Page 19 - GS221202

Feature

GS Book Notes • Establish a foundation for growth: Positioning
products, understanding consumer behavior, set-
ting growth goals and learning from past examples
Banking on digital • Build a digital growth engine: Building websites
are part of the initial building process.

growth that sell, maximizing marketing techniques, map-
ping digital customer journeys and avoiding com-
mon digital pitfalls help bring concepts to life.
• Maximize digital growth potential: In the actu-
alization stage, financial institutions need to prove
the value of their marketing plans, promote content
solely to guide people, produce content that helps
first, and become an overall helpful and empathetic
guide.

Most importantly, Lay emphasizes that these plans take
time to execute and urges readers to follow the framework
without becoming distracted or abandoning hope. Forget
about perfection and follow the plan as best you can, he
stated, because it takes time to break free from legacy
marketing and sales systems built around bank branches.
Automation, AI
High on the list of advanced and emerging technologies
ur collective journey from paper-based trans- cited in the book are automation and artificial intelligence,
actions to digital, omnichannel commerce which Lay noted, tend to strike fear in people who are
has been powered by technology solutions concerned that robots may someday replace their jobs.
O designed to remove friction, improve security These fears are stoked by mainstream media, while the
and enhance the customer experience. Financial institu- reality about automation and AI is far more nuanced, he
tions have heeded the call to accelerate digital journeys added.
but could grow faster with strategic focus, stated James
Robert Lay, author of Banking on Digital Growth: The “Think about all the jobs yet to come because of this
Strategic Marketing Manifesto to Transform Financial Brands. technology,” he wrote. “There’s so much we can’t even
begin to fathom. Think about all you’ll be able to do. This
At issue, from Lay’s perspective, is a tendency for banks to is what it means to move from a legacy mindset into a
conflate the delivery side of services, such as mobile and growth mindset.”
online banking, with sales, marketing and growth-related
activities. His book offers course corrections for this and Lay went on to suggest that financial services stakeholders
other traditional viewpoints in an effort to help service should be excited by the massive opportunities automation
providers compete and remain relevant in a digital-first and AI create. Mundane, manual tasks will be in our
world. rearview mirrors, and we’ll have more time to learn and
think in a digital-first world, he predicted. This world will
“This book defines digital growth as a systematic process, need humans more than ever, he added, to guide people
centered on the modern consumer journey, that unites beyond financial stress to a bigger, better and brighter
marketing, sales, operations, and IT teams around future.
the following goals: (a) increasing website traffic, (b)
generating and nurturing leads and (c) converting those
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Ideally speaking, a modular digital-first strategy enables mos t u p-t o-d a t e s t o ri es,
participants to use one or several components, Lay stated, c a n ’ t miss e v e n ts a nd ne w es t
can’t miss events and newest
without having to adopt an entire set of guidelines. The
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foundational attributes of his 12-part Digital Growth industry announcements.
Blueprint and strategic marketing manifesto can be used
either independently or collectively, as follows:
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