High-tech and feature-rich business credit card programs represent a significant opportunity for community banks. These programs can attract high-value business banking customers and catalyze fee income.
Attracting customers to these programs and ensuring they’re successful takes additional considerations, however. Customers who find features such as spend management and virtual cards appealing tend to be more technologically savvy and will have higher expectations for the pre-application digital experience. At the same time, they may be harder to reach through marketing channels that have traditionally worked well for community banks, and a successful program launch will require campaigns across a wide range of digital channels.
1. Visually distinctive brand
One of the challenges new entrants into the business credit card space is standing out among the extensive competition. Developing an appealing and visually distinctive brand for the credit card product is one way to overcome this challenge.
Strong branding will not only make marketing materials (website, digital ads, emails, etc.) more memorable but also help the card be more prominent in a customer’s wallet, making it more likely to be used.
2. Clearly defined target audience
While it may be tempting to go to market with a broad approach, a focused message tailored to a narrow audience is more likely to be successful, given how many competitors your bank will face. A tailored message will also help you reach and convert that audience outside of your traditional geographic area, as businesses generally don’t care where their credit card issuer is based and aren’t concerned with branch access.
If your bank’s top business customers are HVAC companies, for example, your business credit card program could be launched with messaging tailored around their pain points/buying needs.
Credit unions have an innate competitive advantage in this area, as serving a specific profession or geographic area is part of their DNA. Their business credit card program would build on their reputation for being a reliable and trusted partner for their members.
3. A content marketing plan
Gaining traction for a new financial services product and brand requires consistent content creation and distribution to acquire and maintain prospective customers' attention. A good content marketing plan will include content that drives new customer applications and promotes use by approved cardholders.
This plan will include the main content for the credit card, whether it's a page on your main website or an entirely separate site dedicated just to your new credit card brand. You also want easy-to-use application pages that minimize friction and reduce the likelihood of an applicant abandoning the process.
Promotional content you produce after launch can include advice articles, product guides and updates, and success stories of current cardholders. This content would be created with email, social media, and search engine optimization needs in mind, as those are the three primary content distribution channels.
4. A digital advertising budget
Even the best content marketing strategy will take time, as ranking by search engines and building social media audiences take time. Digital advertising allows you to reach your ideal customer at scale, regardless of where they happen to be in their buyer’s journey.
Social media ads, for example, are good for building awareness and generating demand; these can be used to promote your most valuable informative content or with a low-pressure “learn more” offer that directly promotes your business credit card. Search ads, meanwhile, can reach higher-intent prospects who are shopping around for specific solutions.
Banks should also strongly consider partnership opportunities. This could include getting their card listed on a directory site like CreditKarma or NerdWallet, an affiliate marketing program that incentivizes content creators to promote their card or an influencer marketing program that provides access to creator audiences.
With Torpago
We know that building a successful business credit card program is hard. We did it ourselves before launching PoweredBy, our business credit card solution suite for banks and credit unions. That’s why our program includes marketing support services that help our bank clients grow their programs with content marketing, email marketing, event marketing, and other strategies.
Request a demo today to learn more about PoweredBy and how we help banks launch business credit card programs quickly with our feature-rich white-label platform!
