4 Fundamental Marketing Strategies That Will Boost Your Biz Dev Results!

I think we can all agree that business banking is ultra-competitive…more like cut-throat competition! If you want to succeed in business banking…I am not talking about meeting your goal 1 out of 4 quarters…I am talking about consistently meeting & exceeding your goals…you need a constantly-evolving marketing strategy! What do I mean by constantly-evolving marketing strategy? You can’t use the same marketing strategy year-after-year because your prospects are changing, your clients are changing, your competitors are changing and the marketplace is changing even faster.  If you don’t change your marketing strategy, you are going to get left behind! You need to regularly stop and figure out what is working, what isn’t working and make adjustments to your marketing strategy so that you can stay ahead of the competition! This guarantees that your strategy evolves as the market evolves!

Below are 4 fundamental marketing strategies that have proven to work across many industries. You can make these work for you in business banking as well and get a lift in your business development results!

1.  Identify Your Clients & Prospects’ Needs & Wants: In business banking, you need to identify the challenges and opportunities your clients and prospects are encountering in the marketplace. You then use this information to serve up valuable insight that address each of the challenges and opportunities you identified. Your prospects want to know how you are going to help them. Speaking directly to the challenges and opportunities they are facing will help you nail this process! As a result, you will be able to quickly convince them that you have the solutions they need!
2.  Market Segmentation Is Key: I posted an article earlier this year about how much I love niche marketing.  I have found that focusing on niche markets pays off hugely!  Why? Segmenting your market (aka focusing on a niche industry) compels you to invest time in getting to you know your niche market. This means that you get to really understand your prospect’s challenges and opportunities…which will help you put together a winning sales pitch! A highly effective sales pitch will quickly grab your prospect’s attention and convince them that you’ve got the solutions they need. If you spend time doing your market research, your sales pitch will be like stepping into a conversation your prospect is already having in their head! The first impression the prospect will have is: “this banker really understands what I am going through…I need to speak to this person!”
3.  Positioning! Positioning! You need to position yourself as source of valuable insight…as the source of the solutions your clients and prospects need. Building and nurturing your personal brand paves the way to position yourself as a thought leader and an advisor…as the source of solutions! Your ultimate goal is to really understand your prospect’s challenges and opportunities and serve up valuable insight that addresses these issues. If you pump out content that address the challenges and opportunities your clients and prospects are facing in the marketplace, they will see you as the having the solutions they need even before their first conversation with you! That is the power of building and nurturing your personal brand! 
4.  Effective Marketing Is About Uniqueness: If your business banking experience has been anything like mine, you will agree that banking management teams seem to think that their products and their marketing strategy are “unique.” I have worked at several banks and talked to more than enough bankers in my career that I can confidently report to you that all bankers are selling pretty much the same products, using the same sales pitch, using the same marketing strategies and going after the same prospects! There is nothing unique about this!  Uniqueness is about doing something completely different! Yes, completely different! What does this mean? It means showing up to a convention that is packed with blue & gray suits and being the biz banker that wore the pink 3-piece suit! I am not saying to start showing up to client meetings in a pink suit. You need to think about what will make you stand out in a crowded room of biz bankers who are all pitching to the same prospect. The banker that stands out is the one that will likely win the deal!

Bizpetrol has information, insight and tools that will help you become a Business Banking Superstar! You can see all the Business Banking articles (like this one) at www.bizpetrol.com/blog. You can access a series of how-to business banker guides at https://www.bizpetrol.com/Downloads-Free.