AN INTERVIEW WITH:
Aditya Bhasin
Consumer Marketing Executive
Bank of America

Since joining Bank of America in 2004, Aditya Bhasin has managed consumer marketing for a variety of financial products, including mortgages, home loans and real estate. He has also overseen brand and relationship marketing initiatives. Currently, Bhasin leads marketing strategies for Bank of America Home Loans & Insurance and Bank of America Consumer, Small Business and Card Banking. Bhasin spoke with eMarketer’s Lauren McKay about how the bank views digital.

eMarketer: How does Bank of America break down its digital marketing budget?

Aditya Bhasin: We don’t think about a separate digital budget anymore because our customers don’t think that way. For a particular product launch or campaign we think about how much money we want to spend and then we look for the best tactics to deliver that message. In some years that may mean it’s a little more TV, and some years we may flex up the digital spend. It depends on what the business needs are and what tactics fit best.

eMarketer: Separate digital budget or not, Bank of America is doing a lot in the online space. Can you provide an overview?

Bhasin: When Bank of America runs a television campaign, we try to echo that message in digital. So, you’ll see display advertisements in contextually relevant places. We run a very sophisticated search platform and we’re constantly optimizing our search keywords.
Advertising on our site, BankofAmerica.com, is another important piece of our media mix. When we think about mass-media efforts to get our message out, digital is an integral component.

eMarketer: What success have you had with on-site advertising?

Bhasin: We think of it as an important part of our media mix, because consumers who visit the site are in the mindset for financial services. BankofAmerica.com is the 28th most visited website in the US, and it’s the second most visited financial website. On the homepage, we run a big banner ad that promotes one of our own products. Once a customer authenticates and we know who they are, we can target them with more relevant offers.

Through a variety of targeting techniques, we know what sites they have visited within BankofAmerica.com. We also know some of their financial attributes, and we can use our natural targeting models to determine what product or service to offer.

For example, if a customer has a high balance in her deposit account and doesn’t already have an investing relationship with us, she would see an offer for our Merrill Edge product, which helps customers with their investments. Because the customer is in that mindset to make financial decisions, she’s much more likely to click on it.

We want good quality new customers who are going to bring us high balances and who are looking to have a deep relationship with us. We want to have conversations with customers about how they bank, how they invest, whether they own a home and whether they will need a mortgage. These conversations are important, but they are difficult to have with prospects.

eMarketer: Can you provide any specific examples of how Bank of America is integrating offline programs with digital tactics?

Bhasin: A few years back we relied on direct mail almost exclusively to market our credit cards. To give you a sense on how things have changed, at the end of last year, we ran a fully integrated program around our Cash Back Rewards Credit Card. Our value proposition on our Cash Back Rewards card is that it’s clear, simple, transparent, and you get what you want every time.

We’re taking an integrated approach that we think is aligned with how our customers consume media. We’ve invested in a display program that advertises our card rewards program in major portals where customers research credit cards. We are active in search and email—and we view those messages as accretive.

Counting all the aspects, there’s mass media to support the program; there’s direct response if the customer is in the search mode; there’s physical mail; and then there is merchandising in the stores. We know that customers may see a message in an online channel, but they might not be ready to make a decision at that point. Later they might receive a piece of mail with the credit card offer, but it isn’t until they are in the store that they see a display and ask a representative about the 1% cash-back card. So, it’s important that we are in all of these channels.

eMarketer: This is a long purchase cycle. How does this affect your marketing tactics?

Bhasin: A financial purchase is rarely spur-of-the-moment. Customers shop for a home loan for quite a while and there’s a lot of research involved. The same goes for searching for a credit card with the best rewards program, or for a retirement plan.

Given the amount of time that can elapse between research and decision-making, we use the digital platform as a means for continuous customer communication and education.

We turn to the search platform to ensure we are in the consideration set when customers are searching. We know that when customers are thinking about refinancing, for example, they often start their searches on Google or Bing. So, we’re managing a portfolio of search keywords for areas that could generate demand—for example, refinancing, credit cards, retirement accounts and college savings plans.

We also are sponsoring content on Yahoo!’s personal finance site, Financially Fit. This is another way to be in the customer’s consideration set when they’re thinking about financial services. We want to build rich content that isn’t heavily sales-oriented.

Another good example of this is the Bank of America Home Loan Guide. On the Home Loans landing page, we have built an interactive tour of the entire home loan consideration process and how much a person could comfortably afford.

We walk customers through a series of targeted questions, tools and calculators that lead to a place where they can make an informed decision. That’s when we step in to market our home loan services and say, “If you want to apply for a home loan through Bank of America, here’s an online application. You can also call us, or visit a store.”

The complete interview is available to eMarketer Total Access clients. To learn more, click here.