BANK MARKETING STRATEGY

How monobank’s marketing of banking services attracted thousands of customers in a month

Mobile bank monobank started beta testing in October 2017. Within a month, the company issued 12 thousand cards, and by November 6, Ukrainians had already received 150 million hryvnias of loans. What gives confidence to a new firm? How is its marketing of banking services built? After all, mobile banking is now an intensively developing industry with a lot of competitors.

Banking services, like services in general, are intangible – they cannot be touched and they do not persist over time. A financial institution has to identify the right service for consumers, set its price and offer interesting banking products to the market. Mistakes in the banking sector are costly.

Read also: “Retail branding of banks: bringing together debit and credit”

What the hell is monobank?

Ukraine’s first mobile bank without branches, monobank, is the brainchild of several Privatovs. Its creation was mainly the responsibility of:

• Dmytro Dubilet, who has had an impressive career: former IT director at PrivatBank and now saxophonist in Fintech Band;
• Oleg Gorokhovsky, former First Deputy Chairman of the Board at PrivatBank, is now the frontman at Fintech Band;
• Mikhail Rogalsky is the former head of payments at PrivatBank, now a music producer at Fintech Band.

For reference, Fintech Band is an IT company providing services to Ukrainian and foreign banks. In fact, the new bank is a mobile branch of Universal Bank, which is reflected in the brand name: monobank | Universal Bank. In its turn, Universal Bank is a Ternopil-based institution that has been operating since 1994. According to credit agencies, it ranks fifth in terms of reliability and quality of service.

It should be noted that in Norway and Japan there are already banks under the name Monobank. The Ukrainian name is not least spelled with a small letter in order to distinguish itself from similar brands.

The first step of marketing strategy is to analyze the market for banking services

Is mobile banking necessary in Ukraine? The answer is definitely. The mobile banking market is growing rapidly: its annual volume is more than 100 billion hryvnias. This direction of the banking sector is beneficial to both clients and financial institutions themselves.

For the first time settlements via phone in Ukraine appeared in 1999. PrivatBank introduced a service: payment by phone and transfer of funds via sms. Having seen how successful the technology was, the bank decided to develop Privat24. After a few years, other large institutions joined the “arms race”. Now the largest services are considered to be mobile applications from:

• Alfa Bank;
• VTB;
• Raiffeisen Bank;
• Ukrsotsbank.

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As we can see, the mobile banking market is quite saturated. For most young banks, entering it is a rather difficult challenge. Is it worth it?

Why mobile banking is beneficial

A Deloitte study conducted in 2016 showed: if we take the price of service in a branch as 100%, online banking will cost 4% and mobile banking 2%. The cost difference for banks is tangible. If an institution switches at least 20% of its customers to mobile banking, it will save about $5 million a year. In addition, thanks to technology, bank managers receive significant benefits:

• Increased customer analytics, so marketers have a better understanding of how to execute campaigns;
• 24/7 consumer access to bank services – that is, customers are more satisfied and banks make profits even when managers are asleep;
• low-cost sales channel, improved market segmentation, additional sales and enhanced functionality.

Therefore, when a customer applies to the bank, they are necessarily advised to switch to Internet or mobile banking. In Privat and FUIB, managers post detailed instructions on how to conduct transactions via computer. Such banking strategy helps to transfer more customers to the Internet and, as a result, to save more money.

Mobile banking is also beneficial for consumers – we all know how much more convenient life becomes when all payments can be made via a computer or smartphone. Even pensioners are already paying their utility bills online – maybe with the help of their children or grandchildren, but nevertheless.

The mobile services sector will only grow in the future. Currently, only 40% of the population in Ukraine use Internet banking. This percentage includes people aged 25-40. In the future, of course, they will continue to use mobile banking. So, the age of customers will move from 18 to 100 years old (we hope).

So, we can see that it makes sense for new institutions to invest in an already saturated but still promising market, and spend significant money on bank marketing.

Defining the market and customer profile

Internet banking in Ukraine is popular among citizens aged 25-40, who make up 65% of mobile service users. More than half of them are men – 56.7%, and women – 43.3% of all consumers. According to USAID research, the target audience of mobile banking can be divided into three main types:

• a young user 20-25 years old, with higher education and an average income of about UAH 4,500 per month. He has a rather optimistic attitude and outlook on the future;
• more mature user 40-45 years old. The average income is about 5-6 thousand per month. They are not necessarily satisfied with their situation and believe that in old age they will mostly depend on the state;
• the user is over 60 years old. His income is about 3,000 hryvnias and he believes that he is completely dependent on the state.

The first and second types of mobile banking clients prevail, as it was already mentioned. So, the marketing strategy of the bank in this case is focused on them. In the future it is quite possible to cover a wide market, all consumer groups. It is worth looking at foreign statistics: in Poland, Great Britain, USA more than 90% of clients use Internet and mobile banking.

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Promotion of the bank and banking service

Advertisements for banking services should present mobile banking as:

• progressive;
• dynamic;
• comfortable;
• yet reliable and accurate.

A sense of style is also important – the style should be modern and concise, in line with the latest trends in graphic design. Appreciate the strict black and gray scale of the monobank card. M – monochrome.

Secret: monobank’s success is due to packaging! Yes, yes, and nothing else. Read “How to create an effective packaging design”

Even in the promotion of banking services, the attention of young people should be attracted by bright statements, often with a sense of humor – look at the stickers attached to the packaging of bank cards. The kitty cat is known to be a universal symbol radiating goodness and warmth. And he speaks in Ukrainian and English.

Today’s young people most often speak English well enough to understand what they are talking about. Even if it is written in transliteration: “Izi, izi! Riel tok! Sink ebaut yit!”. Clients of 25 years old with higher education will laugh, but they will understand: you have to stop and think. This is a rather narrowly focused solution. Pensioners will think that by reading the inscription, they will summon a demon, pardon God.

When addressing young people, you should speak clearly and distinctly: “Bank without branches – convenient and profitable”, “Where else have you seen free transfers?”, “We refund up to 20% of purchases”. Then you should give short instructions – see the screenshot of the monobank website.

The bank also promises to calculate the credit limit without going to any institutions. Just what young people need: simple and without unnecessary delays. The remaining time can be spent on partying (you can hear the bitter laughter here), no, on studying and working.

Promotion of banking products

Any new firm must first conquer the domestic market, or rather just one or a few segments of the domestic market. This is why the monobank campaign addresses a specific group of consumers, which we have defined a few paragraphs above.

Nowadays the audience of 25-40 years old practically does not watch TV. The main channels of information are the Internet and Internet media:

• Google;
• Twitter;
• Facebook and other social networks;
• blogs and articles on thematic portals.

The marketers of the “free” monobank have chosen an almost free strategy, in this case the most effective one. It is impossible to find videos or podcasts dedicated to the bank in the network now. The emphasis on promoting the bank’s services is made on text – articles and photos on financial portals, groups on Facebook and Instagram. Even Twitter was launched not in May, when the bank was announced, but closer to November, in preparation for the direct issue of cards.

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The implemented monobank strategy can in a sense be likened to the promotion of video games, which is familiar to today’s youth:

• announcement of an upcoming release;
• recruiting beta testers;
• the actual organization of the test;
• posting reviews of the service on social networks and portals.

But what kind of people promoted monobank! On March 7, the former IT director of PrivatBank announced the creation of “the first bank without branches in Ukraine”. Undoubtedly, the top manager of the country’s largest bank is a person whose words should be trusted.

In October, beta testing began: editors of financial portals started posting articles with detailed reviews of the mobile application. This is a rather neat advertisement for banking products. A closed group for testers was created in the Facebook group, where people shared bugs and wishes they found. It is worth noting that monobank has already issued 12,000 cards during the test period.

Then the launch took place on November 22, and tantalizing photos of stylish black cards began to flicker around the web. There was a natural curiosity: “What is it? It looks beautiful! I want the same stickers.” Word of mouth generated the same natural wave of card orders, and quite a big one at that. Yulia Akulenko, deputy director of Universal Bank, estimates plans to issue 300,000 to 400,000 cards in the first six months.

Conclusion

Modern banking services should be promoted using modern tools. The most active audience – able-bodied citizens of 20-40 years old – understand bright and imaginative messages. Texts should be, on the one hand, brief, like the offers on the bank’s home page, and on the other hand, detailed and objective, like reviews on financial portals. Style, sense of humor, fine “sharpening” for the client – everything contributes to the promotion of a modern bank.

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