Working Backwards to Move Forward

Have you ever planned a campaign or event and were running around last minute scrambling to complete everything in time? If so, a backwards plan may be exactly what you need. Begin with the end in mind. Backwards planning is a great time management tool. By planning a campaign or event backwards it is easier to guarantee nothing is missed and everything comes together perfectly.

First, define the end result. Then record every step and sequence to receive the result. Finally, create the deadline driven timeline. Use a blank calendar and mark down the number of days until the event or campaign launch. Be sure to exclude the days you aren’t at work, such as weekends and holidays, etc. This will give you and your team an accurate picture of where you are and how much time is left to complete each task.

This same concept works as well for setting personal and career goals. 

Success to you!

Melissa

How to Make Local Marketing Easier

This is the third of four posts dealing with distributed marketing. So far in this series, I've explained what distributed marketing is, described the major challenges facing distributed marketers, and discussed why technology is critical to improving the productivity of distributed marketing.

The diagram below shows that the distributed marketing automation "house" includes two core types of technological capabilities. In my last post, I discussed the marketing asset management component of distributed marketing automation. This post covers the technology tools used to streamline and automate customer engagement management activities and processes.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





One of the major challenges facing organizations that rely on distributed marketing is a lack of marketing resources and expertise at the local level. According to research by the Aberdeen Group, the lack of local marketing resources is one of the two biggest challenges for distributed marketing organizations. Because many local entities are small organizations or business units, this is compeltely understandable and probably unavoidable. One result of this lack of resources and expertise is that local partners don't market as frequently or extensively as they should to maximize revenues. 

What CEM Technologies Do

The customer engagement management technologies in distributed marketing automation solutions simplify marketing processes and empower local marketers to effectively and efficiently plan, execute, and measure the results of advertising and marketing campaigns and programs.

Customer engagement technologies build on the capabilities of marketing asset management by using customizable templates that enable local marketers to easily create advertisements and other marketing campaign materials. In general, the capabilities provided by customer engagement technologies fall into three broad categories.
 

Campaign Planning/Management

This category typically includes tools for planning and scheduling marketing campaigns and the tasks required to develop and execute those campaigns.
 

Campaign Execution

In addition to using templates to create campaign materials, most distributed marketing automation solutions enable local marketers to execute e-mail marketing campaigns either directly or through a link to an e-mail service provider. For direct mail campaigns, the solution will typically enable local marketers to upload mail lists, select recipients from the corporate database, or purchase a mailing list from a third party provider.
 

Campaign Performance Measurement

Distributed marketing automation solutions typically include tools that enable local marketers to measure the performance of their marketing programs. Some solutions provide corporate marketers access to this performance data, and some will also enable a local marketer to see the results obtained by other local marketers from particular campaigns. This capability enables "best practices" knowledge to be shared across the distributed marketing network.
 

Benefits of CEM Technologies

The cutomer engagement management technologies in distributed marketing automation solutions make it easy for local marketers to create and run marketing campaigns and programs, and they will usually reduce the cost of those programs. Therefore, these technologies encourage local marketers to run marketing programs more frequently, and increased local marketing will drive higher revenues for both the local entity and the corporate brand owner.

By supporting extensive and cost-effective customization of marketing messages and materials, CEM technologies also enable local marketers to create and run more relevant and therefore more effective marketing programs.

Finally, CEM technologies enable corporate marketers to maintain control of brand messaging and brand presentation, while simultaneously allowing local marketers to develop and run programs that fit local market conditions.

In my next post, I'll discuss why distributed marketing automation technologies can benefit organizations that aren't currently using a "classic" distributed marketing model.

Read Part 1 of the series here.
Read Part 2 of the series here.
Read Part 4 of the series here.

Value and values

If you're a marketer, consider this dilemma: what would you do if you know a product you sell is
crap, but the customers love it, want more of it, are willing to pay a premium
for it, and can’t get enough of it? 

Would you make and sell more of it, or have nothing to do
with it?





The ethical choice is to have nothing to do with it, you
say?

Finding Inspiration

As a creative person, my environment plays a large role into how inspired, or uninspired I am on any given day. 

Some days, I can sit at my desk and almost absorb the energy that flows from the various photos of my family and the brightly colored office accessories that surround me. As I drink my morning coffee and check my emails, I feel ready to churn out a productive day's worth of designing. I find myself in a more agreeable mood and even the worst design critique doesn't phase me on those days. 

Other days, however, I feel weighed down by the messy piles of scribbled notes, printouts and to do lists. I stare at my computer screen, expecting it to just work on it's own without my input. Obviously this doesn't make for an effective day, and even the tiniest blip or change to a design can send me into the depths of despair. 

Regardless of how I feel, work still needs to be done, so what do I do about it? I clean house. I toss the papers I don't need. I slowly rewrite my to-do list on a fresh piece of paper. I may even dust the corners of my desk. I open my eyes and take a fresh look at my surroundings and try to appreciate the details about them. I don't think about all the stuff I have to do. I think about all that is happening in the moment. It's usually just the amount of fresh air that I needed to get my footing and get back to designing. 

Are you feeling uninspired or weighed down? Perhaps it's time for you to do a little cleaning and take a step back as well. It sure can't hurt to try.  

Until next time, 

Gail 

MarketMatch is a full-service marketing consulting firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community. We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the efforts that will generate MOMENTUM and yield the greatest RESULTS for your bottom line.

Learn more here.

Everything's Changing ... Nothing's Off Limits.

I love it when they “get it!”

Our industry is in a critical time.  With changes in banking, nothing is off limits any more:

• Stricter regulations
• Expanding competitive channels
• Technology changing at warp speed
• Consumers changing the way they, well, “consume”
• People communicate and learn in new ways

Often, we need to adapt to survive.

We met, last week, with an institution that understands just that.  Anytime we get a call to discuss branding, we need to first understand the caller’s definition of the word.  Are they looking to simply change their name and logo, or do they REALLY want to rebrand?

After meeting with these folks, they get it! 

“We know that everything needs to change … nothing is off limits.”

What’s in a Name?

We have crafted the brands for many credit unions and banks from all over the country, but we’ve only changed the name of about 2.  In fact, we rarely recommend trashing years, or decades of awareness with a rename, unless:

• There is a negative perception of the name in the marketplace.  We sometimes see this with credit unions who are still named after their core SEG – usually a company who has no corporate affiliation with the CU, but has enormous impact over the brand.
• The name is limiting.  A “Teachers” Credit Union with a community charter, for instance.  Or a community bank named after a small town long before they expanded into several new markets. 

It’s a Cultural Thing

The brand is not simply your name and logo, but EVERY aspect of the customer/member experience.  It’s the way someone feels when they walk into your front door … more importantly, how they feel when they walk out.

The brand isn’t a snappy tag line or a great color palette, it’s emotion.  It’s touchy feely.  It’s a cultural thing.

Extreme Makeover

In our meeting last week, the CEO got it.  He knew that everything is changing … so everything had to change.  

They DO need a name change.  They DO have a perception issue.  They DO need to do a better job at the point of sale.  They DO need to update the look of their branches.  They DO need to define and better understand who they are and where they’re going.  And we can help!

For more ramblings on branding, check out these links:

Branding DIY

Wake up Your Brand the Starbucks Way

Branding, It’s Not Rocket Science

4 Steps to an Authentic Brand

Branding … It’s not what you say, but what you do.

When it Rains … It Pours!

With more than 140,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog.  If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues.  Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.  

We bring these marketing philosophies to community banks and credit unions nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too.  Contact us to see how.

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker.  Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

Here are the conferences where you can find MarketMatch.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MarketMatch is a marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the right story that will generate the greatest  MOMENTUM and prove the best RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848

                                       

The Plight of the Newspaper (and Preparing for the Future)

A couple of years ago, I was speaking at a conference and someone from the audience asked me what I believed to be the biggest marketing challenge of the next five years. I answered with the death of the newspaper, which surprised many, who thought I would point to declining subscription bases or overall drops in arts participation.  We had just experienced the death of four major newspapers – the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the Rocky Mountain News, the Tucson Citizen and the Christian Science Monitor – at a time when most non-profit arts organizations had important symbiotic relationships with their hometown newspapers.  

So let me pause to ask – if your newspaper were to go out of business today, how would that impact your organization?  

And here’s why I am asking. According to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA):

·        Total print advertising has dropped from $47.4 billion in 2005 to $20.6 billion in 2011 – the lowest print advertising has been since 1983 (not factoring for inflation).

·        In 2011, the total daily circulation of all the newspapers in the United States was 44.4 million, the lowest on record since 1940.

·        Citing a 2010 Scarborough report for adults 18+, 47% of the U.S. population 35 years and older read an average issue of a daily newspaper in comparison to only 26% of the population under 35.

According to The Pew Research Center, since 2003, the Internet has been on par or more popular than newspapers as a news source, and currently just 21% of young adults report newspapers as their primary source of news. As the Internet has become increasingly popular as a news source, newspapers have invested tremendous amounts of resources in building their online presence, but here’s the problem – for every $1 gained in online advertising, newspapers lost $10 in print advertising in 2011. And the reason? In print advertising, newspapers are dominate, but online, they compete in a very crowded marketplace, where Google and Facebook combined will share just under 30% of total online display advertising revenue in 2012.  

Using the statistics provided online by the NAA, in 2005 1,452 daily newspapers shared $47.4 billion in print advertising for an average of $32.6 million in print advertising per daily paper. Six years later, 1,382 daily newspapers shared $20.6 billion in print advertising for an average of $14.9 million in print advertising per daily paper.  

In six years, the average daily newspaper lost more than 50% of its print advertising revenue, placing in jeopardy the entire business model of most newspapers and leading to drastic changes. Newspapers around the nation are slashing their newsrooms, laying off veteran reporters and in the best case scenarios, replacing them with freelance reporters with little experience. In worst cases, they aren’t replaced at all.  Just recently the theater world received news that veteran Philadelphia Inquirer arts writer and critic Howard Shapiro, after 42 years with the paper, was reassigned to cover South New Jersey in what seemed like an attempt to make him miserable enough to leave. And it looks like it worked.

With fewer reporters and less experience, not only has coverage decreased, but quality has diminished as well.  Many of us shook our heads when a small online magazine named Pasadena Nowhired two writers in India to cover local events but just recently we’ve learned of Journatic,a company that outsources journalism to the Philippines for US newspapers.  Others have transitioned from primary reporting to aggregating content from other news sources and then providing commentary on the aggregated material. When I was at the Smithsonian, one such company drew inaccurate conclusions by providing editorial on aggregated stories. When I called to tell them of the inaccuracies and offer to set up interviews so they could report on the story directly, the freelance writer told me they didn’t pay him enough to do any original reporting. Unfortunately for us, other outlets picked up his story.  I understand cutting as much fat as possible from budgets during tough economic times, but at some point, there isn’t any fat left, and what remains is only muscle. Cutting further sacrifices your ability to deliver an excellent product, which is why I advise arts organizations to avoid cutting investments in the artistic product itself if at all possible when making budget adjustments.  By sacrificing quality, I’m afraid newspapers could be pouring gas on an already blazing fire.  

Every great arts city has a great newspaper. Every great theater town, a well respected critic. If your city is affected by cuts to arts coverage, let your voice be heard. Activate your bases. Support outlets with extensive arts coverage with your advertising dollars. That said, I advise non-profit arts organizations to prepare themselves for the possibility that their local newspaper could go out of business.  Cultivate relationships with bloggers, social media mavens and other influentials in your community. Develop online communities where your audiences can speak to one another. Produce and distribute original content yourself. Diversify your advertising strategies. Budget resources to grow your database. Hopefully these efforts will be for naught, but if the day comes that your local newspaper declares bankruptcy, you’ll be better prepared.

How Marketing Asset Management Improves Distributed Marketing

This is the second of four posts discussing how to improve distributed marketing operations. In my last post, I explained what distributed marketing is, and I described the major challenges facing distributed marketing organizations. I also made the point that you simply cannot maximize the productivity of distributed marketing without the right technology tools, and I introduced the model of distributed marketing automation depicted in the following illustration.

 

 

As this diagram shows, a distributed marketing automation solution contains two major technology toolsets - marketing asset management (MAM) and customer engagement management.

The marketing asset management component of a distributed marketing automation solution is the primary tool for managing the marketing assets and materials used in distributed marketing activities and programs. These materials will typically include marketing collateral documents, print advertisements, promotional items, and point-of-sale materials.

What MAM Technologies Do

 Marketing asset management technologies enable corporate marketers to maintain control of brand messaging and brand presentation, while simultaneously allowing local marketers to easily customize marketing materials to fit their specific needs and market conditions. MAM technologies also streamline and automate the process of procuring marketing materials.

The principal features of MAM technologies include:

• Central asset repository - A centralized repository, or library, that contains digital versions of the marketing assets used by the brand owner in distributed marketing activities and programs
• Online catalog/ordering system - A catalog of marketing materials that local marketers can access via a secure website. The MAM system will also enable local marketers to order (and, if appropriate, pay for) marketing materials.
• Customizable templates - Templates of marketing materials that identify which content elements of each item can be modified and which elements cannot be changed. For those elements that can be customized, the template will provide a set of pre-approved customization options. To customize an item, a local marketer simply selects a template and chooses the desired customization options.

How Marketing Asset Management Enhances Distributed Marketing

The marketing asset management component of a distributed marketing automation solution provides several financial and operational benefits. For example, MAM technologies will:

• Eliminate the internal costs of processing and fulfilling requests for marketing materials
• Reduce the time required to process and fulfill requests for marketing materials
• Enable corporate marketers to maintain effective control of brand messaging and brand presentation
• Simplify and automate the process of creating customized marketing materials, thus lowering customization costs. In addition, MAM technologies expand the degree of customization that can be done, thus allowing local marketers to create more relevant and compelling marketing materials.
• Reduce the use of obsolete marketing materials
• Reduce the costs of marketing materials obsolescence

Marketing asset management can drive significant improvement in the productivity of distributed marketing. But for a complete solution, you also need tools for automating the creation of marketing campaigns and programs. I'll discuss this aspect of distributed marketing automation in my next post.

Read Part 1 of the series here.
Read Part 3 of the series here.
Read Part 4 of the series here.

Too much innovation

I run ultra-marathons…

            when conventional wisdom says that even 26.2 miles is too much for the human body.

My wife and I eloped to Florence, Italy with just the two of us…

            when conventional wisdom says to have a large wedding with all of your family and friends.

When we were married, I took my wife’s last name…

            when conventional wisdom says that it’s the woman who’s supposed to change surnames.

We have 10 rescued animals running around our house…

            when conventional wisdom says that one or two animals is enough.

 I’m not a fan of conventional wisdom.

Conventional wisdom says that the only take home you bring from a restaurant is what was remaining on your plate when you got full.

Have you seen the new Olive Garden “Dinner Today & Dinner Tomorrow” promotion?

In an attempt to add greater value for their guests, the nation’s leading Italian Food restaurant is offering two meals for the price of one affordable meal. 

I’ve never seen a restaurant sell TOMORROW’S dinner today.  I love the unconventional thinking!

And aren’t we all trying to add value for our guests?  Well, here’s your chance marketers.  It’s planning season for 2013 … The time to think unconventionally. 

First, know how you will judge success next year, then lay out your plan to get there.  Write down the tried and true tactics … Then, throw out all of the rules and try to add to your list of ideas. 

Are there ways you can repackage your products?  Olive Garden didn’t reinvent pasta, they simply found a new reason for you to leave the restaurant with more.

Are there ways you can add greater value for your guests?  Don’t just think price, but consider time, convenience and experience as value too.

Yes, this blog has more questions than answers – but if I laid it all out, it would take away the fun.  But trust me, this “ultra-marathon running, eloping to take his wife’s last name and collect too many animals” guy, has some great, unconventional ideas for client’s plans next year.  Conventional wisdom be damned!

With more than 138,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog.  If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues.  Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.  

We bring these marketing philosophies to community banks and credit unions nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too.  Contact us to see how.

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker.  Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

Here are the conferences where you can find MarketMatch.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MarketMatch is a marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the right story that will generate the greatest  MOMENTUM and prove the best RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848