Tell the World Your Goals to Hit Them.

Any runner will tell you, "If you want to stay motivated to train for a big race ... tell everyone your goal."

What's true in running is typically true in life.  And what's true in life is almost ALWAYS true in business. 

Last year, we had a client with a core objective of growing loans.  We looked at their current portfolio, recent growth trends and local market conditions and determined that funding $100,000,000 in new loans in one year was a reasonable goal.  Now, the exercise could have stopped there ... but it didn't.

We weren't happy with simply posting an internal goal and measuring, we wanted the world to know.  So, on January 1, we bought ads telling the area that we were lending ... In a time when big banks were perceived as reining-in their approvals, we were lending ... In a time when the economy was beginning to recover and larger purchases were once again an option, we were lending.

Through the entire year, we carried the $100,000,000 theme. If we talked about an auto loan, we mentioned our goal.  When we touted our mortgage expertise, we mentioned our goal.  Whether we talked to new members or old, we mentioned our goal.  One thing was bluntly clear to the community, our members and staff ... come what may, we were going to lend $100,000,000 before the end of December 31!

Tell the world when you set it,
tell the world when you hit it!

And it worked!  Our $268 million credit union client funded 3,590 new vehicles, 548 homes, helped 185 small business grow and assured that 417 students went to college.  In all, we loaned more than $105 million in 2012. 

You can read about it in this link to the CU Times.

And this year, through refined targeting and improved processes, we expect to do even better!

How did they accomplish what so many institutions are vying for?  Consistency!  

• A consistent and clear message to staff
• A consistent message all year to the community and members

As marketers, we too often feel a need to change up creative with every single media buy.  This case proves just the opposite.  Pick a message and run with it!  Month-after-month; day-after-day.  

Tell the world your goal this year and watch it happen!

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