Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Low Cost Marketing Ideas For Bank

Posted by Anonymous on 6/9/2010 at 8:58 AM ET 125 Points
Recently our small community bank has developed a new brand and tagline, "Comfort Banking." We have a very small budget, and are unable to purchase much advertising or expensive promotional gifts. What are some creative ideas that we can use for marketing our new brand? Many of our employees make daily sales calls to area businesses, and we are tired of handing out mugs filled with candy. Help!!
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  • Posted by Gail@PUBLISIDE on 6/9/2010 at 10:01 AM Member
    The old "rinse-repeat" applies here. Use your new tagline on everything including (and especially) the home page of your website (bold and at the top near the navigation buttons), anything you mail and community activities you support (use signage and handouts).

    Use space in and outside your bank to hang a banner with the tagline so that everyone who drives past and walks in gets the tagline into their consciousnesses.
  • Posted by DougO on 6/9/2010 at 10:14 AM Member
    Sounds like you will continue to rely upon your employees to serve as your brand/advertising effort. So you may want to consider creating an inexpensive sales call leave-behind that gets noticed while reinforcing your brand.

    Think of leave-behinds that communicate "comfort". What about a simple gift bag that includes "comfort food"? Such as an easy 30-minute preparation dinner that includes dried and/or canned/bottled ingredients.
    Produce a greeting card that 1.) thanks the business for its time/consideration 2.) connects this comfort food dinner with your comfort banking 3.) provides a space for your employee to adhere his/her business card.

    The cost may be the same or less than the cost of a logo ID'd mug that may make you stand out from the other mugs out there. A creative leave-behind that is interesting and memorable.

    The package could either be a leave-behind or a pre-sales call introduction. A gift of comfort food will most certainly warm up the phone for you when you make the next call on that prospect.

    Doug O'Leary
    RDO Marketing, LLC
  • Posted by cef4 on 6/12/2010 at 1:43 PM Member
    Steve had a good suggestion, but take it one step further. Print onto a stack of $1.00 bills with a rubber stamp. Print a message like, "Return this dollar to our bank and use it to open your new savings account and we will (waive normal fee, add $10 to your new account, ect.)

    Have employees pass out $1.00 bills to people they meet on the street...

    A call to the local newspaper telling them that some guy/gal is standing on the street corner handing out $1 bills is priceless advertising.
  • Posted on 6/16/2010 at 9:54 PM Accepted
    Perhaps something very visible and unusual would work.

    Get a couple of big, comfy recliners and put them in a couple of locations in the downtown area in public places (e.g. parks, areas with public seating or benches) or, after asking permission, in outdoor cafe areas or outside businesses with extra sidewalk selling space out front. (Remember, you don't want the local constabulary to summons you for blocking public walkways or private businesses to send their security out to remove you!)

    Place a sign that says "Enjoy Comfort Banking" with a side table filled with collateral materials, and have an employee in one recliner to encourage people to "sit a spell and rest" in the other. The employee should be an out-going, personable type with a big button that says "FREE answers to your banking questions!" I'd suggest the old dark suit and banker's power tie look, to carry the "banking theme" through. (A thought: place your bank's CEO in the chair at some point and get some good photos of him/her talking with people off the street for media coverage use.)

    The primary idea is to indicate "comfort" and the ease of getting advice and assistance from your institution. You'd want an employee at the site to ensure nothing untoward happens, to answer questions, and get information for follow-up.

    The incongruity of an official banker-type, sitting in a recliner in public, offering to answer questions about banking to anyone who comes along, will demonstrate: 1. the ease in which customers can talk to the bank, 2. the willingness of the bank to "go out to their customers", and 3. the fact that you're willing to be a bit "out there" to get your message across.

    Of course, cups of appropriate "trinkets and trash" can still be handed out to those who stop by.
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