Traditional banks face more than just competition from new products in a digital-first world. Customers want a seamless experience integrating all of their banking services.

But many banks are stuck with outdated systems that resemble relics of bygone years instead of providing customers with the technological prowess they’ve come to expect from other service providers, who *cough*, now provide financial services too. To stay relevant, traditional banks need to revamp their digital offerings, offer competitive products, and establish a strong presence online, where they once relied solely on physical branches.

This article looks at how banks can adapt by focusing on streamlined omnichannel experiences, updated content, and building thought leadership to stay ahead in this new era of banking.

Traditional banks that want to see an upward trajectory on their bottom line will need to embrace a digitization strategy sooner rather than later.

The Need for Traditional Banks to Embrace a Digital-First Mindset

Traditional banks that want to see an upward trajectory on their bottom line will need to embrace a digitization strategy sooner rather than later. However, this doesn’t come easy. Digitization for banks has been challenging, thanks to regulatory, economic, and operational pressure in the short term. But the rewards are great, as chatbots are believed to have saved banks over $7.3 billion in operational costs by 2023. 

Understanding the Digital-First Shift in Banking

A customer-centric approach drives revenue, and customers want that seamless integration in a digital-first world. For consumers, this means: 

  • Customer Service: Improved customer services thanks to additional communication platforms, including secured chats and automated responses. 
  • Product Accessibility: Online and mobile access to products and services previously only available at brick-and-mortar financial institutions. 
  • Improved Security: Safe and secured banking channels using data security measures, encryptions, and state-of-the-art security protocols. 
  • Availability: Online and mobile banking are available at any time. 
  • Accessibility: Customers who can’t physically visit a branch now have access to banking channels. 
  • Speed: Digitization improves the speed of transactions and ensures real-time updates. 

The Consequences of Ignoring Digital Transformation

According to the Boston Consulting Group’s Henderson Institute, traditional banks that don’t embrace this change will be consumed by it. They found that less than a third of the world’s largest banks have adopted a meaningful digitized ecosystem. 

For traditional banks to offer a modernized message to their customers, they have to employ a content strategy that speaks to the modern customer to get the most out of their content marketing strategy.

Modernizing Content to Compete in a Digital-First Market

For traditional banks to offer a modernized message to their customers, they have to employ a content strategy that speaks to the modern customer to get the most out of their content marketing strategy.

Traditional banking content included a lot of print material, such as flyers and brochures. These traditional methods need to be replaced with digitized content to reach a digital market. Some of the ways to reach the modern customer include: 

Personalized Content

There are several levers traditional banks can use to market to their existing customer base based on customer segmentation. However, the real differentiator where digitized financial institutions might have the upper hand is the ability to provide dynamic content. For traditional banks to adopt this approach, they would need to use real-time customer behavioral changes to adapt their content approach. 

According to Mastercard, there are several benefits to adopting personalized content: 

  • Banks can increase their return on investment (ROI) and at the same time reduce their acquisition costs 
  • Customers respond faster to activations 
  • Early month on book (EMOB) means earlier and more spending 
  • Customers are more agreeable to cross-sell initiatives 
  • It encourages better spending 
  • Customers are more likely to adopt digital engagement
  • Attrition rates can improve which means existing clients buy into the brand again
  • Customer spending trends can increase the customer lifetime value (CLV)

Digitized Content Management 

Content Management Systems (CMS) enable banks to distribute content across multiple channels. Financial institutions have a regulatory responsibility to ensure the information is accurate and up-to-date. 

At times, they would employ a headless CMS for certain content types that allow content teams to work on projects without employing the backend. This means that content distribution can happen faster and at scale. 

By using both these approaches to content management, banks can access agile content development as they’re better able to adapt to market changes and consumer preferences. Apart from CMS, there are also other products to help with digital content management such as: 

  • Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECM)
  • Digital Asset Management (DAM)
  • Social media content management 
  • Mobile Content Management (MCM)

SEO still plays a vital role in reaching a digital target market.

Modernized Content Marketing 

SEO still plays a vital role in reaching a digital target market. Traditional banks need to gear their content to meet the SEO rules to rank when customers search for certain terms. Analytics and ranking tools can provide insight into whether the SEO objectives have been met. It’s also worth noting that SEO is about more than just meta and titles, and banks can leverage engaging content that uses targeted keywords, websites optimized for speed and mobile use, and the site’s online reputation.

Social Media

Banks leveraging social media to leverage their brand strategy can benefit from real-time customer interaction to further build trust. Social media platforms can be used for educational content, infographics, and targeted ad campaigns. Traditional banks that want to improve service delivery can also use social media to address queries and complaints. 

Video and Interactive Content 

Differentiating in content types can help banks reach previously unreached markets. Video marketing, for instance, is used by almost 91 percent of businesses, according to Wyzowl research. These can include testimonials, educational content, and product explainers. 

Interactive content is the antidote to site inactivity, and 93 percent of marketers agree that this tool is more effective at customer education than 70 percent for static content. 

A digitization strategy allows banks access to data sources that enable insights into the entire customer banking experience.

Leveraging Data-Driven Insights for Content Personalization 

A digitization strategy allows banks access to data sources that enable insights into the entire customer banking experience. Banks can now use these tools to create a predictive model that allows them to better understand the customer’s decision-making process. 

Data and Analytics 

Data and analytics allow marketers to delve deeper into the market responses to a bank’s digital content strategy. Analytics tools can determine preferences, trends, and possible fluctuations. This allows banks to adjust their content strategy and adapt to their customer’s needs more closely. 

Some of these tools include: 

  • Advanced Predictive Analytics: With these insights, banks can predict possible fraud, determine customer behavior, and assess creditworthiness. Companies that offer these include SAS, IBM, and Microsoft. 
  • Real-Time Data Processing: This data is helpful for banks who want to respond to client interactions in real-time, which improves personalization. Companies that offer this include Cloudera, Confluent’s Apache Kafka and Google Cloud. 
  • Comprehensive Data Visualisation: This technology turns your datasets into easily digestible reports through tables, reports, and dashboards. These are offered by Qlik, Tableau, and Power BI. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation 

AI in banking is essential in adapting to customer needs at scale. AI bridges the gap between customer care consultants and consumers to deliver seamless service. 

The combination of AI and automation provides immediate responses to simple consumer requests. Automation also allows banks to track and implement changes to systems and products as needed, which frees up staff to perform other functions. The proper implementation of automation also ensures banks meet regulatory requirements by providing accurate and updated information in real time. 

Some of the reasons banks shouldn’t hesitate to adopt AI and automation include: 

  • It’s efficient and cost-effective 
  • It offers improved customer service as it’s available around the clock 
  • AI and automation are highly scalable

Robo advisers, chatbots, and virtual financial assistants are just some of the ways banks can introduce AI to their business model.

When customers engage with their banks, they expect a seamless experience whether they’re in the branch, using an ATM, or accessing their bank account through a mobile app. 

Engaging Customers Through Omnichannel Experiences

When customers engage with their banks, they expect a seamless experience whether they’re in the branch, using an ATM, or accessing their bank account through a mobile app. 

The Importance of Omnichannel in Modern Banking

Consistency is key when it comes to omnichannel availability. For consumers, it’s important to be able to access their banking, banking education, and additional banking information anywhere, at any time, and through multiple channels.

Omnichannel allows a customer-centric approach that relies on big data to create a better customer experience. This means that customers can interact through various channels and expect a consistent experience whether they’re using the bank’s chatbot service or additional prompts on the ATM.

Strategies for Implementing an Omnichannel Approach 

Banks can implement this by updating infrastructure to cloud-based and on-premises platforms. 

An omnichannel experience should include: 

  • A personalized experience 
  • Safety and security across all channels
  • Consistent experience across all channels
  • Convenience and flexibility

A seamless omnichannel experience can help banks build their brand and create trust in the market. This leads to better customer adoption and loyalty. 

Traditional banks have to bridge the gap between their legacy and modern banking practices through digital positioning strategies. 

Positioning Traditional Banks as Leaders in a Digital-First World 

Traditional banks have to bridge the gap between their legacy and modern banking practices through digital positioning strategies. 

Balancing Legacy with Innovation 

While there is an urgency to adopt digitization, banks need to tread carefully to ensure they honor their legacy and can maintain their reputation. This can happen through: 

  • Adopting robust infrastructure: Moving legacy information to a digitized platform is a precise exercise that requires careful planning and system support. Proper infrastructure and planning will ensure that the bank’s ecosystem can adapt to the increased demand in digitized channels. 
  • Stability and compliance: Continuous testing needs to happen to ensure that the data remains intact and that banks still meet regulatory requirements. 
  • Phased integration: To ensure the stability of the infrastructure, a phased integration allows slow and steady adoption, ensuring system stability and protection of vital data. Scaling at pace can cause instability and data loss, affecting customer trust. 

A paced approach to legacy conversion ensures the bank has better control of the integration. Part of the conversion should be a communication strategy that lets customers and stakeholders know about the pending changes.

Using Thought Leadership to Drive Digital Transformation 

One of the reasons banks use thought leadership to drive digital transformation is to leverage themselves as experts during these changes. Customers feel more at ease with these changes when their bank is considered a thought leader in the area. 

An example of this would be Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, who regularly shares his thoughts on banking transformation.

By failing to follow suit, traditional banks may experience a drop in ROE to below 7.2 percent by 2030, which is a significant drop from 9.5 percent in 2021. 

Apart from executive thought leadership, banks can also use the following to drive thought leadership: 

  • White papers 
  • Case studies
  • Blogs and articles 
  • Research reports
  • Collaborations and partnerships 

Banks can use a digital marketing strategy to capture a digital-based consumer through various channels.

Create a Digital-First Banking Experience 

Banks can use a digital marketing strategy to capture a digital-based consumer through various channels. By modernizing content, they have the opportunity to improve SEO and customer reach. Adopting digital strategies ensures a greater customer experience through seamless integration and access. Banks can also build trust by creating an engaging omnichannel experience. 

At ClearVoice, we help you deliver your content strategy seamlessly with the integration of a specialized approach to your content needs with our targeted solutions. We adopt conversion tools, content audits, lead conversion strategies, and SEO implementation to help you leverage your content. Connect with a content specialist for a personalized approach to your content needs.