Correspondent Blog

When it comes to deposit gathering, the first quarter of any year is critical. If you need deposits and don’t have an active tax refund deposit effort every year, then you are missing out on one of the most effective deposit gathering tactics in banking. Tax refunds are just starting to hit this week and…

No matter what you think of NY Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s politics, his campaign is worth studying for bank marketing lessons. Bank marketing has entered a new phase, and many institutions are not ready for it. For decades, banks have relied on a familiar playbook: website, emails, branch signage, events, sponsorships, and the occasional brand refresh….

When it comes to bank marketing, there is usually a good time and a bad time to market bank products. Marketing during December, for example, is expensive and 40x harder to convert customers compared to September. Marketing savings, money market, or certificate of deposit accounts during tax time is a good move, while marketing treasury…

As you considering strategic initiatives for next year, one initiative to consider is to make the bank more AI friendly. The digital landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. Traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is no longer sufficient in an era dominated by generative AI. For bank executives, understanding and implementing “Generative Engine Optimization” (GEO) is…

As of last month, 68% of iPhone users were running iOS 18 or higher and 92% of Android users are running their 5.0 iOS or higher. This means that thanks to recent Apple upgrades in their operating system, most phones are now capable of receiving Rich Communication Services (RCS) messages in addition to traditional SMS….

Last week, we covered the first two steps in using AI-driven marketing data to uncover the customer’s intent. (HERE). This week, we discuss the last two steps and show how generative AI is the new major change in bank marketing when it comes to becoming much more effective at leveraging customer intent. Interpreting topic models…

If you are conducting bank strategy or marketing around demographic information, at best you are being lazy and ineffective. At worst, you are being sexist, ageist and a bunch of other names that can hurt your culture and reputation while wasting your marketing budget. In this age of data, getting to the Holy Grail of…

A survey from the CFA Institute caught our attention on why wealth management clients leave. 47% of the respondents said they left because of the poor portfolio performance. That makes sense. But, do you know what the second highest reason for leaving your wealth manager was? Communication. 43% of the respondents left because of the…

For inspiration in banking innovation, we often look to other industries. Honkook Kim and his Gentle Monster Brand is a perfect example. With financial hardship, competition from dominant players, and a startup budget, Gentle Monster faced many of the same challenges as a community bank. Instead of thinking traditionally, Gentle Monster pursued a strategy of…

In banking, there is often a discussion about “who are our best customers?” Some banks rank customers against current profitability, others against lifetime profitability, and some use a technique called “RFM,” which stands for “Recency,” “Frequency,” and “Monetary.” This article explores the methodology and shows you what this analysis means for a typical bank. How…

If you want to know if your bank has an alignment problem, ask ten co-workers, ”What is your bank’s brand value proposition? If 80% or more say close to the same thing – that is fantastic, and you are likely in the top 1% of bank performance. If 60% of your co-workers say the same…

Last week, the American Banking Association (ABA) held its annual Bank Marketing Conference in Denver, receiving rave reviews. The theme was – developing your marketing superpowers. Amid the brewery networking, superhero costumes, and fun, some fantastic bank marketing lessons were had, and not just for bank marketers. The theme was how marketing needs to be…