Humanizing bank brands.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH U.S. BANKS CONTINUES TO IMPROVE, according to the latest Retail Banking Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power and Associates. While this may be true, there is also evidence that American consumers still retain a lingering perception that many banks place corporate goals and shareholder desires above those of their customers. A recent poll, conducted by The Huffington Post in conjunction with YouGov, found that 61 percent of survey respondents believe that banks have become too big and too powerful.So, what are banks doing to change perceptions and regain customer confidence? For one thing, they are recognizing that while automated channels of banking have a place, they do not replace the human connection when it comes to building relationships. In addition to moving away from the dehumanized approach that "automation void of people" can foster, they are rebranding with a human approach.
Understanding why humanizing one's brand can help a bank build stronger customer relationships is important for banks of all sizes and regardless of how they may have ranked in any of the latest customer satisfaction surveys.
Let's look at how a bank goes about creating a humanized brand. We'll start with this question: What is a strong brand? A strong brand, according to the American Marketing Association, will:
* Communicate the bank's value proposition.
* Create a positive relationship with its market.
* Motivate prospective customers to use its products/services.
* Build institutional and product/service credibility.
* Instill loyalty.
By humanizing a brand, a bank adds some new elements to this definition. A humanized brand also:
* Lets customers know that they are valued as individuals and not cogs in a wheel.
* Demonstrates that the organization has built its culture and offerings around its customers' needs, rather than around the corporation's needs.
* Conveys that the bank understands that people buy from people--not companies.
* Removes the corporate feeling out of the corporation and replaces it with a human feeling.
When attempting to humanize a bank's brand, a strategic marketing firm will consider several factors and analyze them using a holistic approach. It will assess the bank's core values, corporate culture and environment. It will evaluate the bank's historical marketing within the context of an expanded, deeper understanding of its customers. This evaluation will take into account customer needs, banking experience and how customers feel about their banking experience.
The agency then steps into its branding "lab," where the research and development process begins. Customer insights are tested in conjunction with market research pertaining to bank customer behaviors and psychographics (i.e., attitudes about banking, saving, borrowing, values, interests and lifestyles). The objective is to gain a multi-dimensional understanding of the customer so that the brand can speak directly as a human would--and not as a business would.
Once this profile has been developed, it is merged with strategic marketing tactics and creative approaches designed to build the brand so that it will project on a human level with sincerity and credibility. The brand is then conveyed using the appropriate media for the target market profile. These vehicles include: print and broadcast advertisements, transportation display advertising (e.g., billboards, rail cards, bus stop posters, etc.), and collateral material (e.g., point of sale posters, brochures, pamphlets, etc.), website content, social media content, direct mai] and mobile applications.
While each of these marketing communications tools are different, they will share the common goal of relating to the intended audiences--the bank's customers and potential
Humanized Branding: Bank of America's 'Life's Better When We're Connected' Campaign
A 2012 Harris Interactive poll revealed that Bank of America's reputation suffered. considerably following the financial crisis. For this reason, the bank has a lot vested in its new "Life's Better When We're Connected" retail branding campaign. In the campaign, the bank places the spotlight on meeting the needs of its customers by promoting how Bank of America is making it easier to interact with the financial institution, both through enhanced technology, such as outfitting its branches with iPads and ATMs with videoconferencing capabilities, and improving the bank's website and mobile offerings.
That's not all. The bank is also emphasizing how it is trying to build better customer relations by making its customers feel more like humans. This approach came directly from Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, who recognized the importance of engaging with the customers on a more human level. customers--on a human level with such real emotions such as love, pride or joy, delivered in a manner of humor, sarcasm or the pull of heartstrings. Regardless of the creative concept, the humanized brand will communicate the message, either directly or in a subtle way, that the bank understands its customers as humans, cares about what they are feeling and is committed to meeting their needs.
A sample humanized brand
One recent example of a bank that has humanized its brand is TD Bank, Portland, Maine. Its "Bank Human Again" campaign was executed in memorable broadcast and print ads, as well as through its www.bankhumanagain.com microsite, which uses subtle humor to poke fun at and to differentiate itself from other banks while conveying its human side.
One spot shows a little girl and her morn entering a cavernous, sterile environment in an attempt to have her piggybank coins counted so she can purchase a dollhouse--only to hear a robotic, automated voice continually confuse this simple request with a home mortgage request. In another spot the robotic, automated voice admonishes a customer, "Stanley' for not walking through the roped-in maze leading to the tellers' station, despite the fact that there are no other customers in line--and then sends him back to the front of the bank for the deposit slip he needed.
TD Bank sends a brand message to the marketplace: Unlike some larger banks, our bank acts human and our bank treats our customers like humans. In each ad scenario, TD Bank also takes the opportunity to communicate how it differentiates from other banks ... how it humanizes its brand. In the case of the little girl looking to count her coins, the bank highlights its free coin-counting for customers. In the spot in which a customer struggles with a pen on a too-short chain, the bank conveys that its branches have free-range pens--not pens on chains.
On its microsite, TD Bank states, "At TD Bank, we're not like other banks. We work hard to create the best experience for you. That's why we're open later than other banks and open every weekend, too. We have free customer coin counting. You can even keep the pens. And we have dog biscuits for our four-legged guests--imagine that."
It ends this messaging with the statement, "That's what it means to bank human. That's what makes us America's Most Convenient Bank."
It's easy to get behind branding that feels like it's really connecting with people as humans, not simply as customers; and banks that convey a more human side through a humanized branding approach can expect to benefit in several ways. Humanized brands can serve to enhance the relationship with both existing customers and potential customers. Humanized brands also foster better communications with employees and organizational constituents, resulting in better morale, productivity and retention.
The recession may have ended in 2008, but consumer doubts concerning the trustworthiness of the banking industry lingers. One way to soften these prejudices and, at the same time, to help to differentiate your bank, is to "humanize" your brand and your brand advertising.
(Caption ) An overview of recent campaigns designed to improve and soften the image of financial institutions.
What are banks doing to change perceptions and regain customer confidence?
TD Bank sends a brand message: Unlike some larger banks, we act human and our bank treats our customers like humans.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHARLIE MACLEOD is president of SMM Advertising Inc., Smithtown, N.Y. Website: Smmadvertising.com.
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| Author: | Macleod, Charlie |
|---|---|
| Publication: | ABA Bank Marketing |
| Date: | Jul 1, 2014 |
| Words: | 1306 |
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