Abstract:

Bank marketing activity, certainly in the UK, has accelerated in the last decade from a trickle to a flood. The competitive pressures among the banks and from other organisations, notably building societies, have led to a profusion of new products and services not seen before in this sector. No responsible bank marketing executive would argue that staff are crucial to the banks' marketing thrust in two major respects: 1) they are in continuous contact with the markets and therefore have a profound understanding of the needs, priorities and mood of those markets, and; 2) they have the responsibility of implementing the marketing strategies devised by the banks. Bank staff are the front-line marketing troops.The paper argues that this situation represents a gross neglect of a crucial resource. Research among bank staff can help to optimise a marketing effort, and has a clearly offensive role in this respect.