As a Bank marketer, you’re likely being told by compliance officers that you need to talk more about cyber security and fraud prevention. October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the perfect opportunity for you to not only provide helpful information on this topic, but also drive traffic to your website. Here are some ways to help you develop a marketing plan for Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Cybersecurity Blogs

If you’re running out of topics for your bank’s blog or you need a break from savings and loan topics, now is the perfect time to provide something educational.  A blog about cyber security awareness is good for all audiences, consumers and businesses alike. Need new content for your commercial banking customers? Consider a cyber security awareness blog to educate your small business customers about how to protect themselves against cyber security threats.

Here are some blog topic ideas targeting business banking customers:

• Tips to protect your business from a cyber attack
•  What are the most common cybersecurity threats to your business?
•  How to develop a cybersecurity plan for your business

If you’re a small bank or credit union that doesn’t offer business products or business owners are not your target market, you can rework the above topics for a general audience.  

Supplement your broader cyber security blog with more specific topics targeted to a general audience.  Anything about online safety and security make good topics for Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Here are some ideas for personal banking customers:

• Password protection tips
• Online Shopping Safety Tips
• How to bank fraud
• Money Mule scams
• Catfishing (Online dating scams)
• Identity theft prevention tips
• Online and mobile banking safety

Cybersecurity is a hot topic, not just during the month of October. There is no shortage of available resources on the subject. For inspiration, check out FBI.gov , FTC.gov,  the ABA website  and the National Cybersecurity Alliance.

Enhance Your Blogs with Infographics

Take your blog to the next level with an Infographic. Infographics combine useful tips and related imagery. Think of it as a visual summary of your blog. Infographics are more visually appealing and more engaging. Infographics are great for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). They can increase the amount of time someone spends on your page, and they show up in image searches.

Wondering how to get started with an infographic? Let’s go back to the blog topic suggestion “Cyber Security Tips for Your Business”, you can make an infographic listing all the security tips and include related visuals. In my opinion, almost any blog that is list-based can be turned into an infographic.

Here’s an example of an infographic:

Create PDFS and White Papers

PDFS and White Papers are additional ways to inform and engage your visitors. Any blog can be enhanced to become a white paper or PDF.  Turn your Cybersecurity Tips blog into a Cybersecurity Checklist PDF.

Post on Social Media

Not only does Cyber Security Awareness Month check “educational blog topic” off your list, it’s also a great opportunity to provide educational information to your social media followers. In addition to sharing your blog to your social media pages, here are few other posts to include throughout the month.

• Reshare old but relevant blog content. If you wrote a blog earlier this year or a few years ago that provides relevant information about online safety or cybersecurity, reposit those. Great content is never a one-and-done. If you’re not already repurposing older content, work that into your marketing or social media calendar.
•  Share other relevant third-party posts
• The ABA’s Banks Never Ask That campaign advises on certain things that banks will never ask from their customers. Share these graphics to your social profiles.
• Create graphics based on statistics or resources from the FBI, ABA or other resources, and link to their websites. This can be something as simple as “Cybersecurity Facts”.
• Create a series of “Cybersecurity Tip” images and share one tip each week.
  • Design a small and simple infographic properly sized and easy to read.  Because you want this to render on mobile devices, don’t use the same infographic from your blog. Consider one image with 3 to 4 list items.

When sharing this content to social media, be sure to include the hashtag #cybersecurityawarenessmonth and any other relevant hashtags. This will help anyone who is searching this topic find your content.

Not sure where to share this content? Cybersecurity is an educational topic that can appeal to anyone, so it’s perfect for all of your social media channels: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and twitter. Share your visuals on Instagram and Pinterest. If you have the resources to create a video, share your video to the same platforms, plus YouTube and TikTok if your bank currently uses these platforms.

Send Informative Emails

Whether you have an active email marketing strategy or still trying to figure out what kind of emails to send, add Cybersecurity content to your list of October emails.

 Suggestions for sending Cybersecurity emails:

• Send a digest type of email with a few cybersecurity resources. Include your blog and a few other resources, such as the FBI, ABA, or your something relevant from your state or local county.
• Short email with a list with a few cybersecurity tips and a link to some resources. 
• Send personalized content based on whether they are personal or business banking customers. Send your business customers an email related to cyber security for businesses and send your personal banking customers something geared towards a general cyber security tips or best practices.
• Don’t overdo it with the email marketing. Try to limit yourself to one or two emails for Cybersecurity Awareness month.  If your customers get too many emails, you risk them unsubscribing. They’re likely also getting cybersecurity related emails from other lists they are subscribed to.

Add Onserts to Your eStatements

Clients who get eStatements are your ideal audience. They are conducting financial transactions online so it may be safe to say that make other transactions online. With an eStatement onsert, you can add a graphic or text to your eStatements. Use an onsert design based on online or mobile banking safety. Consider something reminding them to check their account on secure Wi-Fi, keep their passwords safe, or only make purchases from secure sites.

Start Creating Content for Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Why add cybersecurity awareness to your marketing plan? You want your customers to value their relationship with you.  Show them you value them by providing them useful information to make their lives better and safer. On the content marketing side, cybersecurity is a popular topic that people will be researching during the month of October. The visitors gained can have a lasting impact on your SEO rank power. That is the business case for making cybersecurity awareness month part of your bank’s content marketing strategy.