To save you from unpleasant surprises we listed five typical challenges that come when implementing a digital marketing campaign for banking and the best ways to resolve them.
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Challenge #1: setting priorities
The 2017 Retail Banking Trends and Prediction Report sponsored by Kony Inc. surveyed over 500 banks worldwide. Despite the wide variance in location, culture and assets, the replies were surprisingly consistent: 71% wished to improve the customer digital experience, 50% wanted to enhance data analytical capacities and 41% wanted to reduce costs.
The Digital Banking Report of March 2016 established that most institutions define themselves in the emerging phase of delivering personalized services and some even admitted that they had no plans of providing further solutions to their customers.
Success with a digital marketing campaign requires understanding oneself, first and foremost. So the first step in any successful digital marketing campaign has to be to set clear priorities.
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Challenge #2: knowing available research information
Analyzing oneself vis-a-vis market research information allows one to identify areas of optimization and new directions. Each institution has to have tools to analyze and apply the available research to its individual experience and aspirations. It also needs the right quality personnel and ability to make strategic sense of the market search data. These can be in-house or outsourced.
The next stage should not be just focused on the desired results. The goals have to be rational and achievable within the limitations, the aspirations and objectives of the institution. To that purpose, the institution has to know its market, its competitors and, above all, know itself.
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Challenge #3: planning adequately
Proper planning takes:
- Time, often as much time as the actual execution.
- Discipline, foresight and honesty about what your institution wants to achieve, about why you have failed to achieve it in the past, about your ability to commit resources, men, money, time, to the goals.
- Well-defined objectives and milestones that allow progress to be measured.
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Challenge #4: being flexible
A digital marketing campaign, once underway, implies implementing priorities, goals and strategies in real time, dealing with real situations and real people. This means that it needs to be constantly monitored, not only for fulfilment of the work plan but also for the fulfilment of the milestones in order to achieve success. Monitoring campaign analytics on a constant basis as the project progresses allows for adjustments and optimizations as situations arise. This does not mean changing course every time something blips. Instead, it means:
- Providing constant oversight.
- Thoroughly analyzing results on the march.
- Undertaking maintenance.
- Making changes and adjustments as the campaign progresses.
Always within the whole picture of the stated goals of the original plan but without being so married to that plan that effective changes cannot be made in a timely manner and when they are most needed.
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Challenge #5: trying not to misjudge your market
Survey after survey shows clearly that consumers are no longer willing to tolerate poorly-targeted or misdirected marketing campaigns by their banks and are instead willing to engage if targeted correctly. Customers are increasingly aware of the value of their data for the banks. 40% of banks and financial institutions now see effective digitized cross-selling of services and products as a top priority. Since customer preferences are pushing these changes, more customer insight means a better ability to develop such services in a more personalized way.
The Digital Banking Report of March 2016 established that consumers of all ages now expect digitized, personalized online banking services. Millennials, inevitably, are the ones who use digital services the most, with at least 43,6% doing so weekly. At the same time, consumers want personalized services to protect their identity and information, showing a certain reticence over the banks sharing their information, unless it leads to improved services or some sort of reward in terms of discounts or cheaper services that they frequently use.
Implementing a digital marketing campaign for a bank implicates a lot of work. But the outcome is worth the effort. We really hope our list helps you in such a challenging endeavour.
So, to face all these challenges, we created a full marketing automation platform specially created for finantial services.
Prisma Campaigns offers everything you need to run a successful strategy. Do you want to know more about it?
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