Why did an ACTON Marketing colleague get a National Aviation Day announcement from a financial institution? Just so they could keep in touch.

You’ve heard the maxim that it’s cheaper to keep a customer than it is to recruit a new one. That’s why you don’t want to overlook the customers who already bring their business to your offices.

You’ve also heard that the average banking customer doesn’t bother to open a monthly statement. Yet isn’t the statement the most likely mail your bank or credit union sends to these people?

So how do you get your customers’ attention to make them feel wanted — so they stay longer, open more accounts, and use more services?

The example I’m using seems like an off-the-wall mail piece, but I’ll bet customers noticed the self-mailer when it arrived. I also believe a majority opened and saw the message. It’s one way to keep contact with your customer base and cross-sell your products to an already friendly group.

Wilber and Orville Wright and their famous biplane

This simple two-panel self-mailer measures 7-by-5-inches when folded. You see the cover panel here. The address panel has only the return and mailing addresses with the indicia. (I would have included teaser copy.)

Inside, the upper panel is devoted to the history of National Aviation Day. (August 19, so you can mark your calendar.) The headline on the second panel thanks the recipient for being a customer of the financial institution. The copy mentions products and asks the reader to “recommend us to your family and friends. Your referrals are one of our most important assets.”

“National Aviation Day?” you might think. “That’s just dumb.”

The point is this. The financial institution created an event. No, the day has nothing to do with banking. It was a thinking-outside-the-box reason to contact customers with a cross-sell message that got attention better than a stuffy “We earnestly thank you for your continued patronage” letter that nobody would read beyond the first sentence.

This is all about retention. It’s a soft-sell message, but it tells a customer the financial institution sees him or her as a person, not just as a moneymaking account.

Take the challenge. Find an unusual way to reach out to your customer base. Make them feel they made a good choice when they brought their business to you. Because really, you’re not the only financial institution in town.

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I know you want to know. National Aviation Day was created by a presidential proclamation signed by FDR in 1939 to honor the accomplishments of Orville and Wilber Wright and other aviation pioneers. August 19 was selected because it was the birth date of Orville in 1871.