Why Banks are SO Bad at Marketing
And what you can learn from their mistakes.

This is the type of information that I probably shouldn’t be giving away for free – but hey… it’s my blog and I get to call the shots right?

I won’t highlight my particular bank(s) by name who has(have) made the terrible mistakes I’m about to highlight, but really, they all do it. So it’s not really important to name names anyway.

So why is it that I feel (strike that) know banks are so bad at marketing? Because I have to discard 99% of the marketing messages I receive from them because they just don’t apply to me. SAD – what a waste of a marketing department.

Take my email inbox for my family business this morning for example: our bank was offering me a business card offer too good to pass up! A VISA for business with a starting credit line of $25,000, no fees, etc., etc. Cool right? Yep – and it was cool 10 years ago, too when our company acquired one for each of our owners.

I can hear you asking now: “so what’s the big deal?”

The big deal is that I receive this offer probably every month from my bank via email and about the same frequency via postal mail, too. Since our company already has three, there’s really no “introduction” going on here. We’re set in that department and if we weren’t, I’d know where to go. Add all of those impressions up over and time and that’s potentially a lot of money being spent on trying to acquire a customer who has already been acquired.

The same goes for their constant attempts to have be go paperless, engage in online bill pay, etc., etc. – all of which are things I am already enrolled in and have been since their inception.

The sad part of this story is that not only SHOULD my bank(s) know these things, but that they DO know them and just aren’t using their CRM (customer relationship management) data effectively.

Take note, this is where your light bulb should be brightest: It really only takes a little more time (which I know, equates to a little more money) to properly segment and target your marketing messages so that you are offering the correct services and benefits to the correct customers – those who need it. That extra investment in the quality and appropriateness of marketing messages can really show a significantly higher return on investment than not using it at all.

I believe that you should treat people in business as you would treat a friend. And by people, I mean everyone: customers, employees, sales reps, the list goes on.

As it would seem, that’s unfortunately not often the case with everyone else in the world.

I have a business friend who writes a fun little blog about no, not how to do business, but rather how NOT to do business. It’s a shame to me that she has to write it at all, but what’s really shameful is that she has so much to write about. (I’m not sure she wants it to be a public read, so I won’t link it here, unless she asks me to later down the road – at which point I’ll be glad to… so that anyone who has the opportunity to read it, can have the opportunity to think twice before acting like the people in her stories.)

So in my own little tribute to how not to do business, here’s my thoughts on mass-messaging your clients and potential clients with a tasty offer.

I received an email in my inbox today (from a very popular source – who will remain nameless) offering a nice gift certificate, of fairly decent value, to all new subscribers of their service.

What’s wrong with that you ask? I’d like to kindly remind said-emailer of the wonders of mass customization and I’m very shocked they’re not using it to their advantage.

My main concern with the way this marketing message was delivered, is that last week I received a bill to renew my yearly service with them… for $200. Now, that’s no major investment, but it’s also not chump change to a small business.

My simple request is this: if current customers are not going to be rewarded with the same incentive as new customers (remember, it costs far less to retain a current customer than to gain a new one), then please use the wonders of email marketing to establish two different email lists; one for paying customers, the other for those who’ve not yet signed up for service.It’s not rocket science, especially since my login and email address that are linked to that company’s online services for customers is linked to my paid subscription: only paid customers get access to full content online.

8/14/08 Update: For those of you who’d enjoy learning from the mistakes of others… here’s the link to (another) Lisa’s blog about how not to do business!

I have a slight obsession with paying attention to details.

I think that the extra seriousness I take to paying attention to how someone spells their name came from an interaction with one of my sorority sisters during our senior year of college. I made the mistake of misspelling her name (not on purpose, I honestly believed I was spelling it correctly) and she emailed me to update it on our mailing list. In her email she wrote, “it’s not a big deal or anything, but it’s just important to me”.

Are you kidding me?! If it’s important to you, then it is a big deal to me! (Especially because it was her last name I had misspelled and I know how important family is… especially to that person in particular.)

I think this is a very important lesson for all businesses and anyone who EVER interacts in the business community. Scratch that… I’d hate to see the same mistake I’m about to highlight on a wedding invitation or a thank you note just the same.

Either way, I won’t be rude and point out the business that made the following mistake today, but just to set the tone for anyone reading this… they were asking me to make a significant financial investment in their print advertising services:

“Ms. Lisa Jefferies
Jeffries & Sons Inc
1515 Lake Wheeler Rd
Raleigh, NC 27603

Dear Ms. Jefferies:”

This individual had managed to spell my company name correctly but 1) failed to recognize the connection between my last name and my company and, 2) put the mistake in print. The kicker is that the representative called me back after our initial conversation to double check the spelling.

How am I supposed to feel confident in the print advertising services offered by this agency if they make mistakes of this magnitude in their initial pitch?

Please note: I’m don’t walk on water. I do make mistakes and I’m not better than anyone else. But one thing I do ALWAYS do… is proofread.