There was a time when banks would go to great lengths to tempt you to open an account at their institution. Over the years, incentives have varied – often wildly. Today, the gifts can be very elaborate, whether we’re talking about opening a personal or a business account.
The cliché gift, of course, is getting a free toaster (later, a toaster oven) from your bank – their way of showing gratitude for signing up for a new account. Today, some banks are turning the old appliance on its side.
Equity Bank gifted clients who opened premium accounts with a high-tech toaster from
Revolution Cooking, a gift that retails for $349.99 (pictured). Just like your car, it has a touch screen.
According to Jennifer Robison, former executive editor at The Financial Brand, choosing the right gift can propel new account promotions by 15% or more. So, these gifts can be a make or break for financial institutions with lofty new client goals.
Unlike when a radio station gets a new cume listener, the average span for a new bank customer is 10-11 years. So in the big picture, a $30 gift or one that retails for 10 times that amount has a strong ROI.
Some banks offer cash in exchange for a new account – which seems almost counter-intuitive. (“If you give us money, we’ll give you money?”) Plus, with so many offering green in exchange for green, you wonder if those incentives don’t end up cancelling each other out – like when 10 radio stations in town are all hawking $1,000 prizes in similar text-to-win national contests.
You have to hand it to the banks – not usually thought of as the most innovative businesses out there – who actually come up with novel ways to induce would-be customers to open up new accounts.
In Fremont, Nebraska, First State Bank & Trust has a can’t miss premium: a 6-piece set of Martha Stewart brand food storage containers, while across the state in Seward, Jones Bank outdoes that gift with a Dolly Parton loaf pan (pictured) – a gift that has special appeal for yours truly.
It’s interesting how many bank incentives end up being kitchen appliances or other implements. Jonestown Bank & Trust in Jonestown, Pennsylvania, offered up a waffle maker and a $50 bonus with a positive balance maintained after a specified amount of time.
Meanwhile in Bay City, Michigan, Financial Edge Community Credit Union dangled a set of gardening tools. As Robison reminds us, not everyone has a green thumb, but that kind of incentive can be regifted – another key variable in the bank gift strategic playbook.
But none of these run-of-the-mill what Comerica Bank is offering new business customers here in their Michigan region. Brother Paul received an email with one of the more unique offerings – prizes that help small companies in the state grow.
Their SmallBizCo-op™ program is a multi-tiered incentive campaign designed to lure small businesses with tools that can help them thrive. From audience research resources to free tickets to local sporting events, Comerica’s program appears to be well-conceived.
But the obvious jewel of the campaign is in the bank’s subject line:
Impressive, right? It turns out I remember hearing the campaign during Detroit Tigers play-by-play broadcasts on WXYT-FM/The Ticket. If memory serves me well, they are essentially “donut” ads where Comerica frames the ad with a brief open and close – and the body of the spot is the straight sell from a winning business owner.
Doesn’t this suggest that while there are all sorts of ways to grow a business in 2024, perhaps one of the best ways to go is with a radio marketing campaign. And to underscore its value, Comerica makes it clear they’re essentially donating part of their spot inventory for this campaign.
To its credit, this is just one of several promotions Comerica runs to support small and fledgling businesses in the region – including startups. Its Hatch Detroit Contest awards a $100,000 cash prize to the entrepreneur looking to open a brick-and-mortar business in Detroit.
Comerica launched this effort in 2011, and now partnered with TechTown Detroit – a Wayne State University entrepreneurial hub – Hatch is a smart and highly visible way to support local businesses at a time when Detroit is on the move. Again, Comerica is supporting Hatch with ads that run during Detroit sports programming.
Back to those free radio ads, here’s a :30 video that enthusiastically promotes this component. In all media, the radio ads are the first-mentioned when Comerica describes the campaign.
Three big takeaways here for radio.
- Prizes matter – As the banking community knows well, the right hook can make a huge difference in motivating consumers to first open an email, and then participate in the promotion. But there is also a word-of-mouth piece here, too. I may not have a small business in need of a marketing boost, but I sure know the owners of more than a few here in the Detroit Metro. This is the type of campaign that generates buzz.
- Community support – I presented Techsurvey 2024 to our stakeholders yesterday. In the 20 years we’ve been conducting these studies, the local tie-in for broadcast radio has never tested better. In a world of Internet-sourced media, audiences are more and more inclined to support a local effort. This is precisely what Comerica is tapping into with both Hatch and the SmallBizC0-op™ program.
- Radio marketing IS valuable – You wish all radio sellers would position their schedules with the same positivity, passion, and purpose as Comerica is doing with this radio campaign. You have to believe that small business owners vying to win a piece of this ad schedule on The Ticket are all-in with this radio marketing effort.
And come to think of it, I own a small Detroit area business – our mobile app development company, jacapps. I’d love to hear a commercial for them in an upcoming Tigers game.
Sure beats a toaster.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Even though it’s definitely not the same, I’m reminded of something that WTOP has been doing for quite a while, but perhaps more so now: essentially co-branded testimonial spots with existing advertisers that just happen to plug both their own business and their personal experience with advertising on the station.
These spots tend to run during off-peak dayparts (like nights and weekends), but often still sound similar to the advertisers’ usual ones, since many of them involve the same spokespeople (e.g., a particular company’s owner).
The radio station Cámara FM 95.9 in Medellin, Colombia, where I present my program ‘Rockstorias’ every weekend, belongs to the city’s Chamber of Commerce.
During the pandemic they offered free spot inventory to small businesses that were in need.
This was a great way to support the community and strengthen the image, not only of the station but of the entity.