ABA Discussion Topic 4: Branding and ROI

Like Jeff, I am not surprised that the topic of branding and ROI was brought up at the branding roundtable discussion during this year’s ABA Bank Marketing Conference.

The context in which the topic was introduced to the group is one that I am sure many bank and credit union marketers are familiar with. It goes something like this: “Our brand could use some help – but can’t get budget approval without showing projected return on investment.”

Knowing that ROI will come up in a branding discussion, marketers should be prepared to steer the conversation - and use it as an opportunity to educate their colleagues about brand and the process of branding.

For some direction in reshaping the conversation, check out Ron Shevlin’s post.

I would also like to emphasize a point that Jeff made – your customers already have perceptions of your brand, and every experience they have with you contributes to those perceptions. Rather than allowing those experiences to happen by chance, well-branded companies take deliberate steps to craft and manage the experience their customers will have; this in turn allows an institution to have more control over the perceptions their customers have about their institution. And while some kind of ROI calculation would make many marketers' jobs much easier, it simply isn't going to happen.

Think of Starbucks. Its brand is reflected in everything from the “help us help the planet” message on their coffee cup sleeves to the iTunes free-song download card I received with my coffee this morning (even the song - A Fine Frenzy’s “You Picked Me” was carefully selected). Somewhere along the way, marketers at Starbucks made the choice to include these things as part of the customer experience. And, I would be willing to bet that the marketers didn’t calculate the ROI associated with these choices – and that the same holds true with many of their other choices made in supporting and enhancing their brand.

At the end of the day, your brand is who you are. You can either make the commitment and investment to create the experiences your customers have with you, or you can leave it all to chance. And, you can bet that today's strongest brands aren't leaving much to chance.