Bank of America's smarter marketing during financial crisis

If you have found your way to this page there is every likelihood a financial crisis is upon us, or at the very least you feel one is just about to hit.

I could be totally wrong of course and the Australian economy might be extremely vibrant and there is no problem at all right now.

If that is the case then I’m all the happier for it. But if you do think the economy is challenged in any way, right now businesses and consumers will think more intensely about where they spend their money.

But before you begin to panic and throw your money wildly at some far-fetched advertising plan, think about the one golden rule you need for smarter marketing under these circumstances.

Just be human. Nobody wants to read all the hyperbole about everything that you’re not. They don’t want to see all the fancy pants imagery which doesn’t really relate to anything you do. They don’t want to hear your bulldust and they don’t want to see your bulldust.

In an environment when every cent counts, your current and potential customers just want to deal with someone that’s as human as them so they can feel more at peace about getting through a challenging business or daily environment.

They want to deal with someone that’s just as brilliant and as fallible as they are; they want to be talking to someone who knows the joys of its success it also feels the pain of struggle just like they might be doing right now.

Heck, they want someone that sits on the toilet just like they do because the toilet, in all its forms around the world, is the ultimate leveller of humanity.

Informative, yet informal human engagement is a very simple and logical business marketing concept that we have been promoting for some years now because we believe the public really does put an emphasis on the level of engagement people and businesses can make with one another.

And it was interesting to read just recently, published in Fortune magazine, a commentary from Bank of America executive Meredith Verdone talking about how the bank actually decided to be human in its marketing as economic challenges forced them to look for a more natural and believable communications edge.

The only thing I thought strange was Ms Verdone describing this masterstroke as a 'risk'. I see it only as a logical thing to do.

Considering that on a daily basis in Australia anyway I personally see countless of millions of dollars wasted by banks telling us how brilliant they are and what they can do for us when in fact the exact opposite tends to be true mostly, it was refreshing to hear Miss Verdone speak so candidly about a marketing strategy in which we specialise.

And it’s definitely worth reading. Between the lines, what it is saying is that a very human level of engagement as a marketing strategy really helped the bank at a time when it was needed most.

This is purely the type of marketing we have been espousing almost religiously now for several years. You can read this very informative commentary by Ms Verdone simply by clicking this link here: Fortune Magazine article – Bank of America Marketing Executive Meredith Verdone.