and more about trying to burnish your own image?
In Tuesday’s blog I mentioned that during 2011 Bank of America donated $24.6 million dollars to nonprofit organizations in California.
How do I know this?
A few days ago, one of the ACTON Marketing sales guys asked me if I had a summary sheet that compared the practice of giving premiums to new accountholders when they open the account versus a system of multiple steps that earns a premium at the end.
Usually, I ignore anything sales guys say to me. (Just kidding.) When I looked through my files, I didn’t find anything written on the topic. But what a great idea for a blog post.
Last Thursday the following Advertising Age News Alerts message landed in my email inbox. The headline reads: “Bank of America Moves Brand Advertising From BBDO to WPP. Holding Company Team Will Roll Out New Strategic Positioning.”
The brief two-sentence alert reads: “Bank of America has shifted brand advertising duties to a WPP team from Omnicom Group’s BBDO, according to two executives familiar with the matter. WPP will be responsible for the rollout of what the company [BofA] was internally calling the development of a ‘North Star’ to help repair its tarnished image.
One aim of this blog is to share ideas with the readers. For today’s treat, here’s an example of a small self-mailer that gives you two different ideas you can use for your own marketing campaigns.
Slumberland Furniture sends these petite, cardstock self-mailers to prospects at the beginning of their birthday months. On the outer panel, it says, “Happy Birthday.” The mailer measures 6.25 x 4-inches when folded.
I’ve never understood why bank marketers and senior management believe it is necessary to offer more than one type of personal checking account.
After all, a personal checking account serves a very specific, very limited need.
The purpose of a personal checking account is to hold a customer’s money until it is needed. As these needs arise, the bank or credit union transfers some portion of this money to another party or to the account holder if it’s a withdrawal request.
If you’ve been a financial services marketer for some time, you probably know about Tell A Friend programs. Here’s an example of what a marketing-savvy company does to generate new business through its Tell A Friend (TAF) program.
If you’re unfamiliar with TAFs, or even if you’re using a TAF program, you can pick up some ideas from this marketer.
As a 42-year member of USAA, I was thrilled to see USAA Bank ranked #1 on TheFinancialBrand.com’s list of the ten best banking brands to watch. The list and accompanying article was posted to the site on April 16, 2012.
Marketers are sometimes too impatient. I don’t mean they’re impatient to make a sale. That’s the reason for the job — selling. Or in the case of financial services marketers, it’s about opening accounts.
I mean they’re impatient with their advertising. Too quick to toss aside good advertising without a good reason.
I’m not sure when it hit me, but at some point in my long bank marketing career it occurred to me that sometimes the bank president, and most likely other members of the senior management team, are stricken by the cocktail party disease.
This may, or may not, include the senior marketing person.
“We want to focus on the affluent.” If I collected cash every time I heard or read that sentiment, I’d be sitting on the porch of a cabin in a national park, retired, relaxed, and taking in a great view.
Since no one pays me on that basis, I’m here to share with you some of my thoughts about branch banking.
Among the many things I find aggravating about bank and credit union advertising is inconsistency in the marketing message.
In the case of FREE Checking it’s either FREE or it’s not FREE and this message should be consistent across all marketing channels.
A classic example begins with the newspaper ad below. Read more…
What can credit union and bank marketers learn from a toy company? How to turn an unexpected event into a marketing advantage.
A few weeks ago, a Mitt Romney senior campaign aide made a comment that was picked up by the national media. Eric Fehrnstrom said, “Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You kind of shake it up and restart it all over again.”
Opponents and political wits jumped on the statement and it made news across the country.
It was inevitable!
Apparently there’s enough buzz in the blogosphere about the uncertain future of bank branches that last week’s AmericanBanker.com poll addressed the issue of whether or not bank branches are going the way of the buggy whip.
Here are the predictable results.
The email addresses of a bank’s customers and a credit union’s members are valuable assets for the financial institution. An email list gives you another channel to build loyalty and cross-sell other products and services.
Of course, to keep customers and members on your email list, you must offer something of value in your messages to them. I have an example of one bank’s email that satisfies the kind of value people expect. Read more…
You can have the most sought-after product in the market but unless you aggressively promote it on an ongoing basis, it’s just another product.
As an avid follower of bank and credit union marketing, I’ve come to the conclusion that most marketers believe the mere presence of the Free Checking account is sufficient to grow checking account market share.
As a result, these banks and credit unions fail to put adequate - if any - marketing effort behind their FREE Checking accounts.
In my previous post, I made a brilliant argument for the end of the Internet. Actually, I wrote about how Facebook’s timeline changes should give all financial institutions reason to reconsider their social media strategies, but I think you could read between the lines. The time for reinvention is here, as is the road map below.
If you have the guts (and resources) to reinvent your narrative, here are the things to think about as you redesign and redefine your story:
