Turn your email signature into a marketing advantage!

Whether you are a small community bank or a regional financial institution, your email signature can pack a marketing wallop. And, it’s a simple, but more importantly FREE, marketing tool. At the bottom of your signature file, tout an aspect of your bank which sets you apart from the pack. Adding a statistic can add even more impact and show that you are results oriented.

Your marketing signature can be as simple as. . .

(For small bank):
“Reaching out to 10 new businesses every day!”
“An SBA Preferred Lender for 10 years and counting.”
“We believe in results. That’s why our loan meetings meet TWICE a week.”

(For larger financial institution):
“Opening over 300 new checking accounts every week. There’s a reason why so many small businesses choose XYZ Bank!”
“We have over 25 different ways to help you finance your project.”


John J. Wood, the former Microsoft exec who left his job to found a non-profit overseas literacy organization, uses this simple technique on all of his emails. In his book, “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World”, he recounted that donors often wonder what happens to the funds they give to various organizations. He decided that instead of talking about what they were going to do, he’d promote what they had done. Wood found that if his organization sent out 300 emails a day for correspondence, he had 300 opportunities to tell people what his organization had or had not accomplished. “Few other charities are so accountable, and we knew it would be a great point of differentiation as we competed for scarce funds,” wrote Wood. “They have thousands of charities to choose from. We need to give them every reason to pick (us).”

This same strategy can work with community banking! While Wood’s charity is using the tactic to influence funding, the banking community can use the same logic to influence prospects and customers.

Woods told his team that all day, every day, the foundation was now accountable for results. In other words, they needed to live up to that claim in the email signature. And, promoting those statistics or theme can be a motivator for your bank, too. Woods added that, “nothing focuses the mind quite like having to broadcast your results hundred of times per day.” Knowing your bank is monitoring certain metricseach day, each month. . . and bragging about it, your entire organization will be focused on holding on to or improving it’s ranking. . . . or living up to your claim.

If you feel you don’t have a strong enough metric to promote, then find another aspect of your organization you can tout. But don’t waste this valuable opportunity to market. . . for FREE!

How to hire a bank marketing professional. . . or other bank personnel.

Herb Kelleher is a founder of Southwest Airlines Co. and served as Executive Chairman from March 1978 to May 2008 and as President and CEO from September 1981 through June 2001. Kelleher once gave his philosophy on hiring employes:

"It's difficult to change someone's attitude - so hire for attitude and train for skill."

A great motto, whether you're looking for someone to head your bank marketing department, lender, teller. . .