Financial Marketing and Cross Selling Blog
Banks and credit unions, make sure you brand your content
If you were an expert on helping people solve problems it would seem logical that when you provide helpful information it’s seen as coming from you and not another source. Unless, of course, you need to site the source in your own content.
Unfortunately for many banks and credit unions this does not translate. I’ve visited many sites where I’ve clicked on a link that said something along the lines of “learn more about…” and it links me out to a news article from a local or major media outlet. Or worse, it sends me to a government website.
But it was a recent Tweet that reminded me to write about this subject. The message said, “5 ways to kill your credit score”. A great subject for a client of a bank or credit union to learn more about. The shortened URL then took me out to an MSN Money article. Mind you, this was a credit union sending out the message.
Now, I’m all for sharing links to sources that may be of interest to your audience, but at the very least, link them first to your site where they can read a short overview about the subject the article touches upon – then provide a link to the article in the body of the overview. You want to position your institution as the authority on these subjects. By steering them to someone like MSN you’re only confirming what your audience most likely knows, that MSN Money is a trusted source for financial news.
The easiest way to achieve this is by having a blog. Blogs are great because they can be platforms for longer articles written by your president or CEO or a place to quickly post about an article you found on MSN.
Some institutions may claim that going this route only slows down the flow of information because publishing content on a bank or credit union blog has to go through the same compliance hoops that any other website content would have to go through. In my opinion, it’s worth the wait.
How will banks use data collected from their PFM tools?
In a recent US Banker article, 10 Big Ideas for 2010, one idea was the adoption of PFM or Personal Financial Management services. This new type of service was made popular by Quicken and the controversial Mint.com who’s president made a few comments at last year’s SXSW festival that made a few heads turn.
With the growing number of users, banks saw an opportunity to adopt the technology and some of the nations largest banks have come out with their own toys (Wells Fargo, PNC, Bank of America).
There are two main reasons banks are deciding to provide this service. First, it’s a convenient service that helps their clients to understand where they’re spending their money. This also gives them a reason to go online, which is a cost saving initative that banks have been pushing for years, and succeeding I might add.
The second reason is to gain new insight on their clients and to get a better understanding of where they not only spend their money but where they keep it too. Very valuable information for a bank to have because it now means they can start to send them targeted messages based on their PFM profile. A marketing directors dream scenario for creating targeted cross selling campaigns – or is it.
Here’s the problem, if banks decide to use this new found information to send traditional targeted advertisements they will soon learn that this tactic does nothing more then disenfranchise their customer base. The new breed of consumer does not want to be sold. A key take away from the past 10 years of consumer behavior. What they want is information that will help them avoid mistakes and to save or invest money for the future. They will buy products and services from companies they trust. And they trust the companies that are there to help answer their questions, not to give them the latest product pitch.
Common customer rant: “Yes, I need a good savings plan, and perhaps that invovles one of your savings accounts, but don’t just try and sell me on how great your rates are. Sell me by helping me better understand my situation and what the steps are to being financially secure.”
Give them this and you’ll be on your way to cross selling success.
Twitter | 
Facebook |
onMouseOver='window.status="";return true;'
title='Buzz This'
href='http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.truebridge.com%2fblog%2fbid%2f23827%2fHow-will-banks-use-data-collected-from-their-PFM-tools&title=How+will+banks+use+data+collected+from+their+PFM+tools%3f&srcTitle=Financial+Marketing+and+Cross+Selling+Blog&srcUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.truebridge.com%2fblog%2f' >
onMouseOver='window.status="";return true;'
title='Buzz This'
href='http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.truebridge.com%2fblog%2fbid%2f23827%2fHow-will-banks-use-data-collected-from-their-PFM-tools&title=How+will+banks+use+data+collected+from+their+PFM+tools%3f&srcTitle=Financial+Marketing+and+Cross+Selling+Blog&srcUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.truebridge.com%2fblog%2f' >Google Buzz |
title='Add to delicious'
rel=nofollow
onMouseOver='window.status="";return true;'>
alt='Add to delicious'/>
 
rel=nofollow
onMouseOver='window.status="";return true;'
title='Add to delicious'>delicious |
StumbleUpon |
rel=nofollow
onMouseOver='window.status="";return true;'
title='Share on LinkedIn'>
alt='Share on LinkedIn'/> LinkedIn
http://www.truebridge.com/blog/bid/23827/How-will-banks-use-data-collected-from-their-PFM-tools
Examples of Content Marketing by banks and credit unions
There are some great examples of banks and credit unions that actively conduct a Content Marketing approach. I’ve chosen two for this post but we’ll continue to highlight the best in the industry on our blog.
Example #1: Affinity Federal Credit Union in Basking Ridge, NJ
When you visit Affinity Federal Credit Union’s website you are exposed to five main navigation choices – Personal, Business, Loans, Advice & Planning, About Us. My guess is four out five of those options are on just about every bank or credit union’s site. The one that’s not - Advice & Planning.
By making this a key area of their website, Affinity is building themselves as the “advice & planning” experts. If you go into this section you’ll find a wide range of topics that cover most of the services their credit union provides. You can find offers to download “Quick Guides” (downloadable PDF files) or to contact professionals who can help further.
Example #2: Nevada State Bank in Las Vegas, NV
Jeffrey Pilcher of The Financial Brand turned us on to the Nevada State Bank, who created an online content marketing strategy with their “Economic Forecast” section of their site. The site includes a number of online video presentations that include professionals such as the CEO of Contango Advisors talking about the economic turbulence and what this means to individual investors. They also have invitations to upcoming presentations that you can sign up for. Online video is a great content marketing strategy. There’s a reason YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine.
Nevada State Bank made a decision to focus on a certain type of client; savvy investors. They clearly went out of their way to make sure the production value of each video was high given the targeted audience. But the great thing about content marketing today is the costs are much less then what it use to be when there were only a few companies that dominated the way consumers received their information.
Banks and Credit Unions: An introduction to Content Marketing
A popular sales consultant once said that when all you do is talk about your product you’re only engaging 3% of your audience. But if you talk about how your product can solve a problem that affects everyone, you’re connecting with 100% of your audience. This mindset falls right in line with the new direction of marketing and PR – Content Marketing.
Content Marketing is a term that has a fuzzy origin but some may argue Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett made it popular with their book, Get Content, Get Customers. The approach revolves around the theory that the Internet and especially the introduction of the massive search engine, Google, have drastically changed consumer-purchasing habits. In the old days it was a few TV companies and newspapers that dominated the marketing and advertising scene. The type of marketing that was conducted for over 50 years was about getting your message inside of these mediums and “interrupting” the consumer, as Seth Godin would put it, with your story.
While the idea of a good story hasn’t died, the type of story that customers are looking for has changed.
Instead of the Michellin baby, consumers want to know the best techniques for making their tires last longer. Instead of catchy taglines they want catchy information. This new generation of consumer spends 60% less time watching TV and 600% more time online talking with peers or researching potential products to buy (Get Content, Get Customers). This is not a fad this is reality.
This is also not a new type of marketing but it is becoming more popular due to its effectiveness and the low cost of publishing information online today. A classic example that you may remember, depending on your age, is the Shell Oil Company’s Shell Answer Man campaign. They delivered helpful information to motorists – not about their products but about things that may be helpful – how to check the oil, tire wear, or tips on avoiding accidents. Using this content, Shell was seen by consumers as a helpful resource, building both awareness and brand image.
Watch an old TV ad below (it’s a bit scratchy but interesting nonetheless):
Clearly Shell spent a lot of money on this campaign considering the mediums they used – magazine pamphlets, TV ads, billboards, etc. But the great thing about content marketing today is it’s much less costly and easier to implement by any size company.
We’ll continue to provide insights into the many ways you can incorporate content marketing into your bank or credit union. If you want to stay up to speed with our blog posts we recommend subscribing to our RSS Feed or, if you’re not familiar with RSS, you can sign up using email (see right hand side bar). Make sure to check out our two webinars that focus on using content marketing to generate referrals from the website or the branch.
“Banks Unlock Cross-Selling Solution” – Community Banker
As seen in the section, The Lobby, in the November 2009 issue of Community Banker
It’s no secret across the banking industry that cross-selling has fallen far short of its early promise. That fact makes the success of Sovereign Bank all the more impressive.
Sovereign, a $78 billion-asset institution based in Philadelphia, has seen referrals to its retail investments unit rise between 15 and 20 percent in each of the past three years. “And the quality of those referrals has been higher as well,” said Casey Roberts, a Sovereign senior vice president, who is director of retail investments.
Sovereign is not the only bank that has solved the cross-selling riddle: A growing number said they have dramatically improved results by throwing away the traditional playbook and using a customer-centered approach. Partnering with Boston-based Truebridge Financial Marketing, they have implemented a new, low-cost marketing system that uses customer education to deliver more loyalty and profitability.
“Our improvement over the past five years in cross-selling has been remarkable,” said Gerard Lavoie, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Dedham Institution for Savings, a $1 billion-asset mutual institution in Massachusetts.
THE QUEST FOR CROSS-SELLING
There’s no question that cross-selling is the Holy Grail of banking. It allows banks to win a greater share of customers’ wallets, and it ties those customers more closely to the institution.
Follow Us
-
