ABA marketing conference highlights: the many aspects of connecting with customers.

Reaching the customer was, unsurprisingly, a dominant theme at the ABA Marketing Conference in September. What made the message distinct, however, were the particulars offered about getting that increasingly difficult job done.

Comments made at various sessions illuminated distinct aspects

of the requirements. At the official opening, Steve Adubato, broadcaster, author, and Rutgers professor, talked about improving inter-office and customer communication, referencing themes from his new book, Speak from the Heart: Be Yourself and Get Results. Best known among cable news addicts as a frequent talking head on values subjects and political scenarios, Adubato at the ABA venue stuck to motivational themes.

If his amiable message could be summed up, it might be this: don't get too hung up on Power Point presentations, complex talking-point memos, or other tools and practices of "corporate presentation." Instead, think first about what you really mean and say it simply, honestly, and, with the appropriate emotional tone. Polling the audience for their views on communication, and testing them about what channels they prefer to "deliver bad news," Adubato joked the crowd into accepting this simple fact: if you can sense phoniness or a lack of punch or true belief at a mile, why wouldn't your customers and colleagues be able to also?

While the communications expert didn't insinuate that mastery of the more official aspects of professionalism don't count, he did say that we tend to get overly involved with media, and this tends to obscure our message. How does this relate to reaching customers? Simply put, customers can tell when communications aren't authentic so what begins with the corporate culture you create ultimately shows itself in customer-facing messaging.

Authenticity takes on other forms, including competence. Steve Stevenson, executive vice-president, sales and marketing, Bank of Agriculture and Commerce, Stockton, Calif., took the oft discussed theme of "Customer Loyalty: the Difference Quality Makes," and gave it new staying power by outlining the details of a customer-focused company. One point was that getting the details right makes a significant difference in customer's a experience and his or her sense of the bank.

The EVP at the $360 million-assets bank was thinking big, discussing the basics of branding and brand promise. His message? Reaching customers requires smart branding and operational excellence. "A customer-focused bank thinks in terms of being a resource," Stevenson said. "It's about exceeding customer expectations from the routine transactions to offering more complex products and services."

Noting that the challenges of globalization, increased non-bank competition, and me-tooism--not to mention the distractions of the fast-paced electronic age--Stevenson pointed out that the only real way for a bank to fight back is to be relevant. In going over the mechanics of loyalty programs, Stevenson pointed out that what ensures loyalty ultimately is operational excellence.

The conference featured sessions on customer retention and on-boarding strategies; marketing segmentation strategies; building an annual marketing plan, and website makeovers, including the art of ruthless evaluation of what works and what doesn't about a website. All were useful.

And yet, what stood out the most to illustrate the new competitive realities were the lunchtime comments of J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich, Inc., in his talk, the "New Imperatives of Bank Marketing Success."

"We live in a culture of self definition," said Smith. "People alter their faces and bodies; they define their lifestyles, and increasingly make product selections to reinforce a unique sense of self. The requirements of retail marketing are trickling down into the banking environment, where, increasingly, meeting segment requirements will require flair and creativity."

Yankelovich went on to discuss how a bank marketer might go about making a dent in a market teeming with options, including adoption of customer relationship management strategies to personalize messaging.

By Lauren Bielski, senior editor