Level Up Your Bank Marketing With These 6 Tips

As a bank marketer, you’ve been working hard to help your financial institution weather changing economic conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic such as historically low interest rates, a volatile stock market, inflation and, now, rising interest rates and the possibility of a recession. If your bank’s marketing strategy isn’t meeting the moment, we can help. Follow these 6 tips to ditch a stale strategy and level up your bank marketing.

1. Make better use of your Google Analytics account.

Every FI we talk to wants to spend more time on analytics, but they never seem to get around to it. Perhaps it’s because “do more with analytics” is such an amorphous goal. Let’s break it down into actionable steps to help you demonstrate the worth of each of your marketing campaigns. Even traditional campaigns can become measurable with the help of a few digital tactics.

• Create goals. If you haven’t already, set up the goals you want to track such as filling out a contact form, clicking through to an online application, and more. 
• Make a list of concrete tasks you want to address. For example, is there a specific issue you want to investigate such as a lack of conversions with a Contact Us button or form?
• Set up custom alerts. Instead of spending more time than you have browsing Analytics, you can create custom alerts for things like a decline in traffic or goal completions, or anything else you want to monitor.
• Figure out your true conversion rate. Some percentage of the visitors to your FI’s website simply cannot be converted, no matter what you do or say. You can add a segment to your traffic report that eliminates visitors who bounce within 10 seconds. This will give you a clearer picture of your real conversion rate and the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
• Pay attention to what people are searching for. Many bank websites have an on-site search bar. If yours does, check the on-site search terms report to see what people are looking for. These queries can than be used to create new content such as blog posts, email campaigns, and landing pages.
• Memorize GA’s keyboard shortcuts. This is one of those “so simple it should be obvious” kind of tips. Memorizing and utilizing GA keyboard shortcuts will save you precious time on creating and editing reports. 
• Check the Behavior Flow report. Follow the touchpoints visitors land on before converting to map out a typical buyer’s journey for your website. This will help you adjust the current layout and landing pages to create a more effective sales funnel. 
• Compare mobile and desktop. Use the Mobile Overview report to analyze conversions on desktop vs. mobile. With mobile traffic now higher than desktop traffic, you should see at least comparable if not more traffic and conversions on mobile. If this isn’t the case, you can create a strategy for improving the experience of your mobile site.
• Analyze site speed. The Speed Suggestions report will show you the average load times for each page on your website, as well as suggestions for improvement if necessary. 
• Look at new vs. returning users. As a financial institution, you want to retain and upsell existing customers, as well as attracting new ones. Use the New vs. Returning report to check the cost of conversion in each group. 
• Find out where your traffic comes from. The Source/Medium report can show you which sites or referral sources are driving traffic to your various landing pages. Use this information to increase your traffic and conversions. Just make sure you exclude internal traffic so the data is accurate.

2. Use data to make decisions. 

Once you’ve invested some time and effort in making the most of Google Analytics, you can use the data you collect to inform your marketing investments. Stop funding initiatives that don’t demonstrate a return and instead opt for more measurable efforts. For example, instead of traditional radio advertising, try Pandora. Instead of generic billboards, try online display ads. Instead of phonebook advertising, try online search ads. You’ll find these channels are substantially more measurable, cost-effective, and flexible.

3. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

So long as it’s measurable, put a marketing strategy together and test the impact of a new campaign. Even if it flops, you can learn something from it to do better next time. And you can be sure that doing the same old thing will not change your marketing results or help you get a leg up on local competitors. For example, try Zillow ads, run a social media contest, or start creating video content. If you’re short on new ideas, attend a bank marketing conference.

4. Go after your competitors. 

Relying on recent transplants, college students, and other traditional types of new customers isn’t enough to meet your growth goals. In addition, you should aggressively target your competitors to earn new business for your FI. For example, pay-per-click ads are an excellent means of effectively targeting competitors.

5. Create a 24/7 digital branch.

As mentioned earlier, mobile traffic now exceeds the number of people browsing the Internet on laptops and desktop computers. So, you should make your website (aka your 24/7 branch) worth visiting on any device. Think of it as a standalone branch that never closes, where new and existing customers can visit any time of day to research financial decisions, open a new account, or apply for a loan. Since 50% of consumers report searching exclusively online for financial services, make sure your site is responsive for mobile devices and tablets, ADA compliant, and optimized for search engines so people find it before they find a competitor.

6. Remember that it’s not about you. 

Maybe your executive team likes your brand just the way it is, but what do your actual customers think? What about your consumer and business prospects? Try conducting surveys to get the cold, hard truth about your logo, branch experience, onboarding process, and more. Chances are, your brand could stand to be less focused on your bank and more focused on your customers and prospects. So, stop cranking out press releases about new hires, and instead start writing content that offers actual value to your customers!

We can help with your financial marketing strategy!

As marketers, we all want to succeed in making a real impact for our organizations. The truth is, successful marketing is hard. It’s hard because we’re all so busy, and it’s increasingly difficult to step outside of the daily whirlwind to try something new. Just keeping your head above water can sometimes be a real struggle, and before you know it, your financial institution’s marketing has gone stale. Even banks and credit unions with bigger marketing teams can run into this dilemma. If you need help, we can generate measurable and cost-effective results for your bank or credit union with a variety of digital marketing solutions. Contact a strategist today!