1. Executive Summary
State Bank is a profitable, family-run business conveniently located at downtown Hillsborough – the countryseat. Its President is Mack McNeill and its newly appointed Director of Marketing is his son Phil McNeill.
It not only serves the Hillsborough populace of 15000, but also the suburbanites and farmers as far away as 20 miles. This is a full-service bank underlining the friendly, small-town service approach, while maintaining conservative policies on interest rates and loan procedures.
Apart from the two small limited service branches of two metro banks, there is only one other full-service bank located similarly in downtown Hillsborough, also, having a similar approach in terms of its overall service and policies. Both the banks share the business equally.
Phil McNeill’s proposal is to differentiate the bank from its current and future competitors by promoting and campaigning for a new image as ‘The Friendly Bank’ by giving the bank a new look, using new advertising and printed materials (shifting to pastel), and training its employees to give better and friendlier service. Phil expects this move will make State Bank more attractive, which would help attract a larger share of the areas new residents and businesses.
We recommend the following:
The new look of the State Bank should not give the impression that its priorities have changed.
State Bank should move towards a new look slowly, rather than give a surprise to its clients, which might even result in becoming a shock! The plans should go ahead in a step-by-step process. Feedback and suggestions should be collected from current clients while employees should contribute in with their suggestions as well.
The bank should introduce calculated changes, which will help differentiate the bank to attract new clients, while keeping the older ones happy!
Current Marketing Situation
a) Company Background:
1. Market Description: