Bank Marketing Strategy Named A Top Financial Marketing Blog

For the second consecutive year, Bank Marketing Strategy was named a top 5 financial marketing blog by The Financial Brand. 

With the intent of providing a list of valuable resources for bank and credit union marketers to reference, this year's honor was bestowed on blogs that met a defined set of weighted criteria including relevancy, quality, originality, frequency, longevity and design.

The top five blogs recognized this year were:

1. Snarketing 2.0 - Ron Shevlin, Senior Analyst from Aite Group
2. Acton Financial Marketing Insights - Steve Topper, Joe Swatek
3. Bank Marketing Strategy - Jim Marous, SVP of New Control Direct and Digital
4. Visible Banking - Christoph Langlois, Social Media Planner and Speaker
5. The Gallop Blog - Various authors

A description of each of the top 20 blogs, as well as a list of blogs receiving honorable mention are provided in The Financial Brand Top 20 announcement post.

In ranking Bank Marketing Strategy number three in 2013, Jeffry Pilcher, the publisher of the Financial Brand wrote:

"Of all the banking blogs out there, Jim’s is most similar to The Financial Brand. Jim regularly discusses the design of retail banking products/services, pricing, marketing and the customer experience. Jim’s posts will also frequently gravitate towards new/emerging technologies and channel integration, with a slant towards mobile. Some financial marketers will struggle putting the insights in some of these posts to use, but they will always find the material interesting and engaging."

This is the second year in a row Bank Marketing Strategy has been recognized as a top blog for bank and credit union marketers. Last year, Bank Marketing Strategy won both the Reader's Choice (#4) and Editor's Choice distinction from The Financial Brand (last year's winners).

It is an honor to be named in a list that includes so many blogs that I enjoy reading, learn so much from and provide such great insights. I consider the authors and publishers of these great resources both my professional and personal friends.

Thanks also to Jeffry Pilcher for setting such a high standard for each of us with his Financial Brand publication. His insatiable appetite for financial marketing news and ability to publish such a massive amount of invaluable insight daily makes his digital publication the 'go to' resource first thing each morning.

Top 10 Bank Marketing Strategy Posts of 2012

I have been publishing Bank Marketing Strategy for only three years, but it has been an exciting (and sometimes challenging) adventure. It has provided me a forum for discussing many of the changes and exciting innovations in retail banking, while allowing me to meet leaders who provide interesting perspectives on an industry I have been working in for more than three decades.

So, which of last year's Bank Marketing Strategy posts were the most read and created the most buzz? The top posts definitely covered a wide spectrum of topics, but also may have helped Bank Marketing Strategy be recognized as one of the top 5 financial industry blogs by The Financial Brand.

Banks and Credit Union Marketers Taking Different Paths in 2012 

A follow-up to the fourth most read article of 2012, this blog post provided details into the differences between bank and credit union marketers as noted in the 2012 Bank and Credit Union Financial Marketing Survey conducted by The Financial Brand and myself early last year.

The post discussed how, while both banks and credit unions were anticipating constrained budgets in 2012, that was where the similarities ended. Not only were banks expecting to be dealing with trust and compliance issues for much of the year, they were going to be focusing on different products and services in their promotional efforts.

10 Resolutions Bank Marketers Can't Ignore in 2012

In 2012, I invited industry leaders to provide their perspective on what goals bank marketers should focus on during the upcoming year. Much like personal resolutions, it was universally expected that many of the resolutions may not be met, but the aspirations of hopefully making progress on these ambitious goals were discussed.

Last year, the goals for marketers focused on challenges such as measurement of results, channel integration, enhancing the customer experience, big data, leveraging social media, innovation and building both a customer and bank value strategy. Interestingly, possibly because of the scope of these resolutions, the most discussed bank marketer resolution for 2013 ended up being to have greater focus on a narrower set of goals.

Big Data Provides Big Opportunity for Bank Loyalty

To get a perspective on the challenges and opportunities available to banks in the area of rewards and loyalty, I reached out to the leaders of four companies that were currently leveraging structured and unstructured data to provide unique solutions to the banking industry. These leaders were also co-panelists with me at the 2012 BAI Payments Connect Conference.

This roundtable interview provided great insight into ways that banks and credit unions could take advantage of the 'loyalty trifecta' of bringing together payment and transactional insight, targeted communication and offers as well as mobile functionality. Interestingly, a year later, few organizations have cashed in on this opportunity.

The State of Bank and Credit Union Marketing in 2012

As mentioned above, I partnered with Jeffry Pilcher from The Financial Brand at the beginning of last year to develop the 2012 Bank and Credit Union Financial Marketing Survey. This allowed both of us to better understand the challenges and opportunities of marketers in the banking and credit unions industries

This post provided an initial overview of the results from over 300 financial marketing professionals at organizations of all sizes. (the highest rated post provided credit union and bank break-outs). The primary challenges facing institutions last year continue today and include the need for better measurement of results, the importance of expanding share of wallet and optimizing the media mix for improved effectiveness and efficiency.

Are Bankers Ready For The Bank 3.0 Reality?

Before Brett King's newest book, Bank 3.0 was even released, I was lucky enough to get an interview with the visionary and founder of Movenbank who had previously written Bank 2.0 and Branch Today, Gone Tomorrow. During the interview, he discussed the challenges traditional banks are having as they try to transform themselves for the consumer who places a higher value on time than locational convenience.

The interview also dug into how Brett envisioned the payments competitive landscape transforming and how he believed social media and banking may integrate in the future. In early 2013, I am looking forward to another interview with King as Movenbank goes live as a digital bank.

Five Banking Megatrends Impacting Consumers

In November of last year, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Bankrate.com regarding what I saw to be the biggest changes in the banking industry that are impacting consumers. This post provided the transcript to the discussion, highlighting the changes in mobile and online banking functionality, how branches will begin to be reconfigured or go away entirely,  and how mobile wallets may eventually replace our leather versions.

I further discussed how many banks are significantly changing the way consumers may interact with their banking accounts and how prepaid cards are becoming a viable alternative to traditional checking accounts.

Banks Transforming Branches to Improve Efficiencies

Discussing a topic that I will definitely be covering again in early 2013, this September post delved into the impact that the confluence of financial and customer behavioral changes was having on bankings' branching network strategies. This was also a major theme in the interview with Brett King in the #5 post in 2012 as well.

Referencing recent research reports from Fitch Ratings and Infosys as well as articles in various trade journals, this post discussed how banks are looking at alternatives to traditional branches to serve customers more efficiently. The post also discussed the potential of shrinking branch networks and new technology that will enable alternative financial product delivery options.

Will PFM 'Tricks' Be A Customer Experience Treat?

With a headline playing off a Halloween theme on October 31, this post provided an analysis of how personal financial management tools are being used by consumers and delivered by third party providers. Referencing a 2012 study by The Federal Reserve, as well as research from Aite Group, Javelin Strategy and Research and Celent and a blog post from Ron Shevlin, this article also discussed the potential (or lack thereof) for PFM growth.

Finally, I was able to review one of the more innovative PFM products available to banks recently introduced by the team at Finovate 2012 winner, MoneyDesktop. This tool, with both online and mobile user interfaces, is a way for banks to quickly offer dynamic PFM services to their customers.

Banks Including Retargeting as Part of Marketing Strategy

As banks expand their digital marketing strategies to optimize marketing spend and effectiveness, retargeting has become more commonplace. A strategy that captures customer insight as they move around the web, either shopping for financial products or simply just visiting a bank site, this tactic allows bankers to 'reconnect' with the same consumers later, providing offers that may generate new business.

Including an interview with Lloyd Lee from New Control and research from both ComScore and BizRate Insights, this post dug deeply into both the benefits of retargeting and the methods used for best results.

Monetizing Mobile Banking

The tenth most popular post in 2012 was developed after a presentation and interview done with Matt Wilcox, SVP from Zions Bancorporation in conjunction with Drew Sievers, CEO of mFoundry at last year's BAI Retail Delivery Conference in Washington, DC.

The post highlighted many of the ways banks can now expand their view of mobile banking as a cost containment channel (which it may not be) to include several revenue opportunities that can be integrated within the service. Through partnerships with third party providers, the article describes how the mobile channel could provide a 'revenue annuity' at a time when fee and interchange income is being squeezed.

So there's the top ten Bank Marketing Strategy blog posts from 2012.

I hope to continue to cover a wide variety of topics in 2013 that are of interest to my readers. If there is any subject you are especially interested in, let me know. It is always fun to research the unknown and uncover ideas and strategies that can make us all more successful.

Here's to a prosperous and exciting new year.

Best Banking Blogs Recognized

Bank Marketing Strategy was just recognized as one of the Best Banking Blogs by The Financial Brand, the foremost online publication for bank and credit union marketers. In addition to receiving the Editor's Choice Award, Bank Marketing Strategy was also a Top 5 recipient of the prestigious Reader's Choice Award.

To be included as a winner in 2012, nominated blogs must have had specific relevance to marketers in the banking or credit union industries, been in existence for a minimum of 12 months with consistent content and an RSS feed. It was also noted that all of the blogs selected needed to display excellent writing skills with a deep knowledge of the financial services industry.

Jeffry Pilcher, publisher of The Financial Brand, stated when asked about the recognition, "Bank Marketing Strategy is a blog that combines industry research with real world applications that can be used by financial marketers daily. It is also one of the few blogs that is not a commercial endeavor, but is developed on a personal level." 

Pilcher went on to say, "If I had to pare down to just five blogs that I followed, Bank Marketing Strategy would definitely be one of them. When the blog fell silent for a couple months earlier this year, I was worried that the banking industry was losing one of the best blogs out there. But, Jim's come back with a fury, and he's at the top of his game."

Bank Marketing Strategy was developed more than 3 years ago as a way for me to better understand social media while providing an outlet for my desire to research, write and share insights with the industry I have been part of for (significantly) more than 20 years. It has been an ongoing passion, affording me the opportunity to meet and consult with some of the best people in the industry (many of whom are recognized by The Financial Brand for their blogging efforts).

I would like to thank (and congratulate) fellow bloggers Ron Shevlin, Brett King, Bradley Leimer, Matt Wilcox, JJ Hornblass, Liz Lum, Chris Skinner, Serge Milman, Christophe Langois, Karen Licker, Jim Bruene, Randy Smith, Jim Van Dyke and most importantly, Jeffry Pilcher for your ongoing encouragement and support.

At a time when our current elections involve a great deal of mudslinging, lies and putting down the other nominees, I can definitely say that all of the other blogs recognized are excellent resources I go to regularly and worthy of recognition. 

I would also like to thank all of the readers of The Financial Brand who voted to recognize Bank Marketing Strategy as a top 5 banking industry blog worldwide.

Today, We Reach a Milestone!

Today, the MarketMatch blog surpassed 50,000 page views!  Thank you for your continued interest.  We hope that you enjoy reading our rants about financial marketing as much as we enjoy sharing them.

To get you caught up on the last 50,000 page views, we thought it was appropriate to share some of our more popular posts:

• It's Complicated
• The Economy is Right for On-boarding
• Turn Your Management into Movie Stars
• Walk the Sign
• Ain't Technology Great?
• Opportunities Lost
• Share-of-Wallet vs Share-of-Market
• Is Your Personality Contagious?
• Turning "Oops" into Opportunity
• No One Woke Up This Morning Needing YOUR Checking Account!
• The Checking Account is Dead ... Long Live the Checking Account!

Again, thank you for following us.  We share our opinions because we love bank marketing and we sincerely hope that our passion bleeds through in our words.

We also share our expertise as a "test drive" for your bank or credit union ... To demonstrate our understanding and knowledge of financial marketing ... In the hopes that one day, you'll require our marketing experience.

Learn more here.

Chat with me LIVE!

Or contact me directly (click here).

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing consulting firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

PNC Uses Social Media to Support Reg E Efforts

It appears PNC Bank is leveraging all available channels in their effort to capture as many opt-ins as possible. Today, I received a Tweet from PNC Virtual Wallet offering a description of the difference between overdraft protection and overdraft coverage. The message directed me to my Inside the Wallet Blog within the Virtual Wallet online banking site.

On the Blog, PNC innovation and Virtual Wallet leader Michael Ley, describes the options a customer has as to whether to opt-in or not with his post, "To “Opt In” or not “Opt In”… What is the Question?". Illustrations are used to help describe the options a customer has.

If after I read the Blog posting from Mike Ley, I still want more information, I am directed to the PNC overdraft solutions landing page for all the answers to Reg E questions as presented using a video presentation from the head of deposit products at PNC, Todd Barnhart. In addition to the very clear video, further descriptions are provided around overdraft solutions, including several overdraft protection options (with direct links) as well as the pricing schedule for overdraft protection. The site also has an extensive FAQ section and more ideas around managing money.

Overall, the integration of online and social media communication in addition to traditional direct channels used by PNC will most definitely improve the bank's Reg E opt-in rate. It will be interesting to see the ways in which other banks get their regulatory message out and the success rates experienced.

Be Careful of 'Mental Opt-Out' With Email Marketing

For those who read my Blog, you know that I feel strongly that the email channel is significantly underutilized by the banking industry. Not only do marketers not effectively leverage this channel in conjunction with other direct and mass marketing options, most banks do a terrible job at even collecting email addresses in the first place.

Unfortunately, for those who have begun to use email marketing in support of customer communication efforts, some have gone to the opposite extreme by viewing email as a 'free' marketing tool without giving adequate thought to the importance of relevancy. As many realize in their daily scanning of their email in box, overusing the email channel can have a detrimental effect of the value of this channel and negatively impacting the overall customer experience.


It was with great interest therefore that I read a recent op-ed in DM News written by Mark Smith from Portrait Software discussing the mental opt-out that occurs when a company bombards a customer with too much untargeted email marketing communication, only to have the reader open the email and then quickly hit the "delete' key. The impact of multiple irrelevant emails is to either explicitly receive an opt-out to future email or to implicitly lose the intended reader's trust and attention for future communication that may have been of interest.

As Mark mentions in his op-ed, if you get a reputation for sending irrelevant communications, you are basically asking for mental opt-out. And just because a customer's name doesn't appear on the do-not-contact list, it doesn't mean they are paying attention.

As financial institutions get more comfortable with this channel, it will be important to ensure that adequate targeting is done and that the focus of each email is to positively impact lifetime customer value.

Five Steps to Improved Customer Engagement Through Email

According to Peter McCormick, co-founder of one-to-one communications firm ExactTarget, there are five steps for engaging customers via email.

1. Express Gratitude: According to McCormick, fewer than 50% of marketers send a welcoming email thanking a customer for accepting communication from a brand. This should be the first step after a customer provides their email address. This communication also sets the tone for future dialogue so this is a great time to include a coupon for expansion of the banking relationship and/or a research report or white paper for a B2B client.
2. Take a Genuine Interest: Let the customer tell you about their communication needs and interests to enable more relevant content delivery. A preference center can achieve this where a customer expresses what they want to know going forward.
3. Let Customers Talk and Share: Embed social network icons directly within your email that is sent so your customer can share offers and research with friends. In addition, invite customers to contribute to your bank's blog.
4. Know Your Brand Advocates: Reward those customers that respond to emails, contribute to blogs and share your offers. Expand the loyalty and engagement by inviting those customers who are brand advocates to special events where they can further discuss and share their experiences. Email provides the springboard to a much stronger social media strategy.
5.  Build a VIP Area: Create private subscriber-only access to social networking groups, events, and special resources that address the needs expressed in step 2. This heightened level of engagement not only rewards the customer for their loyalty and engagement, but also provides a source of insight not available through traditional channels.

There is no doubt banks are getting better at leveraging the power of email and social networks. The most progressive organizations are now beginning to differentiate their email communication based on customer engagement and benefiting from improved insight which can assist in future customer service and product development.

Chase Card Innovation Gives More Control to Customers

Last September, Chase Bank introduced Chase Blueprint, an innovative set of features that improves the way customers can manage their credit cards with tools to pay down balances, manage spending and pay off major purchases. Available at no charge to more than 20 million consumer and small business Chase credit card customers, Blueprint is fully integrated into the account and consists of four unique features that Chase calls Full Pay, Split, Finish It, and Track It.

The components of Blueprint provide the following benefits:

• Full Pay: The customer can set aside which charges they want to pay off in full on any given month and avoid paying interest on those items (groceries)
• Split: Lets the customer select the number of payments or monthly payment amount for things like large purchases (appliance or home improvement)
• Finish It: Simply select a date that a customer wants to pay off a purchase and Chase does the math to determine the monthly payment and provides charts to show progress
• Track It: Provides the ability to see spending by category online on demand as opposed to annually like most card companies.

According to Caryn Kaiser, Senior Vice President from Chase, the Split feature has the highest levels of customer satisfaction since the introduction of the program. The Track It feature has also resonated with affluent customers who want to know where their dollars are going.

The development of Blueprint arose out of customer research that showed that consumers usually hold multiple credit cards for specific purposes. It is hoped that by offering this capability within one card, consolidation of balances will occur and retention will improve.

While other banks may try to follow Chase's lead, this integrated set of credit card benefits do not seem easy to replicate, giving Chase a 'first mover' advantage. I also expect Chase to follow-up this innovation with similar innovation on the debit card side around rewards, alerts and tracking of purchases. The timing of these changes will most likely coincide with the massive media attention around Regulation E.

Communications...easier than we think!

Communications can be tricky...it can also be very easy! The challenge is knowing when the communication is clear and when the message is invisible to the recipient! I love this graphic...it tells the story of communication, where the sender has a clear message and the recipient sees nothing! This happens all too often...

I recently came across a string of conversations where both parties were "clear" in their intentions and needs, the challenge was both parties were talking in their own language and not in "universal speak". This is my own term...one that I use to describe simple terms, usually pictures or graphics are involved and there is nothing to "get" or interpret....it is what it is. We have to speak clearly, use common words, paint a picture of our intent, and ensure the recipient understands by asking for an action. This could be see us at www....; call us at...; come into to see us at...; we have to ask for positive action to ensure we are reaching our audience.

To my point on communications. How many times do bankers read other bankers or CU ads and articles and wander "at what point was THAT a good idea??" If you have wondered it aloud, chances are people have thought the same about your communications. In these times of uncertainty, economic pain, and universal distrust, WE have to communicate clearly and leave nothing to interpretation.

I encourage every marketer at every bank and CU to take a 2nd and 3rd look at your current communications...look at EVERYTHING. The web, your brochures, your emails, your memo's, your signage...

• Are you communicating clearly?
  
• Is it the message that is MOST relevant to your customer?
  
• Is the message one that elicits action?
  
• Do you provide value in your message?
• Does your staff "get" your message, too?
  

If you answered NO to any of these...you MUST retrace your message and present it more clearly. We have to be clear now, you have to provide value now, your message must be relevant now....change it Now!

Cheers!

Bruce