Award-winning branding expert Rachel Scott shares her insights into what financial institutions most often miss when it comes to their brand.
The topic of branding has seen a resurgence of media attention in 2020, and with good reason. Consumer and business needs are changing. Your brand and how you express it is what connect your values to the values of your target market, but when was the last time you evaluated it? Or talked about it as a strategic asset?
Over years of working with financial institutions to help them unlock the potential of their brands, we've seen some of the same things consistently underutilized or even left off the table completely. When given priority; however, these things have transformative powers to strengthen relationships not only with customers, but also with employees. To get the most out of your brand and to turn it into a tool to drive growth, consider the following:
Recent studies show 71% of people prefer brands that align to their values. When we conduct research for our clients and ask their customers what keeps them coming back year after year, through various life milestones, it's because they feel a connection. A shared sense of purpose, priority and humanity. There are typically single moments that solidified those feelings. Great news!
But those single moments came AFTER becoming a customer. The rest of the market, those who aren't your customer yet, don't see it. How is that possible? What happens in many cases is that what the rest of the market sees is a website full of product information that focuses on facts and rates and what you offer, a building that blends into the surrounding environment, and stock footage of beautiful families, cars and pristine homes in advertisements. They don't see themselves.
They see what you want FROM them, not what you are giving TO them.
Do you want someone, arguably anyone, to take out a mortgage loan? Or do you want to provide a young family with stability & certainty? Do you want someone to open a checking account or are you giving them a chance to rebuild their credit? While the expression of that is most often nuanced in messaging and marketing pieces, the foundation of it starts within. How do your employees talk about what you do and why you do it? In most cases, the clients we work with have a strong sense of these values from the top of the organization on down, they just need to share it.