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Six Deadly Marketing Sins

BY STEVE CONE

Financial marketers need to get out of their rut to break through the market's clutter.

Financial institutions are wasting much of the money they throw into advertising and marketing. The remedy: get creative.

Billions and billions wasted. It’s time to stop.

No, not the subprime mess or related meltdowns in complex financial instruments. I am referring to the billions that banks waste in nondescript marketing programs that do nothing to move the revenue needle and reinforce the notion many bank CEOs have that marketing is voodoo at best and, at worst, a budget that can be slashed at the first sign of financial distress.

Consider this number: $40 billion. Forty billion dollars a month—yes, a month—is spent on advertising and promotion in America. That translates to some 3,000 ad messages a day that the average American is subjected to via print, television, radio, online and e-mail. Why should they pay attention to your institution’s message amid this avalanche of ads?

The challenge of “breaking through the clutter” is particularly difficult for the banking industry because of its aversion to launching cutting-edge promotions that are visually and verbally unexpected and that step outside the industry’s messaging norms. At my previous employer, Citigroup Inc., I saw ample evidence from consumer research that banks today are just not getting much response from their advertising and collateral materials. The reason for this lack of impact is what I call the “Six Deadly Sins of dead-on-arrival marketing.”

These are:

1. No standout, definitive brand promise that is summarized in a unique, long-standing tagline. Bank taglines change frequently and mostly consist of generalities that could apply to any company in any industry.
2. An avoidance of marketing messages with some personality and attitude.
3. The use of the same images over and over—most notoriously, couples happily contemplating their financial future while strolling along the seashore or playing with their grandchildren.
4. Print ads, posters and collateral material that employ small white reverse type that art directors love. The only problem: it’s unreadable.
5. No clear and compelling reason to respond to the product or service offer.
6. The illogical view that one print ad, one e-mail or one piece of direct mail is capable of gaining quick attention. The fact is, you need repeated, high-impact communication to build awareness.

My advice is to let your competition continue embracing these marketing sins while you create visually stimulating ads that break out from the pack. You can do this by using spokespeople who are not faceless and undifferentiated but rather project a real personality. Your own employees can fill this role or you can use local or national celebrities who have a true interest in your institution.

Other techniques include: tripling the type size you currently use and providing a clear benefit to responding to an ad. With all the stress in the financial world today, why add to it by wasting your precious marketing dollars? Nothing that is usual in marketing works anymore. Point in fact: it never did.