Many bankers are just now sticking their toe back into the database marketing pool to check the temperature. The reason for their reluctance, of course, is Washington continues to mess with how banks can monetize their retail banking relationships.

Based on recent research (Q2 2011) banking acquisition mail volume dropped another 14% from Q1 2011 in an environment where overall mail volumes in banking were up over 18%. The vast majority of acquisition mail, of course, is checking related (which is still the cornerstone product for retail banking).

Interestingly, some of the top performing and fastest growing banks have taken a contrarian view of this trend to cut acquisition budgets. Super regionals in Ohio and New York along with one of the top 5 largest banks in the country are smelling blood (opportunity) in the water and rightly so! More consumers will be evaluating their banking relationship in the next 24 months than any time in history. And those banks that have well thought out and comprehensive strategies will receive the “sharks” share of the growth.

By integrating direct marketing and supporting it with social media, the aggressive banks will be able to rebuild their customer base with profitable households. This will all be made possible with affordable emerging database modeling technologies and Campaign Optimization tools available now at the community bank budget levels.

We can turn the banking industry around without “help” from Washington and move back to what drove our success in the past – focusing on the customer.

Come back in the water…it is warm and inviting…