The concept of marketing is a new concept in Indian banking industry.we have not as yet explored the the ways and means of exploiting the concept.The most important function of market research is to prepare the banks for the inevitable changes that will occur.If banks are to be successful in meeting the formidable competition from other banks and financial institutions they must continue to change and keep themselves in readiness for change.
Banks have to develop and offer those products and services which have a wide market.In other words banks have to develop different ranges of services and products for different groups or sections of people at different times according to changes that may occur.From the point of view of customers two most important areas for constant change are the range of products and attitude of management.
Sophisticated customers want services of diverse types.Major shifts in consumer demand patterns have not only increased the demand for existing services but also made for introduction of several diversified and sophisticated services.
Banks have been expanding the network of branches in all parts of the country .In areas where they set up branches they have to ransack every corner with a view to finding new customers and they can not afford to wait for customers to come to their counters.
TOUGH TASK
Convincing the new clientele of the utility of variuos banking products and services and marketing the products to them is a hercluean task especially in rural and semi-urban ares where majority of people do not know about the importance and utility of banking services and products.In such ares banks have to struggle hard to find market for their business.The responsibility of bringing new customers within banking fold has brought to the fore the importance of adopting marketing techniques in commercial banks.
Market research and the use of marketing techniques are of crucial imprtance in the present day context. Marketing research is important and useful in that it helps identify the future trend of demand for banking services and products.Some of the important factors that may affect the future demand for banking services and products are the attitude of customers towards bank credit,the security,desire for some other form of assistance etc.Banks have to gather information about theseand other important trends so that they may plan for introduction of new products and services on the basis of such data and information.
Market research also enables banks to select those projects and schemes which fructfy in the shortest possible time.Marketing research helps banks in identifying clients and projects with in-built capacity to grow.Also research in marketing and use of marketing techniques help eliminate wastage in developmental efforts.To put the whole thing in a nutshell market research has the merit of not only identifying the present potentialities of the markets butalso forecasting their future shapes.
American View
According to American Marketing Association marketing is the systematic gathering ,recording,and anlysing of data about problems relating to marketing of goods and services .Bank marketing is therefore the technique of gathering and analysing data pertaining to problems connected with marketing of banking products and services.
The application of the concept of marketing was almost a novely till recently in Indian banking.Utilisation of the techniques of marketing will go a long way in enabling banks to develop their business on scientific lines and to provide the right type of services and products.
The management policies relating to credit,deposits and other products must be customer-oriented.Customer orientation and customer-focus are vital in marketing banking products.Marketing research will enable banks to ensure that their policies are customer-oriented.Market research enables banks to understand the preferences of customers and other market conditions.For the purpose of understanding customer needs and preferences the attitudes of customers have to be studied.
For studying this the total population must be divided in to groups say poor classes,middle income groups,professionals,salary earners,traders etc it is also possible to divide the population into urban and rural population.Thus the usual method is to divide them into important groups and each group has certain attributes which are common for the group.These common characteristics are significant from the point of view of marketing.Division of the market is useful for banks because the credit needs and service needs of different groups are varied.
The services that will have to be developed by banks to satisfy the needs of different groups may not be identical.Therefore the attitudes of customers have to be studied grup-wise in order that the right type of products and services are devised and developed for satisfying the requirements of a given class of customers.Thus customer-orientation is the most important facet of bank marketing and hence the primary focus of marketing research is the customer.
In order to understand his customers the bank marketer must concentrate on all aspects of need satisfaction process.This involves the consideration of the customer's needs,and desires,his buying motives,his purchasing behaviour,and satisfaction obtained.Under the fast changing circumstances it is important to complete a survey within a short time.It is also important to initiate immediate action after the survey so that potentialities discovered do not become obsolete.
SOME METHODS
We may employ the method of sending sending questionnaires and collecting replies from customers.This is the most easy way of conducting market research.But here there is no guarantee that that the addressees will indicate their preferences correctly and truly during the course of their replies . Most of the addressees may not reply at all.
we may also employ the technique of advertising research for the purpose.Banks must decide upon the aspects of a given service which must be publicised and publicise only those aspects.Banking services rendered by all banks are the same and hence marketing techniques have got to strive hard for ''service-differentiation''and creating a brand image.Potential customers because they normally have limited experience upon which to base the selection of a bank
must rely on their subjective impressions of various banks.Image creation is therefore a marketing activity for banks.
For the purpose of creating an image consistent with bank's objectives and policies bank managements must research the attitudes of customers on the lines indicated earlier.Public relation and image creation activities will have to be based on factual data and not on subjective opinions.Advertising can be used to overcome weaknesses revealed by attitude research.
Also advertising can capitalise on the strengths discovered by research.In short a clear understanding of how customers view the bank today will make the job of building tomorrow's bank image easier.So also projecting an appropriate image of the bank on the local population is also essentialfor business success.Designing and styling of branches must suit the tastes of local population.This will help buid a good and favourable public image.
From the above discussion it is clear that marketing is part and parcel of good bankig.The successful banker must no longer guess his customer's needsand offer services which he thinks will meet their hypothesised needs.The needs and desires of customers must be researched and only those services which satisfy their needs must be providedUltimately any business survives and flourishes only if it satisfies the needs of customers.The practice followed in America is worthy of emulation
All American banks have established separate marketing departments ,the heads of which usually have direct access to the chief executive.They also have other deprtments like economic research and planning.These deprtments are main sources of new ideas.They develop the most effective method of presenting new services.They forecast future trends in customer attitudesand they study population changes to facilitate the most effective coverage by bank branches.We have to learn from the banks of united States of America regarding how good image akin to that of a good bank can be created and mainained on an enduring basis.
In the U.S banks keep their image uptodatein a quickly changing worldand maintain their appeal to the man in the street.Much of credit for this goes to their effective advertising.It is said that American banks are capable of dressing up and presenting mutton as lamb.Indian banks have started to use marketing technique in post reform era .But they are yet to develop truly integrated customer-oriented marketing programmes which are essence of the marketing concept.
AGREED WAY
It is only through information provided by research that effective marketing programme will be developed.The shortcoming of Indian banking could be remedied by applying to it the marketing conceptwhich it lacks.This was agrred by all concerned in post reform period.For attracting customers in new areas marketing research and use of marketing techniques are absolutely necessary.The emphasis today is not merely to offer banking products and services but to go out and sell them.Therefore marketing is fundamental to good banking and market research being the integral part of good marketing must also be given adequate importance.
[PUBLISHED IN FINANCIAL EXPRESS DATED JULY22,1973]
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