Banks Attracting College Students

You’ve seen the traditional bank student outreach program: tables and tents set up along walking paths stocked with cheap incentives for students to sign up for accounts and credit cards. It’s old, it’s tired, and frankly it doesn’t speak to this generation of college students.BankMobile is getting innovative, and taking on a new model that engineers success through social connection.

This spring and summer, BankMobile’s intensive initiative to onboard students will kick off with bank representatives visiting campuses to recruit students as brand ambassadors.

“At colleges, we want to find influencers interested in running BankMobile franchises that they would run as entrepreneurs,” Sidhu said. “Franchises on campuses run by customers willing to be brand ambassadors is surely a new model for banking.”

While this approach isn’t new to college campuses- brand ambassadors are a dime a dozen on campus walks- banking and financial services companies are finally able to take advantage of the close-knit social structure of university and college campuses.

While there is validity in immersing college students into your brand, banks are forgetting that their services are a far cry from the 30 minute caffeine buzz that other brand ambassadors are peddling. Choosing a bank and credit cards are big decisions and no one is more aware of the gravity of those decisions than the highly educated millennials just emerging from an American recession. They won’t be tricked, manipulated or swindled into a relationship with a financial brand.

Mobile Bank vs Mobile Banking

Moving forward, banks and financial service companies must continue to take advantage of the social pull that comes from utilizing brand ambassadors, while still remaining transparent and nimble enough to fill new branches. Whether it’s a completely mobile  bank or incorporating semi-permanent or permanent boutique branches, financial providers must continue to embrace innovation in order to cultivate a professional and trustworthy atmosphere, expedite onboarding, and provide the on-demand atmosphere consumers of all kinds are beginning to require.