Bank Marketing Strategy
How do banks advertise their products effectively, especially during these tough times? It might seem tricky since there are so many ways to advertise your brand. Regardless of what methods you use, make sure they invoke emotion in your prospects and follow basic themes.
Even the best banking advertising ideas follow certain guidelines like conveying trust, humanizing the brand, and explaining key features/benefits. This guide will show you the fundamental bank marketing framework to keep in mind with every campaign.
Basic Financial Services Advertising Guidelines
1. Trust
The best bank advertisement examples always appear trustworthy. Unfortunately, the financial services industry has seen many scandals ranging from Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the Enron scandal, and Wells Fargo’s unethical sales practices. All of these scandals destroyed reputations, businesses, and hurt many people financially.
Some ways to establish trust include having ads with people accomplishing goals due to your products and services. For example, SoFi has an ad that shows a happy couple dancing in their new home, made possible by their mortgage.
2. Relatable
92% of millennials don’t trust banks, so your message must be relatable to capture this audience’s attention. One way to do this is to show how your products and services help them transition during tough life events. For example, you could have a student loan refinancing ad showing a happy millennial who is much closer to being debt-free.
3. Creative
Many standard bank advertising pieces have similar copy and creatives. Your brand can rise above this by having creative and clever ads. For instance, you can show the benefits that your program like credit card cashback rewards can offer.
This ad by Visa shows the card as a money-printing machine due to its lucrative cashback program.
4. Tech-savvy And Human
It’s crucial that your brand incorporates cutting edge tech like secure mobile apps, easy online account opening options, and even Robo advisors. One sample ad could show the strength of your online payment processes and mobile check deposits. Simultaneously, ensure that the ad enforces that your tech is backed by your caring, competent, employees.
Importance of Ad Messaging Relevance
Not only do your best bank advertising ideas need to follow the above trends, but they must be relevant. Per the media measurement firm, DoubleVerify, 44% of consumers will try a new product if they see a relevant ad. One way to accomplish this is to know your audience.
Usually, younger generations prefer ads on social media, while older generations are more likely to see them on television. Tailoring your bank advertisement examples to these audiences and platforms can help you attract new business.
Due to Covid19 and social distancing, the average consumer spends roughly 6 hours engaging with content up from 3 hours before the pandemic. 69% of consumers also agree that context is more important than content.
Before executing your best bank advertising ideas, ensure that you have researched appropriate audiences, placements, and context.
How To Find Competitor Ads To Inspire Your Own Ideas
Facebook and LinkedIn are some of the more popular social media channels for bank advertising. With the average social media budget being $200 to $350 per day, this shows that many businesses see ROI in social media advertising.
Facebook ads can be used to hone in on target audiences, which help you gain more clients. You can also use advanced strategies like lookalike audience targeting and also customer match which allows you to target an uploaded list of existing customers with Facebook Ads.
You can use the Facebook Ad library to see what types of ads certain companies have run in the past. While you won’t see every detail like ad spend or conversion rates, you’ll be able to see creatives, impressions, and ad placement.
LinkedIn is a business to business platform that has a lesser-known, but potentially powerful ad platform. LinkedIn ads are best if you want to reach business owners, corporations, and other professionals.
To see your competitors’ ads on LinkedIn, just go to the business’s LinkedIn page and click the ads tab. Again, you won’t see detailed metrics, but be sure to study the calls to action (CTAs), hashtags, product offerings, and targeted copy. If your competitors don’t have ads, seize this opportunity to gain more exposure without competing for ad space.
SEMrush
SEMrush is a popular SEO tool that you can use to analyze backlinks, do keyword research, and of course, conduct competitor research. Its competitive research tools let you see how much your rivals are spending on Google ads and what keywords they’re bidding on.
You can also see live examples of current competitor ads, which will help you tailor your own ad copy. This tool is best used for analyzing your competitors’ Google search or text-based ads.
How To Find Graphic Designers For Ad Creatives
The ad copy is just one aspect of standard bank advertisement examples since the creative (image, multiple images, or videos) truly entice visitors to click. Humans process visual marketing like videos and images, 60,000 times quicker than text.
If you want to work with reliable, competent graphic designers without having an in-house design team, consider a subscription service like Penji or a freelance marketplace like Upwork. Penji is best if you need consistent graphic design work while Upsource is ideal for one-off projects.
4 Standard Bank Advertising Themes
Emotion
Humans claim to be rational, but we are driven by emotions. Famous psychologist Abraham Maslow created the Maslows’ hierarchy of human needs to explain this.
Many of these needs deal with emotions like love, feeling accomplished, and having a sense of security. One of the easiest ways to invoke love or the need to belong is to have ads with smiling families enjoying time together.
Brand
Brand advertising uses simple images and logos to build long term relationships. Simplicity will help your clients and prospects recognize your company, building brand loyalty. One slogan, like Nike’s “just do it”, can make a lasting connection.
It’s also wise to ensure your logo fits your brand. Citibank’s logo is appropriate because its simple logo conveys stability. Conversely, Hasbro’s quirky logo would be too playful for a financial brand.
Humor
Using humor is a great way to engage your audience and make your company seem relatable. It can also humanize your brand and show that you understand your prospects’ pain points. Humor can be good, but overused jokes can become stale, resulting in doing more harm than good.
Features/Benefits
It’s important to list the key features of your offerings. However, the best bank advertisement examples convey benefits, not just features. So, a mobile app might be a feature, but the benefit would be letting you save time by banking on the go, anytime and anywhere.
How Do Banks Design Their Ads For Specific Products?
Each bank or credit union product is different. For example, mortgages, business loans, mobile banking apps and savings accounts all have unique purposes. Therefore, be sure to capture these distinctive features in each of your best bank advertising ideas.
Below, you’ll find some bank advertisement examples for savings accounts, mortgages, business loans, and mobile banking apps.
Savings Accounts
The best savings accounts pay customers a reasonable rate of interest, preferably 1% or greater. Ally bank, a 100% remote bank, emphasizes that most savings accounts pay a dismal .01%. The ad below instills uncertainty as its viewers know they can’t grow their funds with minimal interest rates.
Mortgage Lending
A home can invoke feelings of security and stability. One type of mortgage loan is the VA loan, which is meant for active duty and retired military along with their relatives. The below ad shows a uniformed military couple with their son. This enforces stability and belonging which many military members, especially ones coming back from deployment, desire.
Business Loans
Many business owners have big dreams of scaling their small start up into a large, successful corporation. The right business financing programs can help entrepreneurs accomplish this dream. The best bank advertising ideas for business solutions, including the one below, feed into this principle by encouraging entrepreneurs to think big.
Mobile & Online Banking
As mentioned earlier, mobile banking, especially check deposit, can help your company acquire more clients. The below ad conveys simplicity, which is one of the largest benefits that mobile check deposits offer. This ad also shows that you don’t have to be tech savvy to take advantage of this perk.
Bottom Line
There are many channels for bank advertising, which can be overwhelming at times. Since there are so many options, it can become easy to not be aware of which bank advertisement examples to follow.
Regardless of your offering, it must be trustworthy, relevant, and inspire positive emotions among your target markets.
Need some help implementing your best bank advertising ideas? Let’s start a conversation!
