When you think of community bank or credit union marketing, think ABM.
ABM, or “Always Be Marketing,” should be one of the primary rules you live by when promoting your community financial institution. Marketing can’t be a dial you turn on sometimes and off other times. Fickle promotion is ineffective promotion.
But boy is fickle promotion appealing…it sounds like a quick way to save money and time when faced with economic or staffing challenges. Chances are, curtailing marketing will cause more problems than it solves.
Here’s a guide explaining why and how to ABM at your community financial institution.
The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease
Your community bank or credit union marketing competes with everyone else’s marketing. That’s right…not just other financial institutions, but any organization marketing to consumers. The University of Southern California’s research shows people view 5,000 ads a day.
If you intermittently shut down or decrease your marketing, you won’t penetrate this tidal wave of promotions. You must market more and market non-stop to get in front of consumers.
The squeaky wheel really does get the grease.
Your noisiest and most consistent competitors are getting business simply because they follow the ABM principle. Consumers see their marketing multiple times, and they think, “that institution must be successful and well-established.” It might not be true. But that’s what consumers think.
In psychology, this is known as the mere exposure effect. You like something better simply because you see it more.
Turn your institution into the squeaky wheel and take advantage of the mere exposure effect. Stop ceding the advantage to your competition because you don’t market constantly.
Methods Suited to Constant Marketing
Ok, the ABM rule works. But how do you do it easily and effectively?
There are marketing methods conveniently suited to the ABM model. You still must put in the work of course, but their nature conforms well to community bank or credit union marketing constancy.
A few of those methods are:
- Blogs – Regular blog releases give consumers a reason to return to the site. It also gives SEO crawlers a reason to regularly index the site, attracting new people asking questions on Google. Blogs easily fit into a weekly or biweekly schedule.
- Social Media – Nearly everyone has (or should have) social media accounts nowadays. But many community financial institutions fail to employ the ABM model on social media. In other words, institutions tend to post inconsistently. Platform analytics don’t promote your organization if you don’t “feed the beast.” Post at least two-to-three times a week and gain traction to get noticed.
- Videos – Use video on your website, social media or YouTube channel with a consistent release schedule to sway consumers. One excellent piece of video content is great, but it’s not enough. You impressed consumers and now they want more. Failure to deliver regularly causes disappointment.
Last (but not least), give people an idea of what to expect. Tell them in advance if they get something every week, two weeks or month. That way, they’ll always tune in as you practice ABM.
Enlisting an ABM Team
Is your team prepared for ABM? Many teams aren’t ready.
You must consider if your community bank or credit union marketing folks have enough resources to pull constancy off. And as already mentioned, it’s vital you do pull it off. More staff or a higher budget may be the sacrifice for ABM, but it’s a worthy sacrifice.
Don’t worry if you discover you need some outside help. Outsourcing marketing to an expert team is often cheaper than hiring full-time employees while still granting you the results you want.
Are you ready to implement the ABM rule? On The Mark Strategies’ community bank and credit union marketing partnerships ensure your marketing stays constant and at the forefront of consumers’ minds.
Book a free consultation now.
