banking allowing greater inclusion and
giving dignity to many’ as Dr Mwangi
describes it.
Not only did this enable them to get the
much needed foothold in the competitive
sector but with time they became the
bank with the highest number of account
holders. For many whom Equity was their
first Bank it resulted in a high level of pride
for them and guaranteed loyalty for a long
time to come. Loyalty in a competitive
arena gives the marketer a competitive
edge allowing them to among other things
cross sell their products.
Lesson #3
The third lesson is the need for the marketer
to understand who their competition is or
are. In deciding to serve the unbanked
segment Equity realised they were actually
not competing with other banks but ‘the
mattress where most of the unbanked
kept their money’, Dr Mwangi said, and
all the Bank needed to do was to focus
on removing the barriers to entry and
the money would be moved from the
mattresses to the bank’’.
Thus for a while Equity could afford to
ignore the other banks and concentrate on
growing their customer base. And because
the other banks ignored them too they
were caught by surprise as Equity grew in
leaps and bounds within a relatively short
period of time.
Lesson #4
The fourth lesson is that of Positioning.
The marketer must be able to offer a
unique proposition that is relevant and
therefore attractive to the consumer.
Equity positioned itself as a friend rather
than a bank and adopted the tag line ‘Your
Listening Caring Partner’. To this day they
have remained true to this.
Lesson #5
Lastly is the need to keep abreast with
the changing business arena especially the
factors that influence consumer behaviour.
As time went on Equity realized that
technology especially mobile telephony
was becoming a game changer. To this
end Equity applied for and were granted a
mobile telephony licence, a first for a bank,
and they launched Equitel in 2014. Equitel,
which allows for SIM based banking, ‘is
less about voice and data and more about
increasing efficiency and cost effectiveness
by enabling customers access the bank and
transact effortlessly and quickly’.
Equity also introduced Agency Banking
on realising that their customers needed
them to be as close to them as possible.
Agency banking has brought the Bank
closer to their customers in a way branches
cannot achieve and also made banking
less formal, friendlier and more relevant
to their customers. These two innovations
have enabled Equity serve their large
customer base without a proportionate
increase in their cost base.
In conclusion marketing is tasked with
building strong brands and that is only
possible if we have an almost intimate
understanding of the business environment,
the competition, and most importantly the
consumer. This understanding can only
come through research and data analysis to
gain useful insights on which our decisions
should be based on. The success of Equity
Bank has proved this to be true.
Robert Wamai is a trainer and advertising
consultant, a passionate consumer advocate
and believer in the power of brands. You
can engage him on this or related matters
via email at: [email protected].