Publication: ABA Bank Marketing
Publication Date: 01-SEP-05
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author: Wemmers, Rick

Article Excerpt
CEOs have different definitions of the term "marketing" due to the varying interpretations of the word and the activities associated with it. Most marketing directors suffer from feelings of insecurity and inferiority, which is often traced back to lack of direction concerning the importance of their work.

For the most part, marketers don't have clear job descriptions and are delegated a wide variety of assignments, and are usually expected to jump when the CEO calls. In some cases, marketers don't even talk to the CEO.

Most common marketing duties I've seen are preparing and running ads, doing direct mail drops, preparing marketing materials and being in charge of such activities as the office Christmas party or annual picnic. There may be other passed-along duties as well, coming from other bank personnel who don't like some of the tasks that they were assigned.

This is a shame because most of the marketing directors I've met are bright, eager and ready to do meaningful things. They just can't get the necessary serious attention to do this.

Why does this situation persist?

In my opinion, there are three primary reasons:

1. Banks have made historically high profits in recent years. If the bank is raking in more profits, faster than it can count, suggestions about target marketing, market-share improvement, competitor-weakness insight research and new- product needs research aren't easily heard at the top. "It ain't...



NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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