Research On Brand Communication Strategy Of Local Commericalbanks In Anhui Province

With the rapid growth of China’s economy, China’s banking sector also maintains a consistent high growth rate; however, during the same time, competitions among banks have also been intensified. In the current competitive market, the state-owned banks and national joint-stock commercial banks have formed an unparalleled advantage after a long period of development, compared with relative small local commercial banks, who were suffered with serious product homogeneity, lack of core competitiveness and low market acceptance. Consequently, local commercial banks need to identify a breakthrough point of development to be able to stand out from the fierce competition. Through the implementation of brand communication, it can enable local commercial banks to fully illustrate their products and services, in order to further enhance the its brand awareness and influence as well as its attraction to talents. Accordingly, it is safe to say that brand communication offers one of the best breakthrough points for the sustainable development of local banks.Currently, academics and industry are increasingly concerned with the branding of financial institutions. Some large banks such as ICBC have even set up special agencies for brand communication research and development, but local commercial banks are still insufficient on such research. Although in practice, local commercial banks in Anhui have begun to pay attention to and gradually develop brand communication related work to some extent, due to the impact of the late start, not-so-strong expertise and other factors, brand communication is still at a very preliminary stage. This paper takes a local commercial bank in Wuhu-Wuhu YangZi Rural Commercial Bank as a case study to discuss brand communication strategy. Hopefully this research can provide some references to other local commercial banks in Anhui who want to improve their overall level of band communication for sustainable development and integrated competence.The paper is consisted of six sections as below:The first chapter will briefly describe the overall background of Anhui local commercial banks, the status of current research of brand communication, along with the purpose and meaning of this study.The second chapter will conduct analysis for the brand communication of local commercial banks in Anhui. Firstly, it describes the overall development of band communication of local commercial banks in Anhui, specifically Wuhu YangZi Rural Commercial Bank; Secondly, it studies the features of branding for local commercial banks in Anhui; Thirdly, through the analysis of the environment of brand communications for Wuhu YangZi Rural Commercial Bank, it explores the entire brand communication environment for Anhui local commercial banks; lastly, it points out the insufficiencies of brand communication for Wuhu YangZi Rural Commercial Bank to reveal the problems in similar local commercial banks in other areas of Anhui.The third chapter examines the brand positioning and the factors for brand communication of local commercial banks in Anhui. Firstly, take the Wuhu YangZi Rural Commercial Bank as an example, it analyzes the processes of brand positioning for local commercial banks in Anhui and introduces three brand positioning strategies, i. e. consumer sentiment positioning, cultural identity positioning and consumer image positioning; Secondly, through the analysis of factors of brand communication for local commercial banks in Anhui Province and the identification of key component for each element, it presents how to implement a more targeted brand communication strategy to improve the practicality and effectiveness.The fourth chapter will propose the brand communication strategy of the Wuhu YangZi Rural Commercial Bank from the perspectives of advertising, public relationships and interpersonal communication. First of all, regarding the advertising communication strategies, this paper proposes that we need to customize the effective of auditory and visual elements to the characteristics of targeted respondents. In the meantime, we need to take advantage of the mix of various types of advertising channels and timing, to obtain the best advertising effects; in addition, in term of public relationship strategies, we suggest to improve the bank’s awareness and reputation of the Wuhu YangZi Rural Commercial Bank by involving with the event sponsorship, social welfare and public relations affairs; finally, with respect to interpersonal communication strategies, we suggest to boost the Wuhu YangZi Rural Commercial Bank’s interpersonal communication effects via enhancing the connections between banks and consumers as well as consumer and consumers.The fifth chapter focuses on the analysis of how to extend the mode of Wuhu YangZi Rural Commercial Bank to other local commercial banks in Anhui Province. Local commercial banks, first and foremost, need to take enthusiasm and initiatives to integrate the various types of communication channels and develop appropriate brand communication strategies to transmit the core information of "localization" and "grassroots", based on the fully understanding of targeted audience in local area. We believe it can improve the sense of identification and loyalty of the target audience, i. e. the target consumers.The sixth chapter will summarize the brand communication strategy of local commercial banks in Anhui Province. It emphasizes the key items in the process of communication, and illustrates the prospectus of the brand communication work for local commercial banks in Anhui.