Marketing is what you do (not just what you say)

Impressive piece of marketing - within 24 hours of the unexpected 1.5% rate cut First Direct took the trouble to tell me that they have cut the interest rate on savings. Too bad they haven't seen fit to cut their mortgage rate by a comparable amount. In fact they haven't cut it at all. But this is 'marketing' a department which issues communications. Talk is cheap. Keeping the savings from an interest rate cut while keeping loan rates high looks like self interested behaviour. Which of course it is. Even if they are take my calls 24 hours a day. I would have told them this in person. But they don't seem to be answering. Banking is a miserable business these days - they really don't know what is going to hit them next. And they can't get off the back foot. The whole point about marketing is coming off the front foot - initiating and creating the marketing conditions you want. To date financial services hasn't got the foggiest how to get started.