Executive Summary

With the increased competition in the banking industry, due to the entrance of private companies
in the industry and also the current globalization trend in which the world looks more like a
global village than a big wide area we have seen banks especially retail banks adapt more and
more strategies to either attract customers or retain customers. Banks have reinvented their
marketing strategies to not only spur their rapid growth but also to ensure that they remain
profitable in a business sector that has the greatest level of competition. This paper, therefore,
seeks to evaluate and analyze the current marketing strategies of the 1st century bank as well as
try to offer recommendations of other marketing strategies that the bank can either start using or
stop using. This is to ensure its future survival and ascertain that it can remain effective, relevant,
and trustworthy to not only win more customers but also gain new ones.

Introduction
The 1st century bank was founded in the year 2004, with the aim of serving communities of the
Los Angeles state particularly those living in the western part of the state. The bank founders saw
that the current existing banks within the area had lost the personal touch that banks were
supposed to have with its clients; hence, they formed a bank that would re-establish the focus on
attentive personal service, with local decision-making and the ability to ensure the success of its
clients.
The bank was established on the principles of personal approachability, flexibility,
responsiveness, and distinguished services, with its main target group being professionals,
entrepreneurs, family-owned enterprises and closely held business, as well as high net worth
persons by restoring the personal touch or feel into their experience in banking. However, over
the years the bank has experienced tremendous growth that has seen it grow from serving only
citizens living around Los Angeles to being a trusted international bank serving thousands of
customers around the world.

Market Strategy Analysis

The 1st century bank aims to attract customers from different industry sectors in the country. It
uses a range of marketing strategies to achieve its targeted goals and objectives. The main target
group for the 1st century bank are industries such as law firms, small businesses, property
owners and the medical field. However, in addition to its offering solutions to industries, it also
diversifies its interests and offers both business and personal banking solutions.
The major marketing strategies practiced by the 1st century bank include:
i. Affinity marketing. This kind of marketing strategy is also called partnership marketing, in
this kind of marketing, two complimentary institutions linkup creating a kind of strategic
partnership that benefits both institutions. The first institution might be generating more revenue
while the second one creates new customer or client connections. In this kind of marketing
strategy, the 1st century bank seeks to form a partnership with business managers and small
business where whilst the business will be making money, the bank will be building new
relationships with new customers.
ii.

Cloud marketing. In this kind of marketing strategy, marketing as a process takes place

online or on the internet thereby allowing both parties to be able to develop, utilize, share, and
modify the resources and or assets. In this respect, the 1st century bank, started a service that its
main aim was to not only increase customers but also maintain loyalty with their current
customers wherever they are, this service referred to as remote deposit, allows a customer to
bank from anywhere they are hence there motto, let us bring our bank to you.
iii.

Relationship marketing strategy. In this kind of strategy, the institution emphasizes

customer satisfaction with a view of achieving high customer retaining levels or maintaining

their customer loyalty. In this kind of marketing strategy, the institution recognizes the long-term
value of good customer relationships and extends communication beyond intrusive advertising.
In this respect, the 1st century bank has shown that it has maintained its original principle of
prioritizing a personal relationship with its clients. It has done this by going a step further in
differencing its online services from other banks by offering a personal touch on its remote
deposits service, where you can communicate with the bank by talking to them even while
banking online far from your nearest local branch.
iv. Diversity marketing. Here an institution takes into account varies varieties in culture in
terms of preference, principles, tastes expectations, wants and needs and then create a
customized marketing strategy to target those customers directly. In this respect, the 1st century
bank has used this approach to gain more customers by creating different products and services
that would attract different types of people with different cultures in terms of preferences, tastes,
and needs and then presenting these people with the products that exactly match their needs and
expectations of a financial institution.
A companys total value not only consists of what is revealed by its profit and loss statement or
its balance sheet but also of its hidden assets most importantly, employees, customer lists,
competence, and its trademark. What sets 1st century bank apart from other retail banks is how
they have not only clarified but also specifically laid down in sufficient detail the kind of value
they seek to deliver to clearly identified customer segments and how they propose to deliver this
value.
Value Creation Analysis

With the current high levels of competition in the banking sector, where retail-banking
organizations compete for a larger share of a finite customer pool, it has become important for
businesses to consider value creation in terms of customer benefit and not in the traditional
aspect of how much money we can extract. In this regard, 1st century bank has tried to create
maximum value for its customers by involving themselves or commencing a series of activities
that are for the benefit of the customers.
They have done this through; offering seamless transition to their customers. Seamless transition
allows new customers of the bank to switch banks from other banks coming to 1st century bank
without any hassle or worry in only three steps. This not only attracts customers but also benefits
their new customers in that they will not have to worry about all the procedures that they have to
undergo so as to join 1st century bank.
They also offer remote desktop scanners, which allows clients or their customers to scan their
checks from the comfort of their offices; this gives the clients the surety that with 1st century
bank, they will not have to worry about being issued with fake checks by their clients or other
individuals.
The bank has also assigned their customers a dedicated personal banking officer to attend to their
banking needs at any time, and unlike other retail banking organizations, 1st century bank offers
their clients real people to talk to and not automated machine responses like other banks do.
The bank has also gone further to offer business managers who are customers of the bank an
automated zenith and datafacation software for auto reconciliation of their accounts, hence
saving the managers precious time and other resources such as labor. These are among the many
ways in which, the bank creates value for their customers.

The bank has also engaged in value creation activities for their shareholders other investors
through the formation of mergers that are aimed at creating synergies by building a bridge
between different financial services. An example of this instance is the merger between 1st
century ban and SNL Financial, to offer a product that will benefit investors as well as create
more value for their shareholders.

Strengths and Weaknesses

As much as the bank has tried to create a hybrid marketing strategy consisting of different
marketing strategies to come up with a more solid, more flexible strategy that can give them an
edge over other competitors, the marketing strategies used should have some alterations to make
it more suited for the target market of the 1st century bank.
The first disadvantage of the affinity marketing strategy is that it is quite expensive for both
parties. The reason for this is that reaching out to another organization that bears almost similar
interests with another organization does not necessarily mean that they have a strong
relationship, the parties still have to go ahead and hire marketing strategists and business
negotiators to ensure that their marketing campaign will be successful. In addition, for an affinity
marketing strategy to work there should be the surety that your partners goal are well aligned
with your organizations goal.
The major merits of this marketing strategy is that there is the element of cost sharing, in that the
marketing costs are shared by both organizations also, this type of marketing strategy
immediately exposes your organization to your partners clients or customers. Also, the flexibility

and how customizable this type of strategy is, makes affinity marketing more relatively
successful than other types of marketing strategies.
The bank also uses cloud-marketing strategy; the main advantage of this is the efficiency that it
offers in that it reduces the time between planning and implementing an advertising campaign. In
addition, it reduces the cost of distributing marketing material such as they do not have to pay to
send newsletters and catalogues through e-mails as well as eliminating the need to pay for
printing costs or buy advertising time.
The main disadvantage of this kind of strategy is that it to some extent removes the personal
feeling that marketing should have, as well as it present the hard task that marketers should come
up with a cohesive marketing message that transcends across all people. Another type of
marketing strategy that 1st century bank uses is the relationship marketing strategy, the main
advantage of this kind of strategy is that the bank is able to communicate with the clients or
customers directly and hence are able to meet their needs. In addition, this type of marketing
strategy allows the bank to identify the clients who are more likely to be of larger value to the
bank, hence saving it time and money in terms of its order fulfillment and sales effort.
The major demerit of this strategy is that since it is individual based, it is more expensive since it
requires a higher level of personalization and its more time consuming for a business to interact
with its customers on an individual basis especially when the customers or clients are many.
Lastly, the bank uses diversity marketing; the main advantage of this is that the it reaches out to
the diverse market group in the market by creating a communication mix appropriate for every
group in the market.

However, a drawback of this kind of marketing strategy is that it is expensive in that the bank has
to advertise all the different products also it prevents the marketing team from focusing on one
product.
However, 1st century bank has developed a hybrid system of all these strategies to try come up
with one strong marketing strategy. The major advantage of this hybrid system is that it offers a
more comprehensive kind of marketing hence better product promotion as well as a cheaper
effective marketing team that leads to increased coverage, customized approaches with lower
costs.
The main disadvantage of this hybrid system is that it raises the problem of conflicts and control
between the different marketing team strategists also for this system to work, the different
marketing teams must have their goals aligned to perfectly to a common set of goals and
objectives or targets that the team needs to achieve.
Case Study and Recommendation
As much as 1st century bank has attained success over the years, its marketing strategies have
failed to help it achieve global recognition with the banks popularity limited to only European
nations, in addition, the current marketing strategy of the bank does not help it tap into emerging
markets and hence is limiting the ability of growth of the bank.
A case study of other institutions marketing strategies would help 1st century bank further
improve its marketing strategies to not only increase its market share but also increase
profitability. The case study presented below of Barclays bank limited, will help us learn other
market strategies that 1st century bank can use to increase its market base and or profitability.

Barclays bank was established in 1896 in Lombard Street London, through a merger of twenty
banking firms. It was first named Barclay and Company limited, and it was formed to establish
an image of frugality, trustworthiness, and prudence. The bank quickly saw a market gap in
England, decided to open a branch in England, formed an amalgamation with gurneys, the
biggest bank in England at the time, and opened its first branch out of London.
Ever since its inception, the bank has invested in technology and has been a trendsetter in the
market, it has always been the first bank to develop or start using certain levels of technology
that had previously not existed in the market. Most important to note, is that, Barclays Bank was
the first bank to start using an all-purpose credit card scheme in Britain. This card was named
Barclaycard and the main challenge it faced in getting market acceptance was the bad image the
credit card was associated with in Britain, as it was always referred to as an unwanted American
influence.
In addition, the bank was the first bank in UK to use a debit card. They named the card connect
card. Moreover, it only took two years from its initial conception to its national launch, resisting
a lot of resistance from retailers who objected or rejected the card.
Lastly, the bank was among the first banks to start using ATM machines, it advanced this
technology to meet customer demands for 24 hour a day and whole year round service, and they
named the service as Barclay cash. This advancement had to overcome high levels of vandalism.
Over the years, whilst Barclays Bank has been at the forefront of the industry technology-wise, it
has had to overcome certain challenges. Part of these include the world war, where, during this
time the bank system collapsed as investors changed their paper money to gold, a lot of lives had

been lost and some of the lives lost were of their customers, also physical infrastructures had
been bombed and flattened as well as economies destroyed and political powers changed.
Through all these challenges, Barclays bank had developed an efficient marketing structure that
not only ensured effectiveness in its marketing strategy but also allowed them to always win and
maintain customers after every disaster thereby increasing its market share and improving
profitability.
The marketing strategies practiced by Barclays bank include:
i. Alliance marketing. In this type of marketing, two or more organizations join to pool in their
resources to not only profit their investors but also have a greater impact on the industry market.
In this regard, Barclays bank after the world war combined with other banks to start a program
that would explain to the executive council of American Bankers association the critical and
important role of American and British financial institutions in rebuilding society. They then
embarked in a merger program that saw the bank consolidate other banks into its system, a move
that made it grow ten times more than the way it was before the war. This move not only
increased its profitability but also increased its market share so much that it was elevated to one
of the big five clearing banks in Britain.
ii.

Social media marketing. In this type of marketing strategy, the organization uses social

media such as Facebook and twitter to engage both old and new customers. Barclays bank has
invested enough into this type of marketing where it has dedicated staff on social media sites
operating the banks official social media accounts all over the world and they engage the public
in discussions whilst solving simple problems that their customers might have. In addition, they
use these accounts to advertise new products and raise recognition for available products.

iii.

Promotional marketing. Here an organization stimulates a customer towards a buying

decision through the use of incentives. In this regard, Barclays bank has used this type of
marketing strategy by asking the public to share their dreams and vision and stand a chance of
winning money. This money is then given to them after they open a Barclays Bank account, and
the money is deposited in it.
iv. Brand lover marketing. In this type of marketing, the organization uses loyalty of its fans to
bring Barclays as a brand to life. In this regard, the bank has associated itself with football, US
soccer, and started a premier league in which it takes advantage of the games wide support to
market its brand and giving football lovers all over the world a sense of belonging whilst
generating tight bonds of affection for its clients. The bank understands that creating loyalty
beyond reason not only requires the highest levels of passion, but also a great feeling of
belonging to the brand.
v. Mobile marketing affords clients with time and situation sensitive, personalized information
that not only promote the organizations goods and services but also ideas. Barclays Bank has
taken advantage of this type of marketing by creating an application to be used on smart phones
that is able to help a client to the nearest location of the Barclays bank branch near him, as well
as notify them of new products offers and promotions and offer them tips.
The use of these types of marketing strategies has not only ensured increased profitability for the
bank, but it has also ensured that the bank has increased its market share widely throughout the
world. In addition, these strategies have enabled the brand to grow to an international bank that
enjoys over 48 million-customer base all over the world. The marketing strategy team of
Barclays bank has been so efficient that Barclays bank as a brand is among the most widely
known brands in the whole world. Their sponsorship of the famous Barclays Premier league in

Europe has helped the brand get so much recognition that it is known across all genders and all
ages.
In conclusion, it is imperative for 1st century bank to review the products, promotion methods,
and most importantly review how they are positioned in the hearts of their customers to ensure
future success. They can use ambush marketing or like Barclays bank start using Brand lover
marketing strategy to develop loyalty to the bank and also increase its market share. Also, due to
the emerging trends in which the world is increasingly becoming more of a global village, the
bank can increase its market share by investing in international markets. It can achieve this
through alliance marketing where it can combine resources with other established financial
institutions in other developing countries to not only market its brand but also increase its market
base and also its profitability.
The bank should also take advantage of social media; it should market its products on social
media as this method of marketing is not only cheap but it also has the ability of reaching a wide
variety of potential customers within the shortest time whilst also saving money. The advantage
of this, particularly to 1st century bank is that it enables them maintain the personal touch it had
set as one of its principles of business. It should also clearly define its core principles and goals
to help the marketing team define a clear path to attaining the goals and objectives set.
In conclusion, 1st century bank has experienced a lot of growth in its operational years.
However, to ensure the continuity of this growth into the coming years in an industry with a
finite number of customers and an ever-increasing number of competitors, the bank should add
other aspects to its marketing strategy to increase its market share and ensure that it remains to
hold a strong market share in the industry.

References
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Shankar, V., & Carpenter, G. S. (2012). Handbook of Marketing Strategy. Cheltenham: Edward
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Webster, F. E. (1991). Industrial marketing strategy (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.
Welcome to 1st Century Bank. (n.d.). Welcome to 1st Century Bank. Retrieved September 29,
2014, from http://www.1cbank.com/about-us.html