Bankers and advisors will almost always tell whomever asks that their business is founded on solid customer relations. They’ll tell you emphatically that financial services is a customer relationship business. It’s founded on trust and the only way to truly trust someone is to know them personally. But the reality of the matter is that [...]
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We’ve all heard the old saying, “Home is where the heart is.” We often love our homes. Some of us swell with hometown pride. I think it’s part of our tribal notion of identity - a coping mechanism that lets us say, “I’m alright.” Underneath it all is our ego. Yes, [...]
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Posted in banking, branding, community, consumer behavior, consumer engagement, customer engagement, customer interaction, financial services, marketing, network, social network on Jun 1st, 2011
I moved 11 years of account history with Bank of America to a local Overland Park, Kansas bank with one branch location.
When I say local, I mean 20.69 miles from my home. Pretty big inconvenience for me, wouldn’t you say? Yes and no.
I’m a loyal customer to my new bank for a few different reasons. [...]
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I have conversations every day with bankers and financial advisors. A question I often ask is how they market themselves to acquire new customers. My favorite answer from them is, “we’re referral-based – we don’t use marketing.” And, tongue in cheek, I reply, “and how is that going for you?” because I know from published [...]
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Posted in banking, branding, consumer behavior, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, financial services, follower, imitation, individualized marketing, investment, leader, marketing, marketing budget, marketing innovation, personalized marketing, social marketing, social media, social network on Oct 18th, 2010
I talk to a lot of community bankers. They’re fascinating people. Just like anywhere else, no two are alike. Everyone has a unique story. The same is true of the banks they run. They’re all different with their own unique culture. Yet, they all seem to share a common problem with marketing differentiation. How can [...]
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I just got back from a short vacation house boating with my fraternity brothers. Had you asked any one of us 30 years ago if we could envision ourselves as old, fat, bald guys who float around together in a doublewide on a barge, you would have gotten a lot of laughs. Yet, we are [...]
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Posted in banking, branding, community, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, customer interaction, donor engagement, follower, fundraising, leader, marketing, network, social marketing, social network, spur communications on Jul 29th, 2010
I used to skydive. If you haven’t tried it, I recommend it. It’s fun. So when my son told me he and his friends were going skydiving I was O.K. with it. I checked out the airport and club behind his back just to make sure it was fine. After all I am his dad. [...]
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Posted in banking, community, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, customer interaction, donor engagement, financial services, follower, fundraising, individualized marketing, investment, lifecycle, marketing, network, non profit, personalized marketing, social marketing, social media, social network, twitter on Jul 27th, 2010
Frontline associates are often the most frequent point of human contact provided by an organization. I’m talking about folks like the teller at your bank and the undergrad working the alumni association telethon. They’re the tip of the spear, yet they are also among the least empowered in the organization. Their roles are viewed as [...]
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Posted in branding, community, consumer engagement, consumer generated content, consumer perception, customer engagement, customer interaction, follower, marketing, network, social branding, social marketing, social media, social network, twitter, web on Jul 19th, 2010
I spend a lot of time negotiating between two camps of clients — those who want to embrace social media and those who don’t. A lot has been written about the pros and cons for every business sector. The bottom line is it has been around longer than you think and isn’t going away any [...]
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Posted in branding, community, consumer behavior, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, customer interaction, customer relationship management, marketing, marketing innovation, network, seth godin, social branding, social marketing, social media, social network, transformation on Jul 14th, 2010
This is a simple, straightforward question. Is your first touch selfish? Is the first contact that you have with your prospects about you or about them? It’s surprising how many businesses only realize this is important when they are asked. Even then, some folks never get it.
In 1999, Seth Godin published Permission Marketing: turning strangers [...]
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