Thoughts from a 100 Mile Ultra-Marathon

My sister-in-law is amazing!

Last weekend, she ran in a 100 mile race. To put that in perspective, it's a race the equivalent of Dayton, Ohio to Indianapolis, Indiana ... on foot! 

She had 30 hours to complete the 100 mile trek, and she was ready! She had been training for months, and she had a plan. She knew when she would rest, when to eat, when to take electrolytes and when she would ... well, when you're planning to traverse 100 petrol-free miles, you need to plan for everything!

She toed the line on Saturday morning confident, prepared and excited. Ahead of her lay six 16.6 mile laps, all she had to do was work her plan.

Much like the plan you're currently working. As we race into the 5th month of 2013, you fully understand your objectives, have a in-depth understanding of your target audience, know when you want to promote key products and have defined milestones to reach. You have a plan to acquire, retain and build relationships. When you toed the starting line in January, you were confident, prepared and excited too.

For about a week before the race, it had been raining in Indiana. Though the April showers might bring May flowers, they also brought terrible flooding to the ultra-marathon course. On each of the six laps, racers were expected to cross 8 knee-to-hip deep water crossings. That averages one water crossing per every 2 miles ... for 100 miles. Add to that, when the sun set, temperatures fell significantly colder than anyone had predicted. In the end, her plan was spot-on. Her legs held up great, her cardio was outstanding and her mind was clear. But after roughly 3 consecutive marathons, the water and cold won-out. With symptoms of hypothermia, she had to stop, take off her shoes, and think back on the adventure.

The real story here is not in how the race ended, but in that it ever started at all. The ambition of a 100 miler is amazing.

Now, look at your plan. What factors this year have made you want to stop, take off your wet running shoes and look back? Has unemployment taken a sharp climb in your market? Has a competitor gotten more aggressive than expected? 

The lesson is that the best, most thought out planning and preparation can never prepare us for the actual outcomes. Since we will never experience life-threatening physical limitations in marketing, we simply need to adjust, tweak the plan and keep running.

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

With nearly 211,000 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.  

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.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848

Follow me on Twitter @egagliano

FOCUS ... Momentum ... Results (Part 1)

Focus … Momentum … Results 

It’s not just our tag line … it’s our business model.

This week, we take the ultimate look behind the MarketMatch curtain.  A glimpse into our innermost workings.  The drivers behind everything that we do for your credit union or community bank.

This is part 1 of a 3 part series this week that will outline the simplest of strategic processes and the true value to how we partner with financial institutions to drive bottom line success.

Focus ... Momentum ... Results

FOCUS

Thank God it's Monday!  That's right, TGIM!!!  

Most of us, like most every other Monday, are attending staff meetings ... and management meetings ... and meetings on when to have our next meeting.  

We are gazing at our calendars, as we drain another cup of coffee, trying to figure out how the heck we're going to get everything done this week.

But Mondays in December are a bit different, aren't they?  It's not just what can we get done this week.  On these special Mondays, we're thinking about what we can get done next YEAR.

On any given day, there are a million strategies that you can focus on. The trick is to identify the handful of strategies that you should focus on. 

Our Approach

We recommend you start with the desired end results and back into the most relevant and impactful strategies to help pin-point the focus and maximize the available resources.

• Identify no more than 3 core objectives for your credit union or bank.
• Most growth-oriented objectives typically have 3 parts: Acquire new accounts, Grow or expand existing accounts and Retain existing accounts.
• Identify the 3-5 most impactful tactics to fill these 9 buckets.

It's really that simple.  If a new opportunity doesn't fit into this chart, it's not a priority.  If a new "fire" doesn't affect this chart, it's not a priority.  If a new idea doesn't enhance this chart, it's not a priority.

At the end of the day, if you stay focused on this chart, you should drive MOMENTUM for your institution.

At the end of the year, if you complete each tactic on this chart, you should experience the RESULTS that will achieve your core objectives and drive growth for your institution. 

If you can benefit from some Focus ... Momentum ... Results, click here.

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With nearly than 160,000 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.

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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

Can Marketing Really Be This Easy?!?

Alternate Blog Title ... "3 is a Magic Number"

The average day in the life of a financial marketer (the way many people see us):

• Get the newsletter written
• Plan a customer appreciation day
•  Build a float for the parade

Is this time well spent?  The answers may vary.

A friend in Maryland made me aware of a great article on The Financial Brand titled, Marketing’s (Only) Three Challenges, written by Ron Shevlin.

Ron’s Take

There are three – and only three – challenges that Marketing faces:

•  Acquiring the right customers
• Retaining the right customers
• Growing the relationship with the right customers

Everything is related to one of these three challenges. 

I purposefully did not label the challenges with numbers, because the priorities may differ based on your institution’s current performance and business objectives.  But that’s it.  That’s all you have to do.  It’s that easy!

Alright, so you could argue that the newsletter builds relationships and Customer Appreciation Day helps retention and the Parade Float drives acquisition.  Again, is this time well spent?  It all comes down to resources and priorities…

The MarketMatch Client Mantra

There are a thousand things you COULD be doing … 

what are the 3 things you SHOULD be doing?

Resources

We all have limited resources. And it is very likely that, for your department, time is at a higher premium than even your limited budget.  Since you only have so many hours in a day and so many dollars in your GL, you need to focus on priorities and make a strategic decision to let some things simply not get done.

Prioritize

1. You should have a business plan to work from.  Of your Business Objectives, what is mandatory?  In short, if your institution only accomplishes 3 things this year – what should those 3 things be?
2. In order to accomplish those 3 Business Objectives, what are the top 3 Marketing Strategies for each Objective? Now prioritize your 9 total strategies.
3. What are the 3 most impactful Marketing Tacticsyou can do to support each of your 9 Strategies – think on-going processes as well as short-term campaigns.

With this exercise, you now have 27 of the most impactful tactics, prioritized, to meet your bank or credit union’s key objectives.  That averages 2.25 tactics per month and should definitely help you to maximize your time and monetary resources.  If you can’t get to all 27, use your prioritization to identify what to do now and what to put in next year’s plan (or simply partner with someone like me).

Now that we have YOURresponsibilities identified, lets apply the “Power of 3” to those who approve your work.

If we can assume that your department is the expert and is focused on Acquisition, Retention and Penetration.  And if we also assume that, as marketers, you are the most qualified person in your institution to understand customer segmentation/needs and competitive messaging/differentiation – then we can make creative approval easy!

The only 3 things that anyone approving your work needs be concerned with are:

1. Is the information accurate and compliant?
2. Does the offer address a strategic need of the institution?
3. Does the message fit the bank or credit union brand?

I've been on your side of the desk and, yes, I know that Ron and I have over-simplified life quite a bit.  But, have we really?  I truly believe that aside from your top strategies & tactics and the above 3 approval requirements, everything else is a distraction.  That's not to say that other tactics don't need to get done, but they are certainly "back-burner" items.

Hopefully I've struck a nerve or two and lit a few fires.  Share your thoughts below.

With nearly 110,000 visitors 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.  

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.

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

MarketMatch is a full-service 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

Focus on the Customer's Life Stage

I recently saw an email list-serve question concerning "Profiling Scripts" that bank staff can use to look for "hidden clues to better help customers."

Since it costs an average of about $500 to acquire a new customer/member and about $50 to retain and grow the relationships, this is a great idea, however, I really don't believe in scripts.  I feel that our staff come across as more sincere when they use their own language (maybe go with "Talking point", but scripts scare me).  Better than a script, is to make sure your staff uses YOUR institution's products as much as possible.

"I use our online banking and it saves me so much time," is significantly more believable than, "We have online banking and I hear that it's really easy to use."

More direct to the profiling question ... we recommend that our clients focus on the customer's Life Stage.  I believe that we can make educated product assumptions and recommendations based on what life stage a customer is in.  For instance, a customer with a new baby on the way is experiencing all of their life priorities changing.  Now, they likely have needs that they never considered before, like: college investments, an auto loan for a larger vehicle, life insurance, and a consolidation loan to lower monthly payments.  Think about it: marriage, birth, new home, new job, lost job, divorce, death in the family -- all require specific financial needs.

We actually create sell-sheets for our client geared towards those customers experiencing specific life stages and tie the life stage to key bank products.  The staff can then speak to the sell-sheet (like they do with your current product sheets/brochures).

More and more, we're going to be forced to focus on the customer and look at banking through their eyes.  I'm sure our blog readers would love to hear what YOU'RE doing to "profile" customers and better meet their needs (I know that I would).  Please respond to this posting and share.

Happy trails,

Eric