Recently, market analysts have talked about the amount of money parked in financial institutions that will move back into the stock market once investors are convinced that the current stock market rally is for real. A threshold that analysts feel is significant in determining if the rally is real is when the market goes back over 10,000. That could happen any day now! Now is the time to develop marketing strategies aimed at retaining a significant percentage of those new deposits that your institution acquired as investors got out of the market.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Cardiac Cats...
Good morning...
What a weekend of sports! My Buckeyes won (moved to 7th in the polls), my son won his football in convincing style and that brings me to the Bengals. FINALLY, it is paying off being a Bengals fan! 1st place during the season...something we have not had in a long while! Not only did we win and beat a division rival but the game helped with my blog post.
My thoughts today surround the team effort and never-say-the-end-is-here attitude. The Bengals have overcome adversity (read heartbreaking loss to the Broncos and a death of a coaches wife) and tough opponents to maintain a 1st place lead.
YOU have overcome adversity; the economic climate, the state of the industry, probably budget cuts, and more. Our CUSTOMERS have overcome adversity; potential job losses, stock market losses, economic woes, and more.
Hopefully our customers have hung in there with us...and we with them, too! Now is the time to circle the wagons as a team and focus on our customers. Just like the Bengals circles the team wagon after the devastating and unexpected loss of the defensive coordinator's wife. They focused on the matter at hand, focused on their roles, and gained momentum at each potential turn. The result? A win!
You need to be the emotional leader of your bank/CU and be the advocate for the customer voice. How? Difficult but easy...
Marketing is the voice of the customer and emotional leaders....assert you place and deliver your role. Everyone is counting on you!
Cheers!
Bruce
What a weekend of sports! My Buckeyes won (moved to 7th in the polls), my son won his football in convincing style and that brings me to the Bengals. FINALLY, it is paying off being a Bengals fan! 1st place during the season...something we have not had in a long while! Not only did we win and beat a division rival but the game helped with my blog post.
My thoughts today surround the team effort and never-say-the-end-is-here attitude. The Bengals have overcome adversity (read heartbreaking loss to the Broncos and a death of a coaches wife) and tough opponents to maintain a 1st place lead.
YOU have overcome adversity; the economic climate, the state of the industry, probably budget cuts, and more. Our CUSTOMERS have overcome adversity; potential job losses, stock market losses, economic woes, and more.
Hopefully our customers have hung in there with us...and we with them, too! Now is the time to circle the wagons as a team and focus on our customers. Just like the Bengals circles the team wagon after the devastating and unexpected loss of the defensive coordinator's wife. They focused on the matter at hand, focused on their roles, and gained momentum at each potential turn. The result? A win!
You need to be the emotional leader of your bank/CU and be the advocate for the customer voice. How? Difficult but easy...
- Focus the front-line staff on the "little things" of customer service (smile, quick service, thank you, and simply engaging the customer)
- Focus your marketing on a message of hope and opportunity
- Focus your internal message on teamwork, coordination and communication
- Focus your external delivery on being three-dimensional on your target
Marketing is the voice of the customer and emotional leaders....assert you place and deliver your role. Everyone is counting on you!
Cheers!
Bruce
Friday, October 9, 2009
What smart marketers are doing NOW to bring in leads & cash
I recently started several discussions in targeted Marketing groups in the popular, LinkedIn professional social network. I asked, “How are you marketing your business during this economy?”
Here’s what I found out…
· Local advertising. Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
“I am using primarily local business-to-business networking in an effort to capture those first dozen or so customers. My web site is optimized to attract hits as well.”
· Word of mouth marketing. Social media (SMO)
“My best marketing tool is wearing my line of jewelry…. I took on social networking a couple months ago, and plan to have a blog also. I am also networking with a travel agent as her most common question is, ‘What do I where on a cruise?’ ”
“As a consultant, testimonials and referrals are very important. I have great clients and the majority of my business in 2009 has been from referrals. I also network at lot through all the major online social networks.”
· Social Media. PR.
“I use are social media, (mainly Twitter, Facebook and Youtube), Press releases, Forums, articles, blog posts. I find that forums are great places to talk to targeted audience.”
· Networking. Leveraging expertise.
“…Definitely local networking is working for me for through various groups as well as the chamber of commerce … I also teach classes and offer my services as a speaker to groups.”
· Event marketing.
“I have been marketing my services through gift bag requests.”
Thanks to all that have taken the time to post comments in the various LinkedIn Groups where I asked this question.
As you can see, most everyone that commented is utilizing low/no cost marketing channels as well as being creative thinkers with their marketing tactics…both proven approaches that I’ve written about many times on this blog and are featured in my SONAR marketing method.
What have YOU been doing to market during t his tough times…let me know!
Here’s what I found out…
· Local advertising. Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
“I am using primarily local business-to-business networking in an effort to capture those first dozen or so customers. My web site is optimized to attract hits as well.”
· Word of mouth marketing. Social media (SMO)
“My best marketing tool is wearing my line of jewelry…. I took on social networking a couple months ago, and plan to have a blog also. I am also networking with a travel agent as her most common question is, ‘What do I where on a cruise?’ ”
“As a consultant, testimonials and referrals are very important. I have great clients and the majority of my business in 2009 has been from referrals. I also network at lot through all the major online social networks.”
· Social Media. PR.
“I use are social media, (mainly Twitter, Facebook and Youtube), Press releases, Forums, articles, blog posts. I find that forums are great places to talk to targeted audience.”
· Networking. Leveraging expertise.
“…Definitely local networking is working for me for through various groups as well as the chamber of commerce … I also teach classes and offer my services as a speaker to groups.”
· Event marketing.
“I have been marketing my services through gift bag requests.”
Thanks to all that have taken the time to post comments in the various LinkedIn Groups where I asked this question.
As you can see, most everyone that commented is utilizing low/no cost marketing channels as well as being creative thinkers with their marketing tactics…both proven approaches that I’ve written about many times on this blog and are featured in my SONAR marketing method.
What have YOU been doing to market during t his tough times…let me know!
Consumer Loan Demand Exceeds Supply
At the recent ABA Marketing Conference in San Antonio, an economist from Trans Union stated that the demand for consumer loans exceeds the supply. That presents a tremendous opportunity for community banks to grow their balance sheet. Let MarketMatch show you how implementing risk based pricing for consumer loans allows your bank to grow your loan portfolio but at an acceptable level of risk.
Have a great Weekend!
Mike Witsken, SVP Client Management, MarketMatch
Have a great Weekend!
Mike Witsken, SVP Client Management, MarketMatch
Can Bank Marketers use The Law of Attraction?
I am a big fan of the law of attraction... that we attract into our lives what we think about or focus on. If you haven't seen the movie "The Secret", check it out at www.thesecretmovie.com. According to Rhonda Byrne, who wrote The Secret, when we focus on the negative things that happen to us, we only attract more negative events into our lives. Is this really true?
Well, it seems somewhat intuitive that if we are emitting negative emotions that we will attract back more negative emotions to us. For example, if we criticize someone for something they have done, how are they going to feel about us at that moment? Negatively! Conversely, if someone really appreciates us for something we've done, doesn't that make us want to do more?
I think as bank marketers, we are normally a pretty sunny group. Wouldn't you agree? But it can be difficult to muster all the support we need. It's easy to get caught up in the budget dollars we didn't get, the things that other employees/coworkers didn't do to help us or our event, campaign, etc. If we let those attitudes pour over onto our co-workers and colloeagues, we are dooming ourselves by attracting only more negative feelings about what we are trying to do!
This fall, try being really grateful for everything you have been given (budgets, support, etc.) and for everything you have accomplished, together with all that support. Spread that word everywhere! You will feel better, others will respond more positively to you, and who knows, maybe you'll get even more support now and next year!
Helping you stay sunny on a rainy day---
Sharon
Well, it seems somewhat intuitive that if we are emitting negative emotions that we will attract back more negative emotions to us. For example, if we criticize someone for something they have done, how are they going to feel about us at that moment? Negatively! Conversely, if someone really appreciates us for something we've done, doesn't that make us want to do more?
I think as bank marketers, we are normally a pretty sunny group. Wouldn't you agree? But it can be difficult to muster all the support we need. It's easy to get caught up in the budget dollars we didn't get, the things that other employees/coworkers didn't do to help us or our event, campaign, etc. If we let those attitudes pour over onto our co-workers and colloeagues, we are dooming ourselves by attracting only more negative feelings about what we are trying to do!
This fall, try being really grateful for everything you have been given (budgets, support, etc.) and for everything you have accomplished, together with all that support. Spread that word everywhere! You will feel better, others will respond more positively to you, and who knows, maybe you'll get even more support now and next year!
Helping you stay sunny on a rainy day---
Sharon
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
6 Steps To A Successful Strategic Plan
1. Perform your own SWOT analysis: What did you do right last year? What did you do wrong? What are your institution's values ... be honest.
2. Be reflective: What do you think, as an institution, that really holds you back? How can you create your own self-fulfilling prophesy?
3. Be focused: Where do you need to focus to be successful next year? Now pick the ONE thing you want to really put all of your resources into.
4. Step up: With your measurable goals - assign specific responsibilities to team members. Spread the accountability across the entire team so that no one person has an unattainable mountain of work.
5. Share: Communicate to all employees the strategic goals. Let them know how your institution is doing on a regular basis to keep them motivated.
6. Do the hardest work: Too often, strategic plans look great, make sense and fall flat. Measure your efforts against the goals - monthly. Meet as a Strategic Team to discuss the progress of each responsibility and results against the goals. Hold everyone accountable all year.
Note: Sometimes it helps to bring in an industry expert as facilitator to ask the tough questions and state the sometimes sensitive facts.
Take care,
Eric
Monday, October 5, 2009
Early nights...and Halloween
Greetings...
I was reminded yesterday that fall is falling! If you happen to live in the midwest, you know what I mean. Crsip nights, changing of the leaves...and of course, the time change looms.
When you live in Ohio, the time change means that very soon it will be dark in the morning when you wake up and dark again at 5:15 pm. Early nights and short days. The good news? Halloween is around the corner and early nights and short days make for a GREAT Halloween! The darker and spookier the better for getting candy and having fun.
This natural cycle just means that summer is close to coming around again!
So what is the point...
Its the cycle! For a marketer the short days and early nights usually happen in the 3rd and 4th quarter as our budgets begin to be tapered down. We need to remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that is budget planning, which will start soon (if it has not already started for your bank/CU!) So, what is your "Halloween?" The mid-fall event that raises hope, generates fun and brings lots of candy/sugar!!
I encourage you to gather your troops at your Bank/CU and make something happen. Did you know that THIS WEEK is National Customer Service Week (October 2-6)? Use this as an opportunity to highlight your service, resurrect your service, or make service an integral part of your 2010 plans.
I know...I know....EVERYONE has great service. However, we ALL know that we need to INSPECT what we EXPECT (thanks Marty Cohen!) to ensure we get what we want!
Implement a service measurement process...start today! Make it...
And just think...summer is a short winter away!
Cheers!
Bruce Clapp
I was reminded yesterday that fall is falling! If you happen to live in the midwest, you know what I mean. Crsip nights, changing of the leaves...and of course, the time change looms.
When you live in Ohio, the time change means that very soon it will be dark in the morning when you wake up and dark again at 5:15 pm. Early nights and short days. The good news? Halloween is around the corner and early nights and short days make for a GREAT Halloween! The darker and spookier the better for getting candy and having fun.
This natural cycle just means that summer is close to coming around again!
So what is the point...
Its the cycle! For a marketer the short days and early nights usually happen in the 3rd and 4th quarter as our budgets begin to be tapered down. We need to remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that is budget planning, which will start soon (if it has not already started for your bank/CU!) So, what is your "Halloween?" The mid-fall event that raises hope, generates fun and brings lots of candy/sugar!!
I encourage you to gather your troops at your Bank/CU and make something happen. Did you know that THIS WEEK is National Customer Service Week (October 2-6)? Use this as an opportunity to highlight your service, resurrect your service, or make service an integral part of your 2010 plans.
I know...I know....EVERYONE has great service. However, we ALL know that we need to INSPECT what we EXPECT (thanks Marty Cohen!) to ensure we get what we want!
Implement a service measurement process...start today! Make it...
- Measureable
- Consistent
- Customer focused
- Widely communicated
And just think...summer is a short winter away!
Cheers!
Bruce Clapp
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