Banks aren't just places to deposit money. They're also consultants, offering information on loans, mortgages, insurance, investments and other financial services. To gain clients, banks must promote their services wisely. A creative place to advertise is on the envelopes placed at drive-up windows.
Optimum System Products Inc., a division of Optimum Companies in Columbus, Ohio, is a consulting/marketing firm and print provider that works mostly with banks. It recently created a selection of high-quality graphics for banks to use in their marketing materials. The images are used to highlight products such as IRAs or ways to save for children's education.
Optimum System Products Inc., a division of Optimum Companies in Columbus, Ohio, helps banks promote their services by placing ads on drive-up window envelopes and other products. JBM Envelope, Lebanon, Ohio, works with the company to create and print promotional envelopes.
Recently, Optimum provided a bank with an envelope that included three images--a house, a woman graduating from college and a car dashboard. Text accompanied the graphics: "Lending Money...is Our Business! Talk to one of our loan officers today!" Another recent project for the customer helped to promote its business checking account.
Optimum outsources the production of envelopes to only one of its vendors, JBM Envelope, a manufacturer in Lebanon, Ohio, which specializes in financial envelopes. "JBM was our choice vendor to print items because they're the best ones to go to for bank drive-in envelopes," says Angela Pugh, manager of client services and vendor relations at Optimum. "That's their niche, so they have the capabilities."
Optimum sends designs to JBM Envelope, where an in-house artist manipulates each image to fit on an envelope. After printing, the manufacturer either sends the final product to the bank or to Optimum. It takes approximately 15 to 18 days to complete a project for first-time customers and 10 to 12 days for repeat customers.
JBM Envelope helps Optimum accomplish its goal of providing financial institutions with creative advertising ideas. Optimum recommends marketing plans and product design ideas and helps banks comply with federal and state mandates. It has a large warehousing facility and an online ordering system, and the firm offers document management and analysis, budgeting help, forms control, and marketing and merchandising services. It also has an in-house print shop to produce marketing materials.
"Our claim to fame is that we produce anything a bank needs to service its clients," Pugh says. "We suggest many different solutions for banks to get their message out." Optimum also offers clients competitive prices by grouping together orders from various banks and producing them at the same time. Clients also can benefit from the knowledge and experience Optimum's employees have gained over the years, Pugh says. She and her team constantly study the market for new products, regulation changes and technological improvements in the financial sector. "We work with banks to find solutions," says Pugh. "Our job is to know what they need."
—Christine Mersch
