Independent Banker - December 2019 - 23

Next: Were Kevin Tweddle's 2019 predictions realized?
as with prospective customers who currently bank elsewhere.
For example, Gemmill could input all of the competing
banks within a given radius, and whenever a consumer he is
targeting enters a competitor branch, MainStreet Bank's ad
would pop up on their phone.
" To visualize this, let's say Mr. Smith wants a home equity
loan, " Gemmill says. " Mr. Smith Googles 'home equity loans
near me,' and voilà! His interest in home equity loans is now
public [in the form of an IP address], and I send him an ad
to appear on his cell phone that offers a better rate than my
competition, and I even include directions to my branch. "
He believes taking the time to switch banks is not necessarily
a priority for most people, so the best long-term strategy
is to stay visible. " There will come a time when a person
requires a solution their current bank can't provide, " he says,
" and I want MainStreet Bank to be at the forefront of mind. "
MainStreet Bank uses geofencing to target individuals
before, during and after local events that it sponsors,
enabling the bank " to reinforce its sponsorship investment
and to increase the likelihood for a better return on the
investment, " Gemmill says.
As with any marketing campaign, it's imperative to evaluate
a geofencing initiative by tracking results. For example,
Gemmill can track a given phone's GPS
signal and IP address and know if the
phone's owner has visited his bank's
website or one of its branches.
" It all begins with proper planning,
messaging, timing, awareness and
reinforcement, " he says. " One new
customer can make all the difference
between a successful or disappointing
return on investment. "
Finding more customers like your
best customer
A community bank can also " geotarget "
prospective customers who have the
same attributes of the bank's most profitable
current customers, whom it can
identify by evaluating data within customer
information files, says Jeffrey V.
Bibb, a managing partner at BLF Marketing
in Clarksville, Tenn.
" Key to using this important-and
sensitive-data is keeping focused on
one or two marketing tasks at a time, "
Bibb says, adding that although there
are no data sources that would indicate
a clear need for bank services, good
indicators for service needs can be found from annual gross
sales, number of employees and addresses.
For geotargeting, banks can purchase or subscribe to an
online mapping tool, such as Esri GIS mapping, in which
they can feed current customer data, he says. Then, banks
can peruse prospective customers by relevant information-
annual sales, number of employees, location of facilities-to
find ones who are similar to current profitable customers.
" The real beauty of creating profiles of key existing business
customers is you can apply data profiles to prospects
multiple times within your bank's primary geographies and
make profile changes when warranted, " Bibb says.
Geotargeting can be used to provide qualified prospect
lists to loan officers for both commercial and consumer
lending, as well as for attracting more deposits, increasing
brand awareness and promoting new branches.
" These examples of prospect profiles and geotargeting
may seem somewhat sophisticated, " Bibb says, " but the
end result is what a community banker wants and needs: to
know and understand customers and prospects better than
primary competitors. "
Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a writer in California.
Protecting customer comfort and privacy
Location-based marketing can help banks better understand where
consumers work, where they shop, where they spend money and what
they do during their downtime, according to R. Bruce
Gemmill, senior vice president and chief marketing
officer at MainStreet Bank in Fairfax, Va.
However, privacy is a major consideration
while developing a digital marketing strategy and
implementing campaigns, he says. At no time should
the person targeted have " a creepy sense that they
are being stalked, " Gemmill says, adding that people should see
value in the messaging. " For example, if I target people visiting car
dealerships, I want that person to be grateful for the information sent
to them about a special rate for purchasing a new car. "
Banks should make sure data is aggregated and anonymized.
Bruce Gemmill
" Banks should always be looking at minimizing risk and making sure
customer data is safe and secure, " says Jana Jurukovska, ICBA's vice
president of marketing and creative director.
Another thing to watch out for, Jurukovska says, is whether locationbased
marketing ultimately narrows prospective audiences too much.
Bank marketers should work with compliance officers to make sure
their efforts are not excluding customers and violating fair lending
laws and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements.
independentbanker.org Q 23
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Independent Banker - December 2019

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