Branding Roundtable Discussion at the ABA Marketing Conference

Earlier this week, I attended the branding roundtable discussion at the ABA Marketing Conference in Baltimore – which reinforced my belief that branding is still one of the most misunderstood initiatives in financial services. The session was short and the issues presented for discussion were not covered in sufficient depth; so, I would like to continue the dialogue and offer some insights relative to the topic of branding as it relates to today’s financial services industry.

The first issue that was brought up for discussion during the roundtable was defining exactly what branding is; and, clarifying what the process of branding looks like.

While branding has a variety of definitions, we understand effective branding to be the process whereby consumer perceptions are deliberately created and carefully managed. And, this creation and management of perceptions extends well-beyond your name, logo and tagline.

It’s important to remember that people already have perceptions of your institution and your brand. This is important, as many people involved in the branding discussion were talking as if they don’t have a brand because they hadn’t yet addressed the issue or undergone some kind of formal branding process.

With that, the process of branding your institution will look different depending on who you talk to. And, people in attendance at the session gave me the perception that they were trying to compare apples to apples with a discussion of costs relative to a branding project – at some point during the discussion, it was decided by the facilitators that a number between $50k and $150k should be considered a “good deal” in hiring a branding firm to work with you.

While there are plenty of firms out there that are capable of helping financial institutions create more powerful brands, it’s important to understand that their processes are likely very different. And, institutions that simply look at bottom line costs involved in a branding program are likely overlooking very important issues like how much time a firm will spend getting to know you or the scope of work involved (many creative firms will sell you a logo and tagline and call it “branding”).

It’s encouraging to see the issue of branding being discussed among bank marketers and executives – but, I think a presentation, as opposed to a roundtable discussion, could have brought some much needed clarity to the topic.