In this month’s edition of the Independent Banker, an award-winning monthly publication from the Independent Community Bankers of America, our very own Ken Greenberg, President & CEO of Austin & Williams, has a terrific article, entitled “It’s Not Just What You Say… It’s How You Say It: Your Community Bank Sends All Kinds of Communications to Its Customers. Find Out How To Get the Most Out of Every Single One.” The focus of the piece has to do with the present-day state of U.S. banking customers who feel a certain disconnect with their banks, and how this communicatory dilemma can largely be attributed to the disjointed marketing efforts on behalf of the banks:
“Forty percent of America’s consumers recently indicated they were considering a possible change to their current banking relationship. That’s according to a survey conducted last fall by the marketing research firm Nielsen Claritas, and it is an eye-opener for community bankers.
Even before the current financial markets crisis and related economic challenges erupted, many banking consumers apparently did not feel a strong connection with their financial institutions, according to a 2006 survey by IBM. That survey founded that 74 percent of U.S. banking customers believed the marketing materials their banks sent them were irrelevant to the products they use or the financial decisions they make.
No doubt, the close relationships community banks build with their customers are the envy of all other financial institutions in the marketplace today. The current troubles of the Wall Street financial institutions have only underscored this. But, while community banks consistently score much higher ratings in building strong customer relationships, consumer surveys routinely show that all banks could do a much better job marketing their products and services. This often has to do less with the nature of those products and services than with the effectiveness of communications about them and other bank communication—and that often is a function of a lack of good old-fashioned writing skills.”
Want to read more? Click here for the rest of the article and scroll over to page 41. Nice work, Ken!