email marketing

If you oversee the marketing or sales for a bank or credit union, you’ve probably placed your fair share of ads in local newspapers, had some promotions on the local radio show, and launched a fabulous Facebook page. Hopefully, you’ve gotten some feedback, adjusted your strategy, and carried on. One marketing avenue you might have overlooked is the quiet, simple, inexpensive, humble email.

It’s true that email marketing sometimes gets a bad rap – Many are afraid of clogging their client’s inbox, being lost in a sea of spam, or getting an “opt out” notification. Fortunately, there’s a solution – Send emails that aren’t all about selling. Instead, focus on building trust, showing expertise, enhancing reputation, sharing great information, and being useful to your customers. Sneak in a subtle call to action here and there by all means, and you’ll find it effective. That’s why “Email Drip Campaigns” work really well for banks, credit unions, and financial institutions.

Why email drip campaigns work

Email drip campaigns are more successful than standard email campaigns because they’re not directly selling something. People are put off by overly “salesy” messages, so drip campaigns avoid them. An email drip campaign will:

• Share genuinely useful information with your customers and potential customers.
• Reinforce the name and brand of your bank or credit union with your customers.
• Show that you understand the needs of people who may require your services.
• Alert people to news, information and other content that could be useful to them.

1. A customer or potential customer provides you with their email address, and agrees to get emails from you.
2. You create a strategy for sharing useful banking and financial information with email recipients and create a series of emails.
3. You send out emails on a periodic basis according to your strategy and timetable.
4. Customers and potential customers read these emails and choose to act on them.

We call these “drip campaigns” because they’re designed to work over time — A slow reinforcement of your bank’s brand, expertise, and authority showing how you can help out your personal and business customers.

The type of information your bank could share

Here are some examples of the type of content that does well in email drip campaigns:

• Simple advice on household budgeting and how to make money go further.
• Financial planning for vacations and special events, especially at seasonal times of the year.
• Clear information on investments and how customers can start making their money work for them.
• Information on the housing market in your local area and whether it’s a good time to buy or sell.
• Explanations of good money management, including credit and debt.
• Business centric articles on succession planning, the economy, company culture, and more.
• Advising people on savings, insurance, and other key areas.

Of course, you can mention your products and services in these emails, but that’s not the point of sending them out. Instead, you’re providing genuinely useful, actionable information to help your customers make better decisions. As a result, they’ll trust you more, and people simply prefer doing business with organizations they trust.

The information you provide doesn’t need to be limited to your emails either. You could have a blog on your website that the email links through too, and where you expand on key information. That also has the benefit of “search engine optimization,” meaning the content could show when people search online.

If you want to learn how to create an affordable lead generating magnet for your bank or credit union – why not give us a call? It’s what we do – We’re lead generating machines here at the Red Barn.