What’s your bank’s brand position?

Speed? Quality? Location? Price?  Do these value propositions represent one of the 15,000 financial institutions you may bank with? The Financial Brand blog recently summarized the 15 most common brand positions.

1. Personal – Get to know you, understand your unique needs
2. Local community – In your backyard, where we all live and work
3. Customer advocacy – Listen and give objective advice with active listening
4. Smart Money – Financial education for financially healthy lives
5. Thrift – Providing tools and tips to help people save
6. Convenience – Access to channels (ATMs, online, mobile, branches)
7. Price leader – Bottom line, it’s all about low rates and fees, best-rate guarantees
8. Overall value – Bundles of products and services mean overall solid value
9. The antidote – “We’re not like the Big Banks”
10. Trusted advisor – Your trusted, smart and savvy financial partner
11. Integrity – Count on us, we do what we say, we’re honest and fair
12. Choices – Lots of choices, choose what suits you best
13. Flexibility – The “have it your way” approach with customization of services
14. Easy/simple – Get your banking done as easily as possible and move on
15. Online self-service – Digital self service focused on younger, hipper customers

The blog goes on to suggest the best brands find a direction that isn’t already ubiquitously used by thousands of other financial institutions.  Moreover, if a bank’s brand position resides in multiple categories, or doesn’t align every aspect of the organization around a focused brand, the bank will just end up being another commoditized “me too” entity.

What about you? Does your bank’s brand position line up with what’s important to you as a consumer? Maybe a New Year’s resolution is to reevaluate your banking relationship. That actually might be easier than resolving to work out at the gym five times a week to lose those holiday pounds.