Why Banks are SO Bad at Marketing

Why Banks are SO Bad at Marketing
And what you can learn from their mistakes
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This is the type of information that I probably shouldn’t be giving away for free – but hey… it’s my blog and I get to call the shots right?

I won’t highlight my particular bank(s) by name who has(have) made the terrible mistakes I’m about to highlight, but really, they all do it. So it’s not really important to name names anyway.

So why is it that I feel (strike that) know banks are so bad at marketing? Because I have to discard 99% of the marketing messages I receive from them because they just don’t apply to me. SAD – what a waste of a marketing department.

Take my email inbox for my family business this morning for example: our bank was offering me a business card offer too good to pass up! A VISA for business with a starting credit line of $25,000, no fees, etc., etc. Cool right? Yep – and it was cool 10 years ago, too when our company acquired one for each of our owners.

I can hear you asking now: “so what’s the big deal?”

The big deal is that I receive this offer probably every month from my bank via email and about the same frequency via postal mail, too. Since our company already has three, there’s really no “introduction” going on here. We’re set in that department and if we weren’t, I’d know where to go. Add all of those impressions up over and time and that’s potentially a lot of money being spent on trying to acquire a customer who has already been acquired.

The same goes for their constant attempts to have be go paperless, engage in online bill pay, etc., etc. – all of which are things I am already enrolled in and have been since their inception.

The sad part of this story is that not only SHOULD my bank(s) know these things, but that they DO know them and just aren’t using their CRM (customer relationship management) data effectively.

Take note, this is where your light bulb should be brightest: It really only takes a little more time (which I know, equates to a little more money) to properly segment and target your marketing messages so that you are offering the correct services and benefits to the correct customers – those who need it. That extra investment in the quality and appropriateness of marketing messages can really show a significantly higher return on investment than not using it at all.

Posted by Lisa Jeffries Nobling

A good old-fashioned Southern girl - at home in the modern world.