Where to Find Your GOLD MINE of Market Data

Where is your richest resource within your company? It’s with your front-line managers and staff. They are the ones who:

• Best understands your customers’ needs and wants,
• Know what and where service delivery is inefficient and not working,
• Have family and friend relationships within the community our customers live in,
• Possibly have friends or acquaintances that work for the competition.

These are just a few of many reasons why it’s important to engage your frontline personnel in your marketing analysis, planning and implementation. Make your frontline part of your marketing team and you will experience your richest resource – your gold mine of market data.

Best,
Melissa

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If you're going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now. - Marie Osmond

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.

No One Woke Up This Morning Needing YOUR Checking Account!

I know ... it hurts ... I'm sorry.

What's worse ... no one wants your mortgage ... or your auto loans ... or your CD.

What consumers WANT is:

• Fewer miles to drive
• A teller who wants to be there
• A new home
• A new car
• An expert to recommend a way to save money
• To feel good

So, what are we to do as banks and credit unions? Let's face it, our products aren't cool. No one's going to camp outside your front door for the launch of your new CD rate!

You Have to Differentiate

We may not be the next evolution of the iPad, but we are a necessity. That said, we need to give consumers a reason to consider us over the 6 banks they're going to pass to get to our branch.

What makes you stand out? Is it your convenience? Your personality? Your technology?

• Scrutinize the competition: Identify their strengths and weaknesses in pricing, convenience, service, products and image. Where do your strengths align with their weaknesses?
• What does your market NEED: They don't NEED price. If all you have to hang your hat on is a rate, your neighbor can beat it tomorrow (and you'll price yourself out of profitability). But, if lower fees truly are a differentiator, see how this credit union "pulled it off" (literally!!!). The bottom line is, talk to your customer's real needs ... and your product's real benefits.
• Be different: When my first CEO asked me why he should hire me with ad agency experience and no banking experience, I told him it's because consumers don't understand banking and it's my job to "talk" with these folks. I believe that it's the banks and credit unions who think like retailers that are truly differentiating themselves and gaining market share. Try to appeal to an emotion. After all, we're dealing with our customer's money ... what's more emotional than that!

As you're reviewing your past and future campaigns, keep in mind that the market doesn't want your product ... they want what the product will get them!

Take care,

Eric

Is it Time to Relook at Your Brand?

If you haven't reevaluated your brand in the last 24 month, it may be time ... and it doesn't have to eat up your budget.

It's no secret that banking consumers today are not the same as they were before the "banking crisis" (enter ominous music here). The truth is that, for whatever reason, national surveys show bank customer satisfaction with larger banks is down (and credit union's is up).

Thanks to the media, consumers as more educated about banking, their perceptions and expectations have changes, and they are more motivated to make a change (12% fewer customers said that they "definitely will not" switch this year vs. 2007).

You need to make sure your brand still aligns with what consumers know, how they feel, what they expect and what will motivate them to come to you -- all while holding true to your actual identity.

But you won't know what's going on in your market until you ask. I'm not saying that you need to rebrand - but I am saying that you should reevaluate and see if there is any tweaking to do to make you more competitive and a more likely consumer choice.

Take care,

Eric

Know Your Customer Now -- They've Changed

So, you've done your due diligence and done a big customer research project within the last year or so, right? You know, it was probably when you did a new branding push or were going through a name change. You really honed in on who your customers were and how they felt about your bank.

So, good for you -- you have a clear understanding of what your customers wanted then. What about now?

A great deal has changed in the last 12 to 18 months in the banking industry, so assume a lot has likely changed with your customers too.

The turmoil in the industry has jumped from Wall Street to the front page of the newspapers and landed smack in the middle of Main Street. Customers can't help but be affected by all they are hearing about the banking industry.

Obviously, many now have questions about the safety and security of their funds. Here's a startling fact from a recent customer research project conducted for one of our banking clients. For the first time ever, safety and soundness and reputation of the bank was selected as more important than location and convenience in determining where to bank.

Not only are more customers focused on the safety of their funds, but many have also seen a dramatic shift in their needs. Suddenly the financial landscape has become very scary and customers who once thought they didn't want a lot of guidance or hand holding from their bank may now be looking for a much more involved financial partner. Are your employees positioned to step from product pushing to the role of an advisor and partner?

Your challenge is to find out what has changed with your customers and prospects today so that you know where and how to spend your limited marketing dollars wisely. Leveraging a small portion of your marketing budget to research so that you are really targeting your messages can offer significant payback in ROI.

I also value the touch point that research gives to the customer. Being contacted to provide feedback lets customers know you value their opinions and are working to meet their needs. It also demonstrates you recognize the significant changes that have taken place in the marketplace and want to remain relevant.

So ask yourself, how well do you really know your customers now? Well, maybe its time to become reacquainted.

Spring Training

Pitchers and catchers report TODAY!  Soon there will be the smell of fresh-cut grass, the sound of wood cracking against leather and the aroma of hot dogs in the air.

Over the next few weeks, even last year’s All-Stars will be going back to basics:  How do you position your body to turn a double play?  What are the mechanics for a slider?  What is the sign for “steal second”?

What are you doing to get your team ready for Game Day (you know, that day a customer or prospect walks in your front door or calls your office)?

 

Here are some ideas to get Back to Basics:

 

Look in the mirror

Have someone from outside the company shop your offices.  Simply have them ask for information on a new checking account and see how your staff handle it.

 

Scout the competition

Have that same person do the exact same thing at your major competition

• How did your offices stack up?
  
• Was there an emotional difference in how they felt at each office?
  
• Most importantly … would they buy from YOU or THEM?
  

The Golden Rule

Treat EVERYONE who walks into your office as you would treat a guest in your home

• Look them in the eye
  
• Shake hands
  
• Walk them from place to place (NEVER just point)
  
• If a teller is referring to New Accounts staff, make formal introductions
  
• Offer a bottle of water to ANYONE who sits anywhere in your office
  
• Before you talk about yourself, ask about them (learn a customer's needs first and focus on the relevant products – don’t information dump)
  
• Ask if you can open an account for them today.  They took time out of their day to drive to your office – reward them with a new account.
  
• When the conversation is complete, walk them to the door, shake their hand and thank them for coming.
  

Sounds simple doesn’t it?  What is your staff doing right now?

Make sure your team knows the playbook

If your frontline staff doesn’t have a checking account, online banking, bill pay and debit card with your institution – how can they speak knowledgably about it? 

“I use our online banking and it’s super easy,” is a much more powerful sentence than, “Our online baking is supposed to be pretty easy.”

Getting Back to Basics means that you don’t necessarily need scripts or new procedures.  Simply use common sense, make an effort and have fun.

Enjoy your Spring Training!

 

Happy Trails,

Eric

Brand YOU Day

As marketers, we all understand the importance of branding, but how do you craft YOUR brand as your bank or credit union’s marketing department?

A solid internal brand can transform marketing from the “arts and crafts” department to the strategic thought leaders … from the “ad guys” to an indispensible planning resource … from an expense to a valuable INVESTMENT.

As with any brand, your department’s brand needs to be differentiating, relevant and speak to a need.

Be Differentiating: The Marketing Department should be the ONLY one-stop resource for all information within your market.  Among other things, you should be the expert on:

• How your current customers perceive and use the bank
  
• How potential customers perceive your bank and use their bank
  
• What a potential customer looks like and where they live
  
• What the competition is doing (or not doing)
  
• What the financial trends are in the market
  

Each planning session, it should be your department that leads the conversation with the management team and the Board on market conditions and a basic SWAT analysis to establish a mind-set and get everyone on the same page.

Be Relevant: Banks are more in the forefront of American’s minds that they’ve been in generations.  And people are crafting their opinion of you and your peers by what they see on CNN and the local news.

The bottom line is that YOU are the sculptor and guardian of your institution’s image.  No one else in the bank, not even the CEO, is as concerned about the perception of your bank as you are.  From the front-line interaction to the sales collateral to the external communication - you are responsible for the customer experience at every touch point.  What could be more relevant?

Speak to a Need: Remember who your internal target audience is … the CEO, CFO and Board.  Of these, most have a finance background and focus.  So, speaking about creative awards will not necessarily address what is important to them.

You need to speak in your target’s language … cold hard numbers!  A solid understanding and sharing of your marketing ROI will go a long way to adding value to your department’s brand.  Consider this … if your CEO has only $1 to invest in the institution, where will they get the best return?  An investment at today’s rates?  More technology, branches or personnel?  Or a sound marketing program that can generate 120% plus ROI?

We just need to take our own medicine and put the same emphasis on our internal brand as we put on our bank’s brand.  Imagine what it could do for your involvement in key decisions, job security and your overall marketing budget.  

As always, please share your thoughts as a comment below.  Or if you think I'm full of it ... please share that too!!!

Take care,

Eric