Marketing Advice By Business Type
Marketing a Savings Banks Business
Marketing plays a central role in any company. But when it comes to a savings banks business, your ability to market your brand can be the deciding factor between barely making it and achieving stellar industry success.
If you are a business leader who sees marketing as a path to give your savings banks business a competitive advantage you're not alone.
Customer loyalty isn't what it used to be. Cash is king in today's marketplace, so your marketing plan needs to focus on value messages.
Loss Leaders
The majority of savings banks businesses are willing to sustain a slight loss or breakeven position on certain products and service offerings as a way to attract customers. Moreover, a loss leader marketing strategy can compensate for dead periods when customers tend to making purchases. But to be effective, loss leader marketing requires planning, especially in product selection and price points. For the majority of savings banks businesses, the real benefits of loss leaders emerge through the careful marketing of other products, usually offered at a much higher margin. Whenever possible, piggyback a loss leader approach with the purchase of bulk merchandise that can be bought at a discount.
Generating Buzz
Never underestimate the value of good buzz with consumers. There are multiple ways owners can tout the benefits of their product offerings, but the most effective promotions are personal recommendations or word of mouth advertising. For a savings banks business, meaningful brand conversations have the ability to transform the impact of your marketing efforts. To encourage marketplace conversations, you'll need to equip consumers with the tools they need to create meaningful brand dialogues. With minimal effort, you can instigate conversations through social media and other communication vehicles favored by today's consumers.
Promotional Calendars
The best laid marketing agendas can quickly get fouled up, especially in fast-paced savings banks businesses. A strategy chocked full of time-sensitive ad placements and other tactics can devolve into a tangled mess of overlapping deliverables unless it is coordinated in a promotional calendar. Good calendars include not only tactical deadlines, but also schedules for the inputs (e.g. staff assets, vendors, etc.) that are required to execute strategic objectives. Consumer mailing lists from a respected provider can add value to your calendar by incorporating geographic and demographic consumer data into your promotional schedule.
Share this article
Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs