I’d like to invite you to my upcoming webinar, “The 7 Laws that Govern Your Brand.”
Per the title, I’ll be discussing seven principles that underlie strong brands, and a new branding model derived from them. It’s a quick 30 minutes, free, and geared toward bank marketers. Here’s the lowdown:
The 7 Laws that Govern Your Brand
Wednesday, March 24th at 2:30 pm EST
To register, contact Marci Grzelecki:
248-643-6431 ext 221 or mgrzelecki@michaelflora.com
Hope you can make it.
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Bank Competitors, Bank Marketing, Branding, Customer Relationships, community banks | Tagged: Tom Brzezina, banks, financial services, banking, community banks, regional banks, bank customers, Bank Branding, Bank Competitors, Bank Marketers | 
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Posted by tombrzezina
The topic of innovation seems to be heating up in banking circles recently. Normally, I would be excited about this. Instead, I have mixed feelings.
My biggest concern is that the enthusiasm over innovation is simply a reaction to recent regulatory actions that have constricted profitable revenue streams. If so, the “innovations” will be nothing more than workarounds designed to return profitability to these same streams.
My fondest hope is that there are real innovations on the horizon. New ways of connecting customers and banks. Technology and processes to make banking more convenient and useful for the customer. And creating competition around customer benefits that customers really want.
The true future of banking lies not in optimizing customers, but in optimizing customers’ lives.
1 Comment | Bank Competitors, Banking Trends, Customer Relationships, Customer Retention, community banks | Tagged: banks, Customer Retention, financial services, banking, community banks, regional banks, bank customers, Bank Branding, Bank Competitors | Permalink
Posted by tombrzezina
In his new book, Innovation and the Future Proof Bank, blogger, James Gardner, offers a way for banks stay relevant in the face of disruptive change.
According to Gardner:
“The problem is the misconception that innovation in banks is something that can be turned on, like a switch. The truth of the matter, though, innovation is a corporate capability that takes time to develop like any other.”
What banks need, he says, “is a business process which can predictably and reliably respond to all this change, and which doesn’t abandon the fundamental tenet of prudence upon which banks must rely.”
The solution he proposes is futureproofing, “the process of planning what the future might bring and doing something about it.”
The introduction lays out three characteristics of a futureproof bank::
There is ample evidence that futureproofing works. A recent study, for example, linked senior leaders’ focus on the future with their banks’ success in innovation.
Without futureproofing, says Gardner, banks will not be able to respond to change quickly enough to stay competitive.
The author knows from whence he speaks. Until recently, he served as Head of Innovation and Investment & CIO Technology, at Lloyds TSB. He was also part of the Financial Services Industry Group at Microsoft.
Regular reader of Gardner’s blog, BankerVision, know that he almost always has something thought-provoking to say.
Innovation and the Future Proof Bank will likely provoke a swarm of thoughts.
Leave a Comment » | Bank Competitors, Banking Trends | Tagged: banks, financial services, banking, Bank Competitors, futureproofing, innovation | Permalink
Posted by tombrzezina
The public outrage over bank bonuses has returned with a vengeance. Right or wrong, it’s a threat to your bank’s brand.
The only question is, what are you going to do about it?
The public is in no mood to be educated about variable compensation. And, as far as consumers are concerned, banks are all guilty by association. Battening down the hatches and hoping to ride it out isn’t going to help either.
Here are three strategies you can use to protect—and even improve—your brand:
Obviously, the object here is to focus on empirical evidence that your bank is different.
The more local you get, the less national issues will reflect on your brand. The more that customers identify with you, the less likely they’ll be to lump you in with other banks. And the easier you are to work with, the more they’ll be inspired to spread the word.
The amazing thing is, as you put these three strategies into practice, you’ll realize—along with your customers—that you actually are different.
Leave a Comment » | Bank Competitors, Bank Marketing, Branding, Customer Relationships, Customer Retention, community banks | Tagged: bank advertising, Bank Branding, Bank Competitors, bank customers, Bank Marketers, Bank Marketing, banking, banks, community banks, regional banks, Trust | Permalink
Posted by tombrzezina
Reading the various reports from Finovate 2009 got me wondering what all of these new developments portend for retail banking.
A couple of future scenarios come to mind:
Is it just me, or is there something about all this that feels like dotcom fever? Mint’s recent sale to Quicken seems to have had an impact.
Leave a Comment » | Bank Competitors, Banking Trends, Branding, Mobile Banking, Peer Lending, Social Media | Tagged: banks, financial services, Trust, Bank Competitors | Permalink
Posted by tombrzezina
If they perceive that your profit drive is negatively affecting their quality of life, the answer is yes. And a bank with a customer base of competitors is simply not sustainable.
There’s been a lot of bad press about overdraft fees lately. Most of it charging banks with rigging the game against customers. Now bank customers are furious, using social media to vent their anger.
Here’s a quote from Nessa Feddis of the American Bankers Association:
“It’s not that different from a parking ticket. If the fee for parking in a fire lane were $5, fire trucks would have a lot harder time getting through.”
It was an incredibly insensitive statement. Comparing profit generation to saving lives is bad enough. But implying that bank customers are lawbreakers who need to be punished is inexcusable. Especially now when trust is low and anger is high.
In your bank communications, keep in mind that a defensive stance is a competitive stance. And that deflecting blame to your customers will get you nowhere.
1 Comment | Bank Competitors, Customer Relationships, Customer Retention | Tagged: American Bankers Association, bank, Bank Marketing, competitor, Nessa Feddis, Tom Brzezina | Permalink
Posted by tombrzezina
Over the last four posts, I’ve talked about foreign competitors, online competitors, and low balance competitors.
I should also mention credit unions—one of the few sectors that seems to have has benefitted from the current recession. In many major markets, credit unions, as a group, hold the largest market share in consumer deposits. Now they’re merging and organizing into what could become a super threat.
Don’t look now, but these various competitors have banks surrounded. Right now, when banks have been weakened, opportunities for these competitors have never been better. And they know it.
So what’s a bank to do?
Those in the C-suite would no-doubt scoff at the suggestion, but this is a job for marketing and design (that is, design as David Kelly defines it). Remember Drucker:
“Because it is its purpose to create a customer, any business enterprise has two—and only these two—basic functions: marketing and innovation.”
Marketing and innovation—both require thinking outside the bank, which is really just common sense. Isn’t it thinking inside the bank that got us here?
Leave a Comment » | Bank Competitors, Bank Marketing | Tagged: Bank Competitors, Bank Marketing, banking, banks, credit unions, Tom Brzezina | Permalink
Posted by tombrzezina
According to the Center for Financial Services Innovation:
So far, banks have been less than eager to extend services to this huge segment. An FDIC study found that, “Less than one-third of banks will cash payroll checks drawn on another bank for non-customers. Banks also appear to limit money orders and other important bill payment products for non-customers.”
Instead of banks, these households use check-cashing centers, money-wiring stores, and payday loan outlets for their financial needs. Each year, they spend at least $13 billion on more than 340 million alternative financial services transactions.
The current hot item for those who deal mainly in cash is the General Purpose Reloadable (GPR) card. Cardholders can make purchases almost anywhere, pay recurring bills and get cash from ATMs.
According to NBPCA president and executive director, Marilyn Bochicchio, these households, “Recognize how reloadable prepaid cards can dramatically improve their lives by replacing the makeshift arrangements they currently use to pay for purchases and manage their finances.”
According to Bart Narder of the Celent Banking Blog:
“The 100 pound gorilla of mass retailing, Wal-Mart is moving into this space in a big way with their 3/3/3 pricing: That’s $3 to buy the card, $3 to load cash onto it, and $3 per month. With Wal-Mart’s aggressive pricing and huge retail presence, this move could move GPR cards out of the ethnic neighborhoods and niche markets and into the mainstream. Main street banks should take note.”
Leave a Comment » | Bank Competitors | Tagged: Bank Competitors, Bart Narder, Celent Banking Blog, Tom Brzezina, Wal-Mart | Permalink
Posted by tombrzezina
These days, it seems everyone wants to be a banker. That includes some very heavy players from other industries.
Wal-Mart has been trying to get into the business since the late 90s. So far, the banking industry has been successful in keeping the retailer out, but many experts take it as a given that Wal-Mart will eventually triumph over industry opposition.
The retailer already does money orders, payroll check cashing, and money transfer services. In fact, it currently processes a million financial transactions per week. And it recently applied to create an industrial loan corporation (ILC) in Utah to handle Wal-Mart’s credit card, debit card, and electronic transactions.
The retailer began offering money orders three years ago and has since added payroll check-cashing and money-transfer services. As an ILC, it won’t be able to offer checking accounts, but it will be able to take deposits and make loans. As the saying goes, if you let a camel’s head in the tent, pretty soon the whole camel is in the tent.
Nordstrom, Target, and other retailers have already been allowed to purchase banks, so why not Wal-Mart?
In another industry, Google may have its eyes on banking. The search giant already offers Google Checkout (a competitive move against PayPal), and rumors about Google Bank have been circulating for the past three or four years.
According to the Economist:
“Google is often compared to Microsoft*, but its evolution is actually closer to that of the banking industry. Just as financial institutions grew to become repositories of people’s money, and thus guardians of private information about their finances, Google is now turning into a custodian of a far wider and more intimate range of information about individuals.”
In other words, if Google Bank becomes a reality, it will have a depth and breadth of customer information that other banks can only dream of.
*Another potential competitor
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Posted by tombrzezina
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Welcome to Outside-In Banking, a blog for bank marketers and anyone else involved in financial services. I believe that many banks are way too internally focused for their own good, so I try to provide an outside-in perspective. Expect a lot of opinions, raves, rants, and unsolicited advice. I hope to get the same from you. 
