Within a short space of time this new relationship service will be provided by all the key players in the market. Rather than competing on price, they will compete on service to aid differentiation by striving to be best-in-class (Hooley et al. 2008, p72). Each competitor will benchmark their offers against those provided by competitors in an attempt to provide a stronger proposition. Successful banks will be those organisations that clearly understand which elements of the service are most important to their customers and are able to develop strategies and systems to ensure that their staff can deliver a superior service (Hooley et al. 2008, p563). This new relationship-based product will mean that there is strategic wear-out (Drummond et al. 2001, p167) of traditional sales channels. Competitors in the market will invest significant resources to react to the changing environment. Without cash, large branch networks will be removed to be replaced by new flagship stores catering for this new relationship service. ATMs will simply disappear. Traditional call centre structures will be vastly updated to incorporate new lines of communication that have opened up as a result of new and emerging technology, whilst internet banking capabilities will face a major overhaul as customers are primarily driven to these channels. Marketing in 2030 Inevitably this new market will pose huge questions surrounding marketing structure and resources within competing organisations. The influence of marketing teams on strategic planning will continue to grow, as they are increasingly recognised as being key to creating competitive advantage. Marketers will be expected to have the skills and knowledge to be able to work with the wealth of knowledge at their finger tips, to interpret it correctly and to analyse its implications to feed into strategic planning. They will be expected to use these key findings to ensure that segments can be identified that are both attractive and profitable to the organisation. They should also develop tailored relationship current account products that are relevant to the audience, with a proposition that will make them desirable. Once key opportunities are identified, successful marketers will need sound financial rhetoric to present their proposals to key decision-makers. They will work ever closer with financial teams to present the potential of acquisition and retention strategies, and to highlight implications of these on shareholder returns. With this new product it will be essential for marketers to develop strong working relationships with third party organisations. They will assist in the negotiation process during product development and once the product is launched. They will work closely to continue to develop key product offerings, to identify future opportunities and to ensure clarity and consistency of all marketing acquisition and retention strategies. The complexity of this new current account relationship will, by its nature, mean that customers will be very reluctant to change their provider, so there will be huge
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implications of getting the right product proposition to the right segments using the right medium at the right time. To aid this it will be necessary for marketers to constantly provide detailed insight into competitor activity and to predict future actions, challenges and trends within the marketplace. The overhaul of the sales channels will change the marketing media that are used. Marketers will compete for time and attention in a changing environment, so it will be essential that they develop relevant strategies and promotions using a mixture of new media channels. It is inevitable that buyer behaviour will be directly influenced by new technology, so marketers will need to be more adaptive than ever. Like never before, the use of biometrics will allow customers to be targeted as they go about their daily routines. Campaigns will be put in place so that when a customer passes by a certain trigger point in a shop or other location they can be targeted with a specific promotion via a digital screen or other mobile communication medium. These marketers will also have to be very flexible, as they will operate in ‘live’ environments (such as social media), to ensure that they can adapt to new opportunities as and when they arise. In any market, but especially in a growing market such as this, skills in innovation and creativity will be central to the role. What does this mean for marketers? It is clear that massive change is on the horizon, so marketers need to act today to identify the skills and knowledge that will be required for the role in the future. They need to commit to continuous development by devising strategies that will ensure these needs are satisfied. This will then allow them to be best positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that are set to develop.
James works for The Co-operative Financial Services. He spent the last 12 months working as a loans product manager, looking after the customer’s end to end journey and ensuring that Co-op loan products were fit for purpose. He has more recently taken up a Business Delivery role which is focused on developing long term sustainable relationships with Co-op Current Account customers.
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Hooley, G. et al (2008). Marketing strategy and competitive positioning. 4th ed. Essex: Prentice Hall. Keyfacts (October 2009). Branch and financial insights. Palmer, R. et al. (2007). Managing marketing: marketing success through management practice. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Sangani, K. (2005). Fingering the identity thieves. Financial World, August pp45-47.