Subject 1: 3 marketing mistakes that cost banks millions

Subject 2: How these 3 marketing myths are stealing your profits (and you’d never know it)

Subject 3: How to turn your marketing team into a profit center in 3 steps

I believe there are hundreds and thousands of ways to do any one thing—but there’s only ONE best way.

In this episode, I’ll show you how banks destroy their potential by violating little known yet powerful marketing principles.

If you’re the kind of leader who is thinking, I don’t even know any marketing principles to violate—I leave that to “other people”—you’re going to love this because you’re ultimately on the hook for the profit of the bank. Even if “marketing” isn’t in your title, you need to know what NOT to do, so that you don’t waste your shareholders’ money.

If, on the other hand, you are nailing it—you’re bringing in every one of your targeted Top 100 most profitable next customers, and you can’t close the business fast enough, and NOBODY asks you to match a rate, know that there’s even more for you so sit tight.

And if you think you know a few things—maybe you even had a marketing class back in college—you’ll be glad to know that there is a new approach to marketing that multiplies your ROI (and you can prove it).

It’s not all roses. There are some hurdles to overcome when you mess with marketing.

First, when you try to make changes, and you start cutting out things that have a negative ROI or can’t prove ROI, employees will jump all over your marketing team, thinking they’re not “doing anything” when, in fact, they’re doing what works.

Second, you may have a marketing team who has been doing their thing for decades, and they’re not excited when someone who comes from an econ or finance background tries to explain that you need different marketing to attract customers that will make the bank safer and more prosperous.

You may get the “how dare you” look. NOT THEIR FAULT—they were taught this way (hey, people used to believe the earth was flat—state of the art changes).

Third, the machinery is moving—the budget is in place. TV, radio, and newspaper contracts are signed, so changing something up is met with resistance from inside and outside.

Almost every bank has anywhere from one to all three of these issues.

I’m now going to give you some marketing principles that don’t work, and steps to rectify them so you can get some dramatically different results in a few short weeks.

Step 1: Go where the big fish are biting

Most marketing is so unfocused it’s like marketing to the lake when there is only one fishing hole where the profitable fish love to hang out. Stop using “new accounts” as the metric to prove marketing’s worth, and start tracking profit created by marketing. In most banks, 87% of accounts are unprofitable, so why would you ever want to measure a metric that misses the profit mark by so much?

Step 2: Forget “creative” marketing

Marketing is filled with well-meaning “creatives” who make up “creative” stuff. Instead of a creative team, why not build a “profit team” in marketing. One that’s focused on identifying, targeting, warming, and landing the few A+ clients who can double your profitability in a few years?

Sound crazy? It’s not even close. Most community banks’ Top 100 most profitable customers account for 50–120% of their profits. Yet, almost no one is using a laser-focused process to get more just like them. That’s certifiably crazy!

Step 3: Put down the shotgun and pick up a “marketing rifle”

Stop almost all marketing that’s not “one to one.” If it isn’t targeted to the prospect specifically, and they aren’t part of the small group of highly valuable prospects, stop it.

You’re wasting the shareholders’ money. Not nice. Again, don’t go blaming your marketing people—the marketing schools are STILL teaching this approach. Did you ever meet a marketing professor who had to do payroll and profits? That’s the problem.

Three steps—identify the fish where the most profitable customers are (and ignore the rest of the lake). Then, focus your team on targeting them and warming them. Finally, since you’re only really focusing on 100 of the very best prospects, you can give them some nice one-on-one attention.

Just make sure you have the BEST next 100—not the most recent inquirers.

By doing this, you can build safety and bring profits and sustainability to your bank. Since we’ve lost two-thirds of community banks over the last few decades, let’s make sure you get through the next 20 years by focusing on the few things that matter—and getting extraordinary at what you do.

Make sure you tune in next time where I’ll show you how to get everyone in the bank knowing that they are a marketer so that they all understand how they tie to profit every day.