The COVID-19 pandemic may have slowed down the economy, but it didn’t deter the public’s reliance on their financial institutions. A Cornerstone Advisors’ study in Forbes discovered that even as businesses locked down, the number of checking account applications submitted online and on mobile during Q2 of 2020 increased 59% percent from Q1. Consumers opened 65% more secondary checking accounts, too.

As more customers rely on digital channels, community banks and credit unions need to have a sound digital marketing strategy in place to compete with online and national financial institutions. This week’s blog examines the three T’s you’ll need for your bank website to succeed in the digital marketing arena: appropriate tactics, an experienced team, and the right tools.

 

Tactics

In the advertising world, tactics are the methods you use to achieve your marketing strategy. Digital tactics come in all forms. As your primary digital channel, your bank website should be the foundation of your online marketing strategy.

Start with developing solid content and sound search engine optimization (SEO) to attract your target audience. This might include creating downloadable eBooks or whitepapers or linking to external sources to educate your customers about financial topics. Landing pages can direct a customer visit toward taking a specific action instead of your customer navigating through your entire website to find the information they need.

Once you optimize your website for customer experience, consider other digital channels that might drive customers to your site, such as email marketing and online advertising. Your social media accounts and blog are additional methods. Whatever methods you use, measure their performance so you can assess how well they achieve your marketing goals.

 

Team

Your digital marketing tactics are only as good as the team that manages them. If you’re a community bank or credit union with a limited budget, you might be tempted to hire one person to do it all. However, you’ll best be served by individuals with specific expertise in copywriting, content writing, SEO, graphic design, web development, data analytics, and social media management.

If you’re unable to have a full-time internal team, a digital marketing company can be your one-stop shop for these services. Another alternative is having a marketing manager on staff who can coordinate and outsource specific tasks to independent contractors and freelancers. Whether you have an entire department or one employee, you must have someone whose sole focus is planning and monitoring your digital marketing strategy.

 

Tools

Finally, your team can’t execute your bank’s digital marketing strategy without the appropriate tools. With your bank website being the foundation of your digital marketing strategy, this starts with selecting a web hosting service that has the software and hardware necessary to meet performance, reliability, and security standards. This includes a user-friendly content management system that will allow you to update your bank website easily.

If you’re lucky enough to have an in-house team, you’ll need to purchase the proper software and licenses for them to do their jobs. The team will need high-end graphic and video editing software to create original content. If you’re unable to supply original photography, you should also invest in a quality stock image subscription.

Finally, you’ll need tools to analyze the data gathered from your bank website. For instance, Google Analytics generates reports on how your customers reach your website and their behavior and actions during the session. By measuring the performance of your digital tactics, you can plan your future marketing strategy.

 

Final Words

Creating and implementing a digital marketing strategy for your bank or credit union is simple when you have the right tactics, team, and tools in place. BankSITE® Services can make the job even easier for you.

By hosting your bank website with us, you get an easy-to-use content management system that allows you to create original content, landing pages, and blogs. Our web developers are also able to install the proper code on the backend that will allow you to use Google Analytics to generate data about customer behavior on your site. Contact us to discover how teaming up with us can help you achieve your digital marketing goals.