- a means of segmenting and storing information that enables you to track all contacts
with each important individual ...which typically implies a tight link to a Customer
Relationship Management system (CRM), such as salesforce.com - a content management system (CMS) that makes it simple to post those frequent
changes to rates, promotions, community news, etc.
(For more on website best practices, download our white papers Elements of Usability and
Rules of Web Engagement.) If your website is a template-driven affair done by your online application provider, chances
are good that it won’t be up to this online marketing challenge. If it was built by your
President’s neighbor’s son based on an introductory Web design course, the odds are nearly
100% that it won’t be. What you need is a site developed by a professional Web
design/marketing firm that understands your business and shares your passion for results.
(We’ll return later to discuss finding such a firm.) With a high-quality, effective website available, you’ll need to make sure it can be readily
found amid the Web’s clutter ...and that involves search engine optimization (SEO). It may
sound like voodoo, and specialized knowledge certainly helps; but simply put, SEO attempts
to optimally mate your content (plus some technical features of your web pages) with both the
likely search behavior of your desired visitors and the known behavior of search engines such
as Google. Now you’re in position to plan and execute a campaign to attract those large-bank customers
to your website and institution. Obviously the specifics of such a plan are solely yours to
decide, but we suggest it should include most of the following elements: Pay per click (PPC) and banner advertising – Notwithstanding the importance of SEO
(above), it’s not wise to depend on it alone to drive traffic to your site. With PPC: don’t just buy the keywords people would use in looking for another bank; try
buying some that would apply to related items (business/office services; concierge;
accounting; telephony; etc.). If finding a replacement bank is in the back of the searcher’s
mind, he might just click over to your site; and if he does, he’s interested enough that you
should be happy to pay for the click. (Oh... and anyone looking for a personal concierge is
most likely someone whose banking business you want!) For banner ads: in addition to the usual local directory sites, try negotiating to place your
ads on the websites of the area country club; the racquet/exercise club; the Lexus,
Mercedes and BMW dealerships; the leading law firm. (By working top-down,
demographically speaking, you stand to pick up some heavy “influencers” early on, who
can be useful in some of the referral-based campaign elements down the road.) << previous | next >>
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