For financial institutions looking to grow their deposits, the small business segment represents an untapped opportunity. To attract more small business customers, you need to enhance your digital presence and offer more digital services.
This article explores why small businesses are such an attractive market for deposit growth and outlines key strategies to engage these entrepreneurs as valued banking customers.
Keep reading to discover how your institution can leverage digital tools, targeted services, and data-driven insights to capture more small business deposits and build lasting, profitable relationships.
Small Business Potential
The overlooked small business segment represents a powerful opportunity for deposit growth and economic vitality. A study found that 70% of small business owners use the same bank for both business and personal needs, highlighting the potential for financial institutions to capture significant consumer deposits by serving these entrepreneurs holistically.
But the potential doesn’t stop there. This untapped opportunity is furthered by the fact that small businesses represent over $370 billion in annual revenue potential for banks. Additionally, the median small business held a cash balance of $9,500 – nearly 5 times higher than the median household’s $2,000 in liquid assets, emphasizing the distinct banking patterns and economic impact of these businesses.
(Source: BAI, Deloitte, JPMorgan Chase Institute report)
Attracting New Small Business Customers
To tap into the small business opportunity, financial institutions must first get in front of these potential customers. Key strategies include:
Enhance Your Digital Presence
A strong online presence is crucial for attracting tech-savvy entrepreneurs. By investing in search engine optimization (SEO), targeted advertising, and mobile-friendly web design, financial institutions can improve discoverability and engagement. Showcasing small business success stories and intuitive navigation can transform a website into a powerful tool for building trust and driving conversions.
Offer More Digital Services
Innovative platforms like Finli empower small businesses to streamline payments and optimize cash flow. By providing secure, user-friendly tools for invoicing, receivables tracking, and direct deposit transactions, financial institutions can become indispensable partners in helping SMBs thrive. These digital services are particularly game-changing for small businesses, enabling them to focus on what they do best – running their business.
Growing Wallet Share with Existing Clients
For small businesses that already bank with you, the focus shifts to deepening those relationships and encouraging them to consolidate more of their deposits with your institution. Impactful approaches include:
Expand Payment Options
Modern payment technology transforms your small business customers’ daily transactions into growth opportunities by connecting their sales directly to their accounts with your institution. By offering seamless payment solutions – from processing sales to settling service invoices on the go – you become an integral part of your entrepreneurs’ success stories while also growing your deposit base, creating a win-win relationship.
Surface Real-Time Insights
Behind every small business account lies an array of insights waiting to be unlocked. By utilizing tools to analyze patterns in transactions and cash flow, FIs can offer exactly what a business needs, exactly when they need it. This hands-on, data-driven approach transforms banks from service providers into genuine business partners, incentivizing customers to consolidate more of their banking relationships.
Promote Relevant Solutions
Within Finli’s platform, we make it easy for your institution to showcase other relevant business solutions that meet your clients’ needs. This space allows you to interact with your customers right within their business management tool and deepen your customer relationships through tailored banking offerings.
Reach out to our account manager to learn more about this new feature.
Takeaways
Small businesses offer a huge opportunity for banks and credit unions to grow deposits and build customer loyalty. For attracting net new small business relationships, FIs should focus on enhancing their digital presence through SEO and mobile-friendly design while offering innovative digital services that streamline payments and optimize cash flow. With existing clients, best practices are expanding payment options that connect directly to accounts, surfacing real-time insights from transaction data, and promoting relevant solutions within their business management tools. Don’t miss out on this opportunity within the SMB segment.
