Marketing Campaigns for Banks: 5 Ideas to Guarantee Success

Marketing campaigns for banks used to consist primarily of giving a toaster to new account holders. Of course, that was many years ago, before modern regulations gave banks more ways to be competitive (like offering interest on checking accounts) and, in turn, more competitors. Marketing isn’t so easy now.

Following are five ideas to remember when establishing marketing campaigns for banks. These apply to all banking products, branch openings, or general awareness campaigns – take your pick – but we’ll focus on mortgage marketing for most of our examples.

Idea #1: Strong Marketing Campaigns for Banks Are Inviting

More than 30% of U.S. households are unbanked, meaning they have no checking or savings account, or underbanked, meaning they have an account but have also used alternative forms of financial services in the previous six months. A 2015 FDIC study of unbanked and underbanked households found that more than half of those who were unbanked thought banks weren’t interested in serving households like theirs.

Let’s take that a step or two further. How many bank customers who use only one or two specific products – maybe simple savings and checking accounts – are likely to feel that the bank’s other services, such as financial planning assistance, are out of reach for them?

Whether your marketing campaign targets the unbanked, the underbanked, or even the fully banked, there’s likely room for growth in your relationship. You won’t see that growth unless your customers and prospects consider you approachable.

How can marketing campaigns for banks help prospects envision themselves using more banking products?

• Personalized messaging. Whether you’re sending an email or postal mail, address the person by name. Use dynamic formatting to add their name to an image, video or animation. If sending postal mail, use first class postage.
• Personal messaging. Make your marketing feel personal by using the sender’s or a mascot’s photo rather than a company logo, particularly in digital communications. In postal mail, use a true signature font. Messages should come from a person rather than from the bank – use first person messaging when appropriate.
• Targeted messaging. Don’t send mortgage marketing refinance messages to people who don’t own their homes. Your bank will definitely feel out of reach! If you have prospects whose status you don’t know, try a message that covers more bases: If you don’t own, now’s a good time to buy. If you do own, a refi opportunity may be available.
• Encourage referrals. In the case above, if the prospect is not ready to purchase or refi, they may have friends or family who would benefit. If they pass along the good deals you’re offering, they’re a step closer to using you themselves. They may not think to share unless you mention the idea in your marketing!

Idea #2: Tell Stories

The idea of using stories in your marketing also applies to making your bank inviting and approachable, yet it’s important enough to stand on its own. Telling stories of customer successes will help your prospects see how you help people just like them and solve problems just like theirs. They’ll be able to envision themselves as your customer.

When planning marketing campaigns for banks, consider sharing two primary categories of success stories – typical scenarios and “extraordinary” successes. Keep in mind that most prospects will see their own situations as extraordinary, though your bank may help others just like them regularly.

For example, if your goal is purchase mortgage lead generation in a mortgage marketing campaign, consider presenting a scenario prospects see as typical – a family purchasing the home of their dreams with your top-level service helping them through the process. Also share a story prospects will see as more challenging, such as that of a single parent with atypical income sources securing a low- or no-down payment loan to achieve the same dream.

Note that these are scenarios – you do not have to use real customers and their stories, but you can if you want!

Idea #3: Marketing Campaigns for Banks Should Coordinate Across Multiple Channels

Omni-channel marketing campaigns will get the best results for your bank. Multi-channel marketing campaigns focus just on the many methods of distribution – email, postal, social, text messaging, phone calls, billboards, print ads – though the messaging may be distinct for each. The approach is similar to a splatter painting.

Omni-channel marketing, on the other hand, is a masterpiece of integrated brush strokes. Omni-channel marketing strategies focus on delivering the right message to the right prospect/customer over the right channel and at just the right time.

Consider an omni-channel approach to a mortgage lead generation campaign. Perhaps the message that catches the prospect’s eye is a social media ad. It inspires the prospect to click for more information, which leads them to a landing page. They complete a response form, which triggers several actions.
First, a text message is sent to the prospect within a few minutes. It promises a phone call and email to come within a set amount of time. The prospect’s form also triggers a notification to a loan officer, who makes the phone call.

The promised email will deploy automatically from a pre-set workflow, based on the prospect’s interest. Perhaps it will be a series of purchase prospect, refi prospect, trade-up buyer or credit builder communications delivered through email, text and postal mail over the next several weeks or months.

Successful integration of all these channels into one mortgage marketing campaign, from the landing page and form response to the automated workflow, depends on a robust mortgage CRM.

Idea #4: Market New Products to Existing Customers

Chances are you are you are already cross selling your products, but it’s important enough to mention. If nothing else, as you’re refreshing your campaigns for the upcoming year, you can give the approach a refresh. Again, a strong mortgage CRM can help with this. After all, even though it has “mortgage” in its name, you don’t have to limit it to just mortgage marketing!

Here’s a way to implement. If your bank puts mortgage clients on a post-close campaign, consider expanding the topics you cover beyond home financing. Whether you’re pitching auto loans, personal loans, retirement planning or any other services you offer, do it in a way that will appeal to your mortgage clients as homeowners – don’t just dash off your standard ad copy.

Another idea, and this is keeping with the need to be “inviting and approachable,” is to introduce your new mortgage customers to other individuals at the bank and the ways they can serve. Provide a picture of and contact information for a real person who can help them with specific needs.

Idea #5: Save Time and Money Plus Win Business with Automation

Marketing campaigns for banks are easier to implement when you automate various components. A strong mortgage CRM like Surefire can automate deployments across multiple channels, including email, text messaging, video messaging, social posts, closing gifts and postal mail. You set it up once, and then let the system do most of the work. Schedule a demo to see it in action today.