Shift Happens: The New Age of Bank Marketing

The book is light reading and covers a fair amount of topics for an introduction to the current banking environment and the forces changing the industry, with topics such as customer lifestyle changes (12 universal financial truths of customer life stage activities), customer experience phenomenon, disruptors, branding and multi-channel marketing.

This book will be too light and incomplete for most banking and consulting professionals. It seems loosely organized and quickly written. There are also noticeable holes in its presentation which make it seem random at times. For example, in Section Three (External Shift), there is a chapter called “Making Your Website a Destination.”  It gives examples of several sites that help customers with basic financial decision making and how social networking sites are attracting the attention of banks for promoting their services, but gives no other attention to other channels or mediums that banks should be using to attract or retain customers. For more in-depth understanding of these subjects, the reader may be better off looking to other books with more focus on methodology, such as Infinite Possibility (Senteo review).

A consumer today does not want to be considered a number within a demographic category; they have -I- expectations. They are now demanding to be communicated with as individuals. This phenomenon has created a unique set of challenges to banks and their marketers. We are the commodity of all commodity businesses. Yet, we find ourselves seeking (and needing) to target our markets, differentiate ourselves and position our institutions within certain markets. And in the ever-changing global marketplace of today, there is a perfect storm of conditions that presents tremendous challenges for banks and their marketing professionals. These include an overwhelming need for organic growth, shifting customer lifestyles and the growing influence of a customer experience phenomenon. Shift Happens: The New Age of Bank Marketing details the how and why bank marketers need to adapt — to survive and prosper — and continue to be relevant to our consumer.

This book is a short introduction to how customer lifestyles and customer experience are impacting financial services.  There is little in terms of methodology or applications in the book, other than a general overview on the subject. Students or banking professionals with little experience in strategy may find it of interest.