With budgets getting smaller and competition getting fiercer, financial institutions will need to be more creative in order to stand out. The way to do this is to combine strategies to successfully define and market to your target audiences. Discover new and creative ways for getting more loans, and moving your institution to the front of the pack.
Social media is truly amazing. On a personal level, I keep track of everything my friends eat (well at least some of them), where they go on vacation, what their kids are up to, and a bit more about their political and/or religious beliefs than I ever expected. On a professional level, I’ve followed what’s happening with our customers and prospects and continue to make new contacts.
Electronic marketing, web sites, and social media extend your reach and enable your account holders to conduct business 24/7/365. People expect instant gratification and will do business with whoever gives that to them. Make sure you have the tools in place, such as credit alerting, to ensure that your institution is positioned to capture business 24/7/365 — not just between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
I found Facebook’s ad technology to be truly amazing. I was able to target people by age with specific interests relating to the conference who lived within the target area. As I set the criteria for each ad (I ran four different ads for testing purposes), Facebook showed how many individuals met the criteria — they gave me an accurate count of prospects.
For the last few weeks, as I drive by a local fast food establishment, there’s been a person dressed in an ice cream cone costume dancing at the corner of a busy intersection holding a hand-written sign promoting the daily special. I’ve never noticed the special…but I can’t help but smile as I drive by watching this mascot’s antics. He or she is really having a great time — and it shows.
Customers are demanding higher levels of personalized service and communications. 18% of consumers feel that banks “do what I want them to do” but don’t think about their customers with any regularity. 81 percent of the consumers had accounts with at least two banks. “This means that both banks missed an opportunity to build additional business.”
A barcode technology called Quick Response Codes or QR Codes has been gaining popularity in the US for the last year (they’ve been in use in Europe and Japan for several years already). These QR codes embed a web address or contact information that is easily decoded by numerous “apps” installed on smart phones.
