What does your company’s website do? Inform? Educate? Communicate? Does your website interact with your customers? Or is it just a brochure that you put up so people would quit asking if you had a website?
If you haven’t reviewed your company’s web strategy lately, now is the time. Pixels are cheap and technology is only getting better. Here are some often overlooked areas for website utilization. (more…)
For sure, 2010 will be a challenging year. But, it doesn’t have to be a bad year. If you get started soon, you can make 2010 a better year, for you, your bank and your customers. Here’s how:
Open deposit accounts online. You can be up and running for less than $15,000 – not a full-auto program, but it will get you into the Online game in 15 days or less. Unless you plan on opening accounts on a national or regional basis, or plan to open hundreds of accounts first year, this system will work very well for you. We can make this work for you.
Reprice your Auto-Overdraft Program. Customers are royally ticked off about these auto-NSF programs. A clever re-pricing program can very likely ease a lot of the pain. We can help you do that.
Position your business checking program for success. Next year, much of your revenue will depend upon how well you market to small business. Your bank will need the right kind of product, so you need to start working on re-formulating your product now. We know how to do this.
Measuring your customer satisfaction. Your advertising and promotion budget will go a lot farther if you use Customer Knowledge to maximize your message. We have affordable programs that you can use.
Use the Internet to cut your advertising media costs. The web offers a great opportunity to effectively market your bank for less money. We’re not talking about cutting all your ad costs, but we do know how to cut a big slice off that budget.
Here are two more projects, if you have a little more money, time and ambition to accomplish:
Do a SWOT project. You can learn a lot from a SWOT. How does it work? You set up interviews and research among your competitors, your employees, directors and officers, plus your customers and non-customers plus the local advertising media. From those sources you tabulate and score your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (threats may not be as obvious as you think). When you’re done, you’re ready to prepare an Action Plan you can use to survive – and even, thrive.
Once you’ve gone to the trouble to do a SWOT, why not go ahead and REBRAND THE BANK? This makes sense if your bank is relatively unknown (maybe because you are new in a market) or because your bank has suffered some bad publicity. In these uncertain times, with banks taking a licking at every turn, re-branding can make good sense – and be a wise investment in your future.
All of the above is imminently do-able. We can help you make this happen. If you call us (800-521-0236) help will be in your office in 24 hours. So, don’t wait. Get cracking. Make 2010 a better year.
I know it seems odd for an ad agency guy to be saying not to advertise. But, it’s true. Some banks should stop spending money in advertising. There are at least three things banks do that make it impossible for advertising to work. Are you guilty of one or more?
ONE: You don’t know how effective your current media buy is.
Is this you: “I’m spending money on the Friday Night High School Football Program because everybody in town listens to it.” Consider this, before you spend ad money, you absolutely must have a sound, audience measurement report for every media you are using – in my experience, the “everybody” above often turns out to be 39 people, or less. Believe me, if you haven’t measured your media effectiveness, you can’t be sure what you are getting – or not getting – for your investment. You may be unpleasantly surprised at the value you are getting. Try this: fill in the blanks below for every ad media you use. If you can’t do this, call me and I’ll help you. I might even do it for free – or at most, lunch.)
If you can’t fill in the blanks above, you should stop advertising, because there’s an overwhelming probability you are not using your ad budget effectively. The data is out there; it is knowable. Don’t spend any more money until you get it. (An exception to this is that you stop calling what you are doing “advertising” and start calling it “donations.”)
TWO: You’re not spending enough.
Is this you: “I have $2,500 to spend, so, I’ll make it last all year, so I’m going to spend $200 a month and leave a $100 cushion.” Spending too little is the most common mistake bankers make. It the case above, the banker would have been far better off to spend nothing, keeping the entire $2,500 – maybe taking the staff out to lunch a few times. The golden rule of advertising is “spend what it takes to get at least a 50% hit-rate on your target demographic, for at least one month, generating, at least, an average frequency of 10 times.” If you don’t have the money to do that, then don’t do anything. And, if you can only do that for one month, then for heavens sake, don’t try spreading that over many months. It won’t work.
THREE: You don’t have a specific, quantifiable goal your advertising budget is to achieve.
Is this you: “I’m not looking for a specific result, I’m just trying to get my name out there.” If this IS you, please stop and consider this: it’s very important to make value judgments about your ad results. You should have some concrete goals: 100 new checking accounts, 50 new Remote Deposit accounts in 12 months, or some specific objective you can measure. Sometimes the measurement is subtle: you want to raise community awareness that you didn’t take TARP money. You should be able to quantify at least a dozen comments from your depositors and others that lets you know the message is being received. Somehow, some way you need to be satisfied you are getting results.
SUGGESTION: Spend a few hundred dollars (usually less than $500) and buy an Advertising Effectiveness Report.
We’re an ad agency. We create advertising that WORKS. We can measure your spending so you will know if you’re getting your money’s worth. We know what works and what doesn’t. So, before you spend any more money on advertising, call us. It can’t hurt.
There’s a great opportunity to help hundreds of people in your market. Some of them are likely your customers. What’s that? Head off a mortgage loan scam in your market.
People who prey on the uninformed are vile. There’s a simple, cheap way your bank can help: allocate prominent space on your website home page to (1) warn about mortgage loan scams, (2) link to a page where you clearly outline the dangers, (3) make available an email address and phone number to give more information, and finally, (4) link to government sites like the FDIC, FTC and similar pages where more help can be found. What an OUTSTANDING way to help customers, help yourself, and not spend very much money.
Once you’ve got your web page together, perhaps you could tweet your customers (and the media) every time you update the information. Make sure you let customers know about your page with statement notices and across the teller line hand outs – things you’re already doing, right?
Remember, it doesn’t always take a ‘grand gesture’ to do your customers some good. Often times, little things count just as much.
Here are some links to get you (or your compliance people) thinking:
Featured Articles from the FTC:http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/articles/naps03.pdf
FDIC Tips on Avoiding Mortgage Foreclosure Scams: http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/loans/prevention/rescue/watch.html
Maybe you didn’t see our tweet about Walmart’s “Project Impact”. You may have missed something important. (Not that following our Twitter feed is worth your daily attention… yet.)
The important part is that the company who has kicked off their own “Project Impact” is the same company who operates a massive retail a store in just about every market in the country, who even now has an increasing “share of wallet” and who may just be your customers’ next bank. Walmart thinks they know how to take ANY customer away from ANY company. And you know, they’re on to something.
The Walmart strategy posits that winning the customer experience battle gains ground important in the war of corporate survival. As an idea, this isn’t new. Big companies typically launch these “experience” campaigns that die from committee decisions and Corporate Attention Deficit Disorder (CADD).
But this time Walmart’s mission feels different. This is a company that has proven it knows how to win.
My recommendation: while reviewing and scoping your company’s opportunities think about just one segment that when executed properly will make other opportunities easier to realize.
The customer experience matters more today than it did thanks to the internet. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and the other ‘people-power machines’ can make or break your opportunities — worse, your brand — faster than you can say “UNPLUG!”
The companies who take the customer experience seriously, and continue to innovate in delivering “surprise and delight” will win. The companies who sit and stare at their computer screen all day will go the way of dinosaurs and Circuit City.
Stop working out the old stodgy marketing plan and get ready for the new economy. Walmart gets it, and perhaps as important, they have the money to so muddle the market that it won’t matter if they screw it up in transition.
What are you doing to defend yourself against Walmart’s Project Impact? It’s a big deal. I think you need to call me. Today. Or RT the tweet to get my attention.
A company empowered within its own local markets can win any customer experience battle. All that is needed is a passion to thrive and a good relationship with a marketing partner who gets it. If I may suggest one that’s been in the same family and with the same ownership since 1972? You get where this is going…
Recently, a Bank of America branch manager insisted that a man, Steve Valdez, born without arms and who wears prosthetic devices, provide a thumbprint before it would cash his proffered check. He had two forms of identification, both with pictures; the check he wanted to cash was written by his wife.
Nevertheless, the bank still required Valdez to give up a thumbprint.
Why does this happen? Three reasons, and every bank CEO, SVP and Board Member should think seriously about about how their bank stacks up:
Reason number one: the bank cut the training budget because they needed to generate as much profit as possible — likely to satisfy Wall Street.
Reason number two: the bank was preoccupied with other “more important stuff” so they simply were not paying attention to customer service.
Reason number three: most banks are “rule” oriented, not “people oriented”. They train their staff that it is better to follow a rule to hell than stop, engage brain and think.
Now, you say, “No, no, this was just a happenstance. Any bank can have a bad day.”
OK, you say that if it makes you feel better. But, I don’t believe it. I spend a big part of my life in and out of big banks, surveying and researching customer service. Big banks don’t really believe in customer service. Why? Because they don’t have to. If they lose a customer, no big deal. They’ve got plenty more.
SWOT your bank’s customer service. Here’s how you do that: (1) Institute the changes your SWOT uncovers; (2) Set up mystery shops and customer surveys; (3) Incent your staff in a meaningful way for positive customer experience; take the incentives back for negative experiences.
This is simple ‘blocking and tackling”. But, you’re probably busy, so call us. We can help you get it going.
Here’s an idea to help you get very good work done and beat the competition while you’re at it.
I don’t know about you, but now email is a downer and I am tired of it. It’s become like some kind of inert and ugly time-bomb. I rarely know how important an email is. Can I put off reading it for a couple of hours? Or will it cause me or my company pain if I don’t address it RIGHT NOW?
“Getting behind” email influx feels like failure. It brings a lot of stress thinking of all those waiting emails… responses, deadlines, expectant parties. Vacations aren’t worth taking any more because of that problem. Unbelievable.
Email has gotten out of control. It has taken over the work-flow by being just like a ringing telephone: disruptive, persistent and demanding. And you don’t even know that if by giving incoming emails your attention, even for a moment, you’re better served.
Lobbing email volleys back and forth retards innovation and truly great work. From the CEO to the clerk, people are too busy to help the company assume a leadership position.
If you have this insane problem fix it now.
The people you rely on to get work done are very probably stuck in the horrible email mire. Help them. Leave it to your competition to stay on the email track to certain corporate death. In fact, kill the email problem and by so doing you add another way to own your market. (That, and the fact that you hire me to help you with your marketing & communication should just about do it.)
A few years back one of my clients had a Vice President who was often maligned for having an Inbox with “too many messages in it”. This VP had to go to class to learn how to move items out of the Inbox. The object of the exercise was to show that the employee was “managing the Inbox, which established that work was receiving appropriate priority and would be accomplished.” I always thought that the problem would have been solved altogether by helping that employee to stop getting all those dumb emails.
My solution: just stop.
Once you (and your company) cross that psychological hurdle and get control of email, work gets fun, interesting, promising. You can dream a little, ask the “what if” questions and go find the answers.
Tame email. Enjoy the moment and opportunity to re-orient your natural magnetic North, your ability to turn a buck.
Tell me how it goes. Respond by commenting to this article. Just don’t email me. I’m behind as it is. I’ve been working on a way to sell to people who stare at their Inbox all day.
Chalk one up for the good guys.
In the May 2009 issue of the FINCEN “SAR ACTIVITY REVIEW” (see link for entire story below), it appears that a bank’s BSA/AML geeks tripped up the bad guys and helped send them to jail.
The geeks dutifully noticed a business checking customer who appeared to be engaging in activity inconsistent with the customer’s business profile. As a result of the subsequent SAR filing, the bad guys went to jail and at least some of the defrauded consumers got some restitution.
Hooray for the Compliance Geeks!
I live in the compliance world. I well understand that compliance people don’t jump to mind when the word “hero” comes up. And, I have read enough stories about selfish, greedy bankers.
So, it’s nice to read about a bank (and its compliance geeks) who rescued who-knows-how-many customers from a serious, potentially heart-wrenching, life-arresting loss. My hat’s off to the these guys. Kudos! Bravo! Keep up the good work.
Amen.
Read on for the complete story.
What do you do when your ad budget is in tatters, but you need to get the word out?
You reflect on Mr. Adnan Kashoggi’s comment above: Doing well is the result of doing good.
And, to help stimulate your thinking, I have a press report about the E-ONE Company and how they did well by targeting a give-away at a market segment closely tied to their business. (The entire release appears below.)
Here’s the story
E-ONE manufactures fire fighting equipment. To promote themselves at a recent fire equipment convention, it came up with the idea to give away a fire truck to the fire department that got the most votes as the “most deserving” department in the country. Of course, getting the most votes would take a lot of work and a lot of conversation about E-ONE’s equipment. So, E-ONE was smart about their give-away. The interesting things to me about this promotion is:
- The winning department was from Powellsville, NC, population 259! (Powellsville is located in the middle of nowhere, about 50 miles west of Elizabeth City, NC.)
- The Powellsville VFD managed to get 7,000 votes – out of the 16,000 (yep, 16,000) total. That’s a lot of buzz about E-ONE. (I’d say the Powellsville VFD has some pretty plucky friends who love them intensely.)
- There were 650 fire departments that entered the contest. I don’t know how many VFDs there are in the country, but I do know that 650 prospective fire truck purchasers is a LOT of prospective fire truck purchasers.
So, what do you think? Did E-ONE get a bunch of publicity? Yep. Did they get publicity on the cheap? Well, the fire truck they gave away was “valued” at $170,000, which, I think, means that E-ONE has less than $100,000 in the deal. Based on what I know about advertising costs, I’d say E-ONE got maybe $250,000 in press for $100,000. Not too shabby. (And there were other sponsors involved and they may have cut E-ONE’s cost even more.)
So, is there a lesson here for a banker?
Would any of you like to talk about it? Maybe, you’d like to do something similar? Call me. We can help you do this.
For those of you who are golfers, can you remember the last time you were way out on the back nine, when the wind kicked up and lightning began to sparkle between you and the locker room? You’re torn, right? You’d like to finish the round, but, upon reflection, you’d also like to avoid direct experience with lightning strike.
Tell you what, if you’re smart, when the skies get dark, the wind picks up and the thunder rumbles, you start looking around for cover. Maybe you won’t quit the round at the first rumble, but you will start thinking about your “plan B”.
So, if you’re running a bank, consider this:
The H1N1 virus is darkening your skies and it could be a major-big deal. After all, think about it: schools close, day care closes and, on top of all that, a fourth of your staff is sick — and it all drags on for weeks? It’s enough to keep you up at night.
Take another look at opening accounts online.
Anything you can do to keep customers happy, but out of the bank, will be a plus. Your internet bill pay is a good thing. So is Cash Management and Remote Deposit Capture. And, if you have been delaying offering internet account opening programs, now is the time take another look. It’s not hard to do. The compliance problems are solved, and the costs are affordable: you can be up and running with Online Account Opening for less than $13,000. (Click here to get details, including costs.)
What should you do about the H1N1 threat?
Start planning NOW. Plan on increased ATM use. Start talking to your employees about your “if-sick-don’t-come” policy and think about how you’re going to handle employee issues that arise when schools are closed for a month or more. You’ll need to have a plan you can roll out quickly, one you have rehearsed and know works.
To get a look at the dimensions of the problem, read this article that appeared in the August 3, 2009 Issue of Bank Information Security com.
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