Financial Marketing and Cross Selling Blog
Influential bank and credit union marketers of 2009
What made people on this list so influential is how they’re adopting to the new rules of marketing and PR. You may have heard us use that phrase on this blog before. If you’re new to these rules, we recommend reading the book by David Meerman Scott, “New Rules of Marketing and PR”. The basic premise is that the old way of relying on big media to deliver your story and advertisements is no longer a functional model. While this may sound horrible to the traditional marketer, in reality it’s a huge opportunity for every business, especially small businesses, to grow exponentially by letting go and diving head first into the new world. Some are using elements of content marketing, an essential ingredient to the new rules.
These banks and credit unions are showing signs that they’re either moving in the direction of the new rules or in some cases, making it a top priority. But they’re clearely ahead of the curve in the financial industry.
We most likely missed a handful of people that should be recognized. But the beauty of blogs and social media in general is the ability to voice your opinion so we encourage you to leave comments about institutions you feel deserve recognition.
This list is in no particular order.
First Mariner Bank – From social media staples such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Flickr to their eNewsletter, this bank is clearly putting social media and content marketing at the top of their priorities.
AnchorBank - They’ve been twittering for awhile but just recently they launched their Facebook page. What’s unique about their messages both on Twitter and Facebook is that they are moving away from your typical customer service messages – branch closings, openings, parties, etc. They have a lot of great online content that’s educational in nature to help their followers / clients to better understand their financial options and they do a great job of merchandising this information out through these new cost-effective online channels. (DISCLAIMER: A Truebridge client)
Umpqua Bank – They have created a great local community vibe with their online campaigns. They also help people to better understand ways to save money with their Save Hard Spend Smart landing page. They built up a strong following on Twitter and they don’t just talk about Umpqua services, they talk about local secrets and where you can find good deals. Chances are the places they’re steering you are their own clients. This goes a long way with existing as well as potential clients.
Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union – They’ve solved the content problem by opening up group forums on their site. The last one I checked out had the title “Do you really need to be debt-free?” and it had about twelve comments from the community. They also leverage Twitter and Facebook to deploy messages that can lead to their group forums or also to landing pages such as http://www.bankintervention.com/. And finally, they have a blog that’s focused on the younger generation called The Addison Cafe.
Affinity Federal Credit Union – They don’t use Twitter or Facebook. But, in our opinion, if you display good content as a top priority on your website like Affinity does, then you’re on the right track. One of their top four navigation bars is for “Advice & Planning”. This section is full of great content where members can find answers to all their financial needs before taking the plunge to talk about Affinity’s offerings. (DISCLAIMER: A Truebridge client)
Nicolet National Bank – There aren’t too many banks that have created blogs but out of the ones I’ve seen, Nicolet has done an exceptional job at developing compelling content for their clients in what they call The Vault. As of this post they appear to just be harnessing the power of RSS feeds but I’m sure that Twitter and Facebook are not far behind in their initiatives.
Bank of America – Mostly known for using new online tools like Twitter for customer service, BofA has also developed some unique online campaigns. One example is Morris on Campus. It provides tips on things from dorm room tips, food tips and class room tips. They created a college handbook that you can download for free. The campaign was focused on getting kids to sign up for the CampusEdge Checking and Stuff Happens cards that gives you a one-time bank fee refund.
Wells Fargo – Like BofA, Wells Fargo is well known for using Twitter for providing customer service. But they’re also on top of delivering compelling content through their blogs. This time last year they created the Wells Fargo – Wachovia blog to keep customers up to date on the latest merger activities. But since then they’ve added a few more blogs:
- Guided by History: Talks about the banks history and how it relates to the present and the possible future.
- Student LoanDown: Focused on the college student and the loan process.
- Stagecoach Island: A youthful game where kids can interact with each other. The blog is the main component to the site.
- Commercial Electronic Office: This is what they call their CEO portal. You must be a commercial client and need a password and username to access.
Jesse Torres / Pan American Bank – This is mostly for Jesse and not so much the bank – yet at least. As of this post their website was under construction. To learn more about the bank you can visit their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter.
Jesse recently became the president of this small community bank in Southern California, but Jesse has had his hands in the banking industry for quite some time. This past year he wrote The Community Banker’s Guide to Social Network Marketing. Some of you may know that recently Pan American Bank launched a blog. They sent out a press release announcing the blog and many banking industry professionals, including Truebridge, noticed ads from Google on the site. Some ads even steered you to other banks, such as Bank of America! As of this post these ads were still in place. I still don’t quite understand the rational behind this. Jesse responded rather quickly to all the chatter online, which goes to show you he understands how the new online world works. And while I still don’t understand the Google ads, his blog is rather unique. Reading the articles you don’t get a sense that you’re reading a banker per se. And I think that’s the point they’re trying to make. Their goal is to stop acting like a bank, as one recent post proclaims. And I think the true meaning of this new kind of marketing is all about transparency and having open dialogs with your clients. It’s also about giving away information that prior to the age of Google you would have wanted to reserve for in person dialogs. While I may not agree 100% with some of Jesse’s techniques, he is clearly an innovator and someone to keep an eye on as the new landscape of bank marketing takes shape in 2010.
This list wouldn’t have been possible without the direct help of Jeffrey Pilcher of The Financial Brand (@thefinancialbrand) as well as the other 143 and growing associates, colleagues, banks, credit unions, consultants, marketing professionals, etc. that we follow on Twitter. Join us on Twitter or LinkedIn. We’ll see you in 2010!
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Banks to Shakespeare – To sell or not to sell on Facebook?
I came across an article today in the Providence Business News that highlighted some local banks diving into the social media waters by creating fan pages on Facebook. What jumped out at me was not the fact that they created these pages, it was what these institutions thought about when they finally did have one up and running.
“How many people are going to want to read about bank products on Facebook”, was a comment from one banker in this article. Of course the answer to this question is very few if any. The problem is not the realization that Facebook should not be used to pitch products, the problem lies within the actual thought of doing so.
Realizing they can’t add their traditional marketing spin to these areas, some bankers are at a loss for knowing what to do with social media tools outside of announcing branch closings, openings, and other customer service messages. I’m all for using social media as a tool for providing customer service. And if that’s all a bank or credit union wants to use it for and will take extra measures to ensure it’s used properly for such activities, then that’s fine. However, one area that banks and credit unions appear to be missing out on is the opportunity to deliver good, easy to read educational information on topics important to their clients – how to save money, avoid mistakes, the steps to take before buying a home, investing for your retirement years, etc.
In my recent post I highlighted some figures from Google showing that millions of people are searching for financial terms like “retirement” every year. People today are looking for help with all their financial needs and the events that have transpired over this past year help fuel this fire. The ironic part is that the institutions who eventually provide the consumer with the products and services that help with their needs are failing to provide the information they’re looking for first. This often leaves the consumers decision of which institution to select up to the most commonly known brand. And how many local banks have the brand power to go up against Fidelity Investments in the retirement market?
Today many publications are going out of business. Those left are having to cut back on their reporting due to low ad revenue. This gives banks and credit unions an enormous opportunity to step in and fill a void of valuable information that many consumers, especially small business owners, would appreciate. In our interview with Newt Barrett, he strongly agreed that banks have a window of opportunity to replace the disappearing local publications that use to be plentiful for the small business owner.
Not only will this build the banks brand as a place to go to get answers, but implemented right, a content marketing strategy can dramatically increase referrals and cross selling opportunities for all products and services, including investments and insurance.
It’s time to start putting aside product marketing and start thinking first about content marketing if you’re interested in testing out the social media waters.
Common misconceptions about content marketing in the banking industry
There are many consultants and marketing professionals that are talking about this new approach to marketing and PR. Some call it Inbound Marketing, Social Media Marketing or Content Marketing. What ever you call it, there are clearly those who don’t believe this is the right direction for their institution. Today I’m going to highlight some of my favorite rationals as to why this approach is nothing more then a flash in the pan. I’m taking these from my experiences in the financial industry but I’m sure that many of these same excuses exists in other industries.
1. “I’d rather my sales professionals tell my clients what they need to know versus giving the information away for free.”
This is a valid argument if you were living in the pre-Internet age. But the Internet has changed these rules drastically. Just ask your local newspaper how things are faring in the age of the Internet. People today have much greater access to information and because of this, it’s changed their mindset. Now they don’t just look for products when they have a need, they’re doing more to anticipate their needs by gobbling up massive amounts of information on a regular basis. A recent study from the University of California showed that individuals consume 34 Gigabytes a Day! Roger Bohn, a professor of technology management and co-author of the study says in this New York Times article, “Print media has declined consistently, but if you add up the amount of time people spend surfing the Web, they are actually reading more than ever”.
So the bottom line is, either you provide the information your customers are looking for or your competitors will do it for you.
2. “Nobody is going to read the information we provide”
This comes up more frequently in the banking industry because of the perception that financial information is boring and dry. This may be true if you’re talking about watching TV shows such as SquawkBox or reading newspapers like the Financial Times, but the content banks should be providing is your basic run of the mill personal finance – introduction to investing and savings, how to buy your first home and the steps to take. To get an idea of how interested people are in financial topics, one of the more highly competitive areas is retirement. The term, “retirement”, was searched 4,090,000 times in the United States this past year according to Google Adwords. And there is rarely a week or month that goes by where the search for information is slow as you can see from this graph taken from Google Insights for the term “retirement”:
Learn more about this report at the Google Insight page.
But remember, this is just the single term “retirement”. When people search they’re often more detailed then just one word so you have people entering terms such as “401k retirement” or “retirement plans for married couples”. You can imagine just by the shear volume of this individual term how much this subject is looked into by your customers.
3. “Why do I need all this content if it’s already available. Won’t we just be another needle in the haystack?”
A recent study was done by Custom Publications Council that showed 68% of individuals say custom publications influence purchases. For those not aware, custom publishing and content marketing are one and the same. What this tells us is that people are moved more by regular information then they are by advertisements. And many of these publications that use to rely on advertising are changing their business model because they’re starting to recognize that this approach no longer works. The old days of slipping your message into these trusted publications through paid advertisement is going to slowly be phased out.
Instead, banks and credit unions that use to do the advertising can now become the trusted resource for information. However, your mindset has to change. Instead of just being the delivery truck of products that help the readers of the publications solve their problems, you have to first act like the publisher and provide the information before showcasing your products. This approach will build you as a credible resource for financial information and over time, it will better position you to win their business instead of losing out to bigger competitors who already have a brand name in competitive markets such as retirement.
This is a foreign mindset for many bank marketers and it’s not an easy one to reverse. But those who are doing so are reaping the rewards and showing growth in a time when most of their competitors are shedding their assets left and right to stay afloat.
Interview with Newt Barrett, co-author of “Get Content, Get Customers”
In a recent post we discussed the concept behind Content Marketing. The approach is not necessarily new but with the technologies of today, mostly driven by the Internet, more and more companies can implement content marketing strategies without having to rely on the big media outlets like in years past. There are many individuals as well as companies that either use the same term or have another name for it such as Inbound Marketing. But a book that recently landed on our radar struck a chord here at Truebridge and we were lucky enough to have a chance to speak with one of the authors.
Newt Barrett, who co-authored the book Get Content, Get Customers with Joe Pulizzi, was gracious enough to spend some time talking with us about the future of marketing. Joe and Newt met while working together at Penton Publishing. But it wasn’t until after they had left and were out on their own that they decided to pull their experiences together to write about the direction or marketing and PR for B2B and B2C companies.
The beginning of our conversation started out with Newt getting a phone call from his realtor as he and his wife are in the process of selling their home. I was curious as to how that’s going since they live in Florida and according to Newt it appears to be turning around for sellers. But this flowed nicely into what the focus of our call was about which is how the financial industry is coping with the drastic changes occurring in the marketing and PR world.
The challenge is changing the mindset of marketers who have been doing the same thing successfully for one, two even three decades. Newt says the first thing you need to do in this new marketing world is to “think like a publisher”. Newt goes on to explain:
“As a publisher, what you do is you get a group of people together who share a set of interests and concerns that are easily definable. They are deeply interested in information that can help them address those concerns or solve problems. They’re looking for a source that can provide them with this information. In the past a publisher would find a niche, such as Penton where I worked on a supply chain operations project. This group of buyers is looking for ways to improve their operations. So we took a publication called Transportation & Distribution and transformed it into Logistics Today, which better defined buyer concerns. Once you define this group that has a common set of interests, you have to address whether or not they’re interested in buying something. In this specific case, the supply chain group bought all sorts of trucking and logistical type of services. Then you go to advertisers and say, ‘we have gathered all your buyers in one place and they trust us for helpful information and they’re willing to buy products. Therefore, your advertising will be effective in our publication’.”
Newt went on to connect this to how we think about our banks…
“If you think of a typical banking client, most of us don’t really care about our banks until we need their help. But, when we do need a banker’s help we REALLY need their help. We want information about how to solve our financial problems.”
One big missed opportunity that Newt even thought about before he and I connected was that banks could “replace what is disappearing locally which is local business content.” He goes on to say, “They can become a provider of really helpful business content with a focus on financials, but not necessarily exclusive to financial topics. They can then replace the publishers’ role. But the real challenge is getting banks to start thinking in this fashion: First and foremost they are a provider of helpful information. Second, they have products to sell.”
Newt feels this approach is not optional but rather essential for companies to be successful moving forward. This is especially true on the web since that is where most consumers go to first start their buying process.
When asked if he knew of any financial institutions that were taking the lead on this new approach he said that besides Northern Trust, who he talks about in the book, most banks are roughly the same across the board, especially when it comes to community banks. “We have lots of reliable, trustworthy, honest community banks here in South Florida,” he says. “Most community bank sites tend to look a lot alike, provide the same competitive offerings, and highlight great customer service. What they frequently lack are real differentiators in terms of valuable content that addresses customer information needs.”
Truebridge spends more time in the banking space than Newt so we do see a number of banks and especially credit unions that are leading the pack. We’re proud to say that many are our clients. However, there are those who are adopting new marketing techniques, such as Twitter, blogs or online forums but these techniques are only half the battle. Most have yet to adopt the one mindset that Newt and many others feel is essential to success – to think like a publisher.
We continued for another half hour or so about the future of marketing and we look forward to continuing our conversation. Keep an eye out for more posts involving the great ideas and thoughts of Newt Barrett. s
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