Axis Bank is the third-largest Indian private sector bank catering to large & mid-size companies, small & medium-sized enterprises[SMEs], and retail businesses. In this blog, we’ll be throwing light upon Axis Bank Marketing Strategy with the help of its marketing mix, marketing campaigns, and digital marketing presence. We will also be discussing how Axis Bank leveraged digital marketing for brand awareness and revenue generation.
Let’s start by learning more about the bank and its achievements in the industry.
ABOUT AXIS BANK
Initially, Axis Bank was founded as a UTI Bank [Unit Trust of India] in 1993 with its registered office in Ahmedabad & corporate office in Mumbai. The bank was promoted widely by some of the best financial institutions in the country such as the Life Insurance Company [LIC], General Insurance Corporation of India [ GIC], National Insurance Company Ltd, etc.
The bank has achieved many milestones over the years, such as being voted for the Most Trusted Private Sector Bank in the country in the Most Trusted Brands survey 2013 by Brand Equity, Bank of the Year – Money Today FPCIL Awards 2012–13, amongst many others.
Let us now dig into the marketing mix of Axis Bank to study the factors that led to its present success.
MARKETING MIX OF AXIS BANK
Marketing mix refers to a model comprising of a set of tools that market a company’s services to its target audience, gaining influence in the market. The 7Ps which affect the marketing of a brand are:
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
Keeping Axis Bank & its subsidiaries- Axis Asset Management, Axis Mutual Fund Trustee, Axis Capital, etc. in our minds, let’s have a look at its marketing mix:
1. Axis Bank Products Strategy
There are many products offered by the Bank, such as:
- Accounts [savings, bank lockers, current, salary]
- Deposits [fixed, recurring]
- Loans [home, personal, educational, gold]
- Cards [debit, credit, travel]
- Investments [mutual funds]
- Ferox [ferox card, international fund transfer, foreign currency cash, cheques & DD]
- Insurance [life, health & general]
These services can be accessible to all through Axis’ banking channels.
2. Axis Bank Pricing Strategy
There are regulations set by the RBI that the bank should follow while deciding upon the pricing strategy. The main pointers include the interest rate, commission charges & consulting fee.
- The interest rate should follow the suggestions given by the central bank.
- Indian Banks’ Association is the one that examines the commission charges.
As suggested by the Government of India the bank should also, like every other bank in India, assist & aid the economically backward sections & senior citizens with their plans & schemes.
3. Axis Bank Place Strategy
The place strategy plays an important role in determining where the services or products will gain maximum consumer purchases.
- With 4,528 domestic branches (including extension counters), 12,044 ATMs & 5433 cash recyclers spread across the country, Axis Bank has accomplished an amazing feat being the third largest private bank in India.
- 11 international offices with branches in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Colombo, Shanghai, representative offices at Dhaka, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah & subsidiary banks in London, Axis Bank has extended its influence overseas too.
4. Axis Bank Promotion Strategy
Promotions are crucial for marketers to influence & persuade the consumers by reminding them why they should choose their services.
- Different mediums such as television channels, digital marketing channels, print advertisements are used to promote their bank.
- Luring the consumers by offering gift hampers, offering discounts & offers on interest rates, etc. is a smart way to grow big in the market.
- Having the popular actress, Deepika Padukone as their brand ambassador sure does help as well in making the bank known to many.
Now that we’ve thoroughly understood the marketing mix of Axis Bank, let’s move on to some of the marketing strategies implemented by them.
AXIS BANK MARKETING STRATEGY
Axis Bank’s strategic marketing is something that has garnered popularity and praise for the bank as it’s slowly & swiftly moving its way up to be the most accessible bank in the market. Following are some insights on Axis Bank Marketing Strategy:
- Taking its tagline “ Badhti Ka Naam Zindagi…” seriously & tapping on the uprising of the digital era, Axis Bank has smartly chosen to operate better on technical grounds, moving up the ladder.
- The bank uses an omnichannel approach to market its services keeping the customer as a core.
- The brand provides discount coupons and offers on interest rates who take loans and give gift hampers to the ones who win the lucky draws.
- They also use direct marketing to attract corporate employees and students.
- They use online as well as offline mediums to promote their brand. Offline medium includes print advertisements, television commercials, whereas online medium includes all digital channels like social media. The digital marketing strategy of Axis Bank is discussed later in the blog.
Let’s move further and get an ever-deeper insight into Axis’ marketing by analyzing its digital marketing strategy.
– Axis Bank Digital Marketing Strategy
Despite smoothly moving upwards through digital platforms, Axis Bank has integrated a new philosophy of blending a human touch into their services. Here are some of the digital campaigns of Axis Bank:
- In 2020, ‘ Dil Se Open’ was a fresh initiative taken by the bank to promote a campaign that offers deals on more than 1,00,000 products on purchase through the bank’s credit and debit cards.
- The complaints ratio had decreased to 0.29 per 1000 consumers, far lower than the industry benchmark of 0.40.
- In 2018, ‘ Experience Axis’ featured its brand ambassador, Deepika Padukone promoting the brand by availing exciting benefits such as getting 20% off on Zomato orders, 25% off on Uber rides, etc.
Axis Bank executed an impressive digital marketing strategy by cross-promotions and conducting digital campaigns. An extension of their digital presence is their social media marketing. Let’s take a deeper look at it in the next segment of the blog.
– Social Media Marketing of Axis Bank
The Social Media strategy of Axis Bank was somewhat disappointing, to say the least, but has started improving in the past few years. Here is a quick summary of their digital presence on social media platforms:
Facebook & Twitter:
The Bank has a good presence on these social media platforms but the engagement rate with their followers should be much higher for a company in their position.
They must be open to what the consumers think & expect from the brand, and be receptive to their suggestions to make the services better. Regardless, the bank did a great job when it came to advertisements. So much so that Facebook conducted a case study on how Axis Bank used Facebook Ads for brand awareness and revenue generation.
Instagram:
The brand is very active on Instagram and consistently communicates information about its products. They assist with all the queries of their customers. One tool that could benefit the brand more though would be using reels. Having the much useful ‘reels’ feature incorporated in our Instagram feeds, the brand should reap the benefits of this new high-engagement and reach driving tool. They should find more interesting ways of interacting with the followers, like giving out tips & tricks related to banking & finances to the common masses.
- Youtube: The brand posts its campaign videos and videos for its product promotion on YouTube. Apart from this, they can easily hold more authority in the market by making some videos on the guidelines, and knowledge needed to a person who’s never been to a bank or doesn’t know how accessing financial services works.
Overall, it can increase its engagement with the customers, be more user-friendly, accessible & make the users feel more connected with the brand.
SUGGESTIONS
In the last section of this blog, we will talk about some suggestions that could greatly benefit the bank, after analyzing and researching their various marketing efforts.
Even though Axis Bank has opted for one of the best ways to grow in business since its arrival in 1993 in Ahmedabad, there’s still a need for them to expand its reach & provide services to the lower-middle-class.
They can target young audiences & grow exponentially by blending online services and AI. This would make the youth perceive the bank positively. They can also easily manage to take over the new generation of customers by prioritizing extensive reach on social media platforms, making them trust the brand better.
CONCLUSION
So, as we’ve seen, the times are changing, so are the ways of people interacting with different institutions. Axis Bank’s dynamism of including technical ways to move ahead with time shows the bank’s capability towards elevation, wishing to surpass its competitors. It has made major strides of excellence since it came to being and will continue to do so with the loyalty and support of its customers & the bank’s continuous need to evolve its methods & ways of interacting with the audience.
What according to you is the best & most effective way of marketing? Do share your views. Thank you for taking out your valuable time and reading this blog. If you liked it, then do share it with someone who would be interested too. If you are interested in more case studies like Axis Bank Marketing Strategy, check out the knowledge portal on our website!
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