How To Advertise Your Bank Successfully
There are many ways you can advertise your bank successfully. Not only that, but you also need to know how to do so. Of course, there are many tips and theories that people will give you, but do they work? If followed correctly, these steps will help you advertise your bank well, and here are a few examples to help show you how they do work. From knowing how to market your advertisements to the right audience to creating the right adverts for that audience, these examples will show you how these tips will help you to advertise your bank successfully.
1- Market To Target Audience
When it comes to marketing target audiences, you’d think that marketing to anyone between the ages 18-55 is one of the best ways a bank can market their services, but this can be detrimental to your bank. Why? Because your services may not meet the needs of everyone you market to. The best way to increase your customer base is by marketing your bank to the right customers. Look at the advertising of Chase Bank, in the UK, in 2021, for example.
Within a year Chase received 1 million customers, since opening their very first digital banking platform, in the UK. How did they do this? First off, right off the bat, they introduced services that appealed to customers, from 24/7 customer support to reward programmes like a free current account, 1% cashback, and a 5% interest on round-ups, so customers can save more. Not only that, but by partnering up with good causes, like the National Literacy Trust, they’ve shown that their focus is on helping their customers save money and supporting them with things like improving access to books and education for children. So, by marketing their bank to their primary target audience they’ve successfully advertised their bank.
2- Use Targeted Keywords
One of the best ways a bank can be found is through searches online. After all, banks are now on phones, and on apps. So, who would need to walk into a physical bank? So, to help expose banks to their target audiences, they need to target keywords that their potential customers will use. One of the best examples of a bank, or neobank, who uses this well this is Revolut.
For the most part, Revolut targets branded keywords, particularly those of their competition, like Monzo. Essentially, they will pay to advertise their own name, under those of their competitors. It’s an aggressive move, but it does expose the brand’s name to a wider audience, especially to those who are looking for services that are similar to what they already do, like having wallets in different currencies, so their cards can be used abroad. So, by targeting keywords and branded keywords, they’re essentially piggybacking off customers’ searches.
3- Keep Up With The Trends
There are many reasons why having a long and established bank is a good thing, but if you’re not keeping up with the latest trends, many young people may not want to join your bank. This can be a big problem for established banks, because while their values are in the traditions they’ve brought up amongst their customer base, it doesn’t mean that those values will resonate with younger potentials. This was a problem that HSBC faced for a while.
So, what did HSBC do to get out of their slump? They began to target audiences in demographics that felt largely ignored: millennials. They created new services and launched advertising campaigns to prove they were listening to them. In 2021, HSBC launched an advert that addressed all the issues that many millennials were concerned about, such as sustainability, equal opportunities and tackling “borders”, as their slogan for that year was “Opening up a world of opportunity”, which entice millennials, who are at a point in their lives, where they’re looking for their next big opportunity.
4- Use Your Current Customers’ Voices
Interactivity is part of the game, nowadays, because if your customers don’t see that you’re interacting with them, they may feel like your bank is another corporation that doesn’t understand what empathy is. Over the years, technology has made people feel more isolated, despite the connectivity it offers, especially after the pandemic lockdowns, where people could only stay at home. So, by interacting with customers, and even showing their stories, a bank can prove that they value their customers.
Take Nationwide UK, for example. Their advertising campaign consisted of homemade videos, by their customers telling their stories. These aren’t elaborate videos, with high production values, in fact, these videos were made using phone cameras, and with their customers simply talking into it. This is a very powerful move, because not only did it connect their audiences to their customers, but it gave the bank a more empathetic approach, especially during the pandemic, where many people were losing their jobs, and worrying about their homes and businesses. It showed that they understood their customers’ worries, and they were standing in solidarity with them.
5- Motivate Your Customers
It’s all well and good, when you show an advert on TV, and it may have that “Wow” factor that you’re looking for, but these adverts are passive. They may not be motivational enough for your audience to be attracted to your bank. Simply showcasing the services, you offer, may not be enough. Sometimes, speaking directly to your audience’s concerns may be the motivation your campaign needs, like with Natwest.
Many people find it difficult to save for the things they want most, such as starting their own businesses, or getting those high-end shoes that they’d been dreaming about for a while. This is the concern that Natwest addressed, in their latest advertising campaign. In fact, at the heart of the campaign is the slogan “Tomorrow starts today”, which motivates customers to do the things they’ve put off, because they didn’t have the time, energy, money, etc. So, by tackling the heart of the matter, they literally motivate their potential customers to start saving, with them.
