ABA Banking Journal
No Result
View All Result
  • Topics
    • Ag Banking
    • Commercial Lending
    • Community Banking
    • Compliance and Risk
    • Cybersecurity
    • Economy
    • Human Resources
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Mortgage
    • Mutual Funds
    • Payments
    • Policy
    • Retail and Marketing
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Technology
    • Wealth Management
  • Newsbytes
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Podcast Archive
    • Sponsored Content Archive
SUBSCRIBE
ABA Banking Journal
  • Topics
    • Ag Banking
    • Commercial Lending
    • Community Banking
    • Compliance and Risk
    • Cybersecurity
    • Economy
    • Human Resources
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Mortgage
    • Mutual Funds
    • Payments
    • Policy
    • Retail and Marketing
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Technology
    • Wealth Management
  • Newsbytes
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Podcast Archive
    • Sponsored Content Archive
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT
Home Retail and Marketing

Break, Shatter and Roll—Innovate Like a Banker

February 4, 2020
Reading Time: 4 mins read
Break, Shatter and Roll—Innovate Like a Banker

By Martha Bartlett Piland

Creating a culture of innovation in your bank means you have to start breaking things apart before you can fix them. This can be scary stuff. But hang on. Before you start worrying about risk and rules, think about what requirements and conventions can’t be touched—and which ones are ripe for improvement.

Reinvention is vital, and it can take many forms. Think about things that are your current status quo. Do all your daily activities and offerings still serve the bank and its customers? To be more than a commodity and stay ahead of the competition, bankers have to do more.

Here are three ways to foster a culture of innovation.

1. Break up with your assumptions.

Breaking with assumptions is a first step to disruption. Over time, some things become so ingrained that we don’t realize they might be something other than what they appear.

Many institutions claim to value innovation. They say, “we won’t tolerate resistance to change” without truly living that value. They look at challengers as troublemakers, not innovators.

It’s easy to say that you won’t accept a change-resistant mindset, but have you actually taken the time to ask what could change?

Spend some time with your team. Take an inventory of your institutional assumptions. It’s important to fully examine your own bank’s particular assumptions, but the list below offers some conversation starters:

  • The annual retreat should be annual
  • Employee training must be done by trainers
  • Our work hours are measured in hours
  • Our marketing is only done by the marketing department
  • Free checking must include checks
  • Loan officers only promote loans
  • Every customer is a good customer

Once you have a robust list of assumptions—at least 20—start curating. Home in on the top five that fall into areas addressed in your institution’s strategic plan. Now that you’ve recognized them, you can start work on turning them on their heads to create new solutions.

2. Break up and review your product packages.

Do you offer bundled services for your business customers? When was the last time you looked to see if those services are being fully used as you had planned?

If you don’t look and analyze, then you don’t know. Take both the macro and micro into consideration to learn whether you’re wasting good time and money offering and supporting services customers either don’t find valuable or haven’t taken the time to understand and use.

At the individual level, an annual customer checkup could reveal there’s better value for you and the customer with a different solution or with some training. A conversation with recommendations will deepen your relationships.

On a system level, if you see an across-the-board trend of overuse or underuse of certain packages, find out why. Is this using bandwidth or budget that’s better used elsewhere?

Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in.’” —Ronald Reagan

3. Break up and examine your marketing mix.

Are you advertising in the same media you’ve been using for years? Or have you dropped some of your traditional media because they seemed too—well—traditional?

Either way, be sure you have a purpose and strategy for every activity. Build in metrics for your results:

  • Are you measuring each medium individually and as a whole?
  • Are you looking at results by market, or even by branch?
  • What calls-to-action are you building in?
  • How will you know if those actions are taken?
  • Are you using a one-size-fits-all media approach or zeroing in with smart targeting?

Don’t just go with your gut. Monitor and measure so you can build on what drives inquiries, applications, engagement and profit.

“A problem is only a problem when viewed as a problem. All change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.”—author Robin S. Sharma

Take action

Once you’ve spent some time reimagining, it’s time to reinvent. Use a step-by-step, strategic approach to putting new ideas into motion.

ADVERTISEMENT
  • Evaluate against the bank’s brand and purpose.
  • Break into steps.
  • Share with the team.
  • Set timeline and benchmarks.
  • Assign responsibilities.
  • Check periodically against benchmarks.
  • Celebrate successes.
  • Adjust where necessary.

Do you need to break some things to ignite innovation? The answer is most probably a yes. Start now.

Martha Bartlett Piland is president and CEO of Banktastic, a firm that helps financial organizations build better ROI by aligning their internal and external brands. She’s a national speaker on branding, marketing, business development and advertising. She’s presented at more than 100 events and conferences and has served on three different bank advisory boards. Martha is a regular contributor to ABA Bank Marketing. She’s also an inventor, author and illustrator.

Her second book, Beyond Sticky, is available at all major booksellers. 

Tags: Innovation
ShareTweetPin

Related Posts

Using Artificial Intelligence to Make Sense of Mountains of Data

Three myths about AI in banking

Technology
July 3, 2025

Common myths and misperceptions might confuse about what to expect and misdirect investment and efforts.

Chair’s View: Celebrating a century of giving back

Chair’s View: Celebrating a century of giving back

Community Banking
July 1, 2025

Not only do we celebrate the 150th anniversary of our organization, we also commemorate an important milestone for the ABA Foundation.

Fighting fraud on the frontline

Fighting fraud on the frontline

Compliance and Risk
June 30, 2025

Customer inquiries and complaints are important tools for detecting scams, but structural barriers in the bank may prevent them from being fully utilized.

Marketing Money Podcast: You don’t need a bigger budget — you need a better plan

Retail and Marketing
June 27, 2025

What matters most in bank marketing. And understanding how to deal with common obstacles.

Proposed rule would require verification system for Treasury checks

Podcast: Inside ABA’s new Treasury Check Verification System API

ABA Banking Journal Podcast
June 25, 2025

ABA's new Treasury Check Verification System platform is live. ABA anti-fraud experts Paul Benda and Hannah Ibberson discuss the platform and how banks can put it to use.

Marketing automation drives value for bank marketers

Retail and Marketing
June 23, 2025

Automation can assist bank marketers with lead analysis, scoring and pipeline reporting when built into a bank's CRM or automation platform.

NEWSBYTES

U.S. Bank survey: Small-business owners focus on succession planning

July 6, 2025

FDIC report: 97% of supervised institutions rated satisfactory or better for consumer compliance

July 6, 2025

Updated: President signs ‘big beautiful bill’ including numerous ABA-backed provisions

July 3, 2025

SPONSORED CONTENT

Navigating Disruption in Ag Lending – Why Tariffs Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg

Navigating Disruption in Ag Lending – Why Tariffs Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg

July 1, 2025
AI Compliance and Regulation: What Financial Institutions Need to Know

Unlocking Deposit Growth: How Financial Institutions Can Activate Data for Precision Cross-Sell

June 1, 2025
Choosing the Right Account Opening Platform: 10 Key Considerations for Long-Term Success

Choosing the Right Account Opening Platform: 10 Key Considerations for Long-Term Success

April 25, 2025
Outsourcing: Getting to Go/No-Go

Outsourcing: Getting to Go/No-Go

April 5, 2025

PODCASTS

Podcast: Inside ABA’s new Treasury Check Verification System API

June 25, 2025

Podcast: Staying close to clients amid tariff-driven volatility

June 18, 2025

Podcast: Old National’s Jim Ryan on the things that really matter

June 12, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT

American Bankers Association
1333 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
1-800-BANKERS (800-226-5377)
www.aba.com
About ABA
Privacy Policy
Contact ABA

ABA Banking Journal
About ABA Banking Journal
Media Kit
Advertising
Subscribe

© 2025 American Bankers Association. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Topics
    • Ag Banking
    • Commercial Lending
    • Community Banking
    • Compliance and Risk
    • Cybersecurity
    • Economy
    • Human Resources
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Mortgage
    • Mutual Funds
    • Payments
    • Policy
    • Retail and Marketing
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Technology
    • Wealth Management
  • Newsbytes
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Podcast Archive
    • Sponsored Content Archive

© 2025 American Bankers Association. All rights reserved.