September already, really?

I honestly can’t believe it’s the first week of September! I mean I saw June 1^st, July 1^st and August 1^st come and go…but boy, September already? Good things come with September: school starts, football starts, apple cider, the leaves will begin to change, and fall is in the air, I could go on and on. 

September also means there are only 3 months following until the end of the year. How is the rest of 2010 going to shape up for you? Personally, professionally take a look at the calendar. Are there goals you set at the beginning of the year that have fallen off your to-do list? Have new goals appeared on your list? With the change of the calendar maybe now is a good time to look at those goals and reprioritize them for the final stretch of the year. Think of what you set out to accomplish in 2010 and how do those goals help with that accomplishment? Let’s get there together!

Here I thought when the kids went back to school things would start to slow down. I was only kidding myself. What that really meant was I could finally dive deeper into work.

Some give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than before.
 -Polybius

Worth 1,000 words - a refreshing look at great advertising.

Over time I like to collect visuals that I think are clever communication/advertising tools. Samples to go back to for when I have creative block, or for when I just need some outrageous inspiration. Included here is a small selection of billboards and outdoor designs that I think are just GREAT marketing tools. Each one in their own specific way are notable for promoting a brand or product in such a special way that you just have to say "Wow, will ya look at that...clever."










Sometimes you just need a little inspiration to get your blood pumping, a bit of a nudge to create that "WOW." Give us a call and let us help your organization make that happen.

Until next time,
Jeremy

It's Complicated

Is it just me, or is it getting harder and harder to give folks your money now adays?!?!

As financial institutions, we say that the benefit of debit cards is to speed up and ease the process of making purchases. That is, of course, until the retailers screw it up!

• No, I don't want cash...
• Here's my zip code...
• Yes, I know about your pharmacy...

It seems like we've taken a tool that was meant to make life faster and easier and added so many bells and whistles that you have to take 5-6 steps to complete a transaction.

My point for all of you financial marketers? Take an objective look at your processes.

Many of us in bank or credit union management take steps to make our personal banking transactions easier because we can. Don't lose touch with your customer's experience:

• Complete a teller transaction
• Call your call center with an issue
• Sit at a new accounts desk to open a new account
• Use online banking, bill pay and e-statements
• Walk into each and every branch
• Use your ATMs
• Have friends and family bank with you and report what they see
• Grab a clip-board and do branch intercepts
• Get regular feedback from your sales staff

Does your electronic access ask for unnecessary information? Are your processes streamlined? Are you easy to do business with?

Some Of The Best "Brand Marketers" May Surprise You...

Now, when you think "Kim Kardashian", I'm sure the last thing you think of is a marketing genius. But she, and many other women in Hollywood, are creating business empires as well as global brand awareness of themselves and their hocks all while proving to be quite savvy when it comes to marketing.

Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, and Britney Spears are dominating their specialized fields (i.e. acting, singing, dancing, etc.) as well as the retail market place. And their strategies including multi-channel and brand marketing.

Of course one can’t leave out the “queen of all media” when discussing marketing brilliance. Oprah truly exemplifies “multi-channel marketing” with her print, web, radio and television efforts culminating to die-hard fans that span the globe. In addition to her popular TV show, her webpage (OprahStore) generates sales from clothing and other items for pets, baby, and home. In addition, her show transcripts and DVDs are for sale. The later, which is repurposing her “content”, is something I discuss in my SONAR Content Distribution Model TM.

A recent article in Life & Style cited that Jessica Simpson’s business is projected to hit the “billions” by 2011-12 between her record and ticket sales, clothing, shoes, handbags, fragrances, skin care, hair extension line, and endorsements.

And a recent panel discussion on ShowBiz Tonight addressed how some of these women use their brand management power to go from obscurity to household names. Case in point: Kim Kardashian, who after a salacious sex tape leak had turned an unfortunate situation into a very fortunate situation.

Ms. Kardashian is not only drop dead gorgeous but also one of the most searched women on the Internet – with 49 million search results and 4.6 million Twitter followers. Ms. K’s skincare line, Perfect Skin, even has 7,000+ followers on Twitter … all showing how the Internet (social media, SEM, SEO) has been used to capitalize on her fame. “Brand management” has helped Ms. K obtain lucrative endorsement deals for bathing suits, diet products as well as compensation for personal appearances, modeling, and more.

So how did they do it?

No doubt these mavens have some smart business people around them complementing their own gut intuitions.

But what has also helped was their ability to create and distribute their “brand message” and their “USP” (unique selling proposition) through multi-channel marketing platforms.

They also, either by their own vision or with the aid from their marketing "team" work on product development and product “funneling” (i.e. apparel, fragrances, endorsements) to make sure they cover a variety of selection and price points (another critical key to success, if you read my July 27 Blog Post, Give Your Customers What They Want: The Importance of Product Development, Front-Ends and Back-Ends).

Finally, they deliver their “brand message” through multi-channel marketing platforms, such as infomercials, print ads, TV ads, radio ads, and Web (social media and search engine marketing).

So the next time you think Hollywood is full of vapid, plastic people. Just remember that although some of these folks aren’t MBAs or marketing junkies, they have demonstrated some innate marketing insight to help increase market reach, generate social awareness, increase website visibility, and encourage both sales and lead generation ... ironically the same goals as “genuine” marketers.

No New Year's Resolutions!

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of planning before your planning sessions. Today I'd like to share with you a huge concern based on what I've been hearing bank and credit union marketers tell me from all over the country.

"Yes, we need to grow. Yes, we need to be more active in our market places. Yes, we need help ... but ...

A) ...we want to wait until after our planning session," and/or

B) ...we simply don't have the budget this year. Call us in January."

The concern?

If you start today, you'll need to:

• Analyze the situation (see yesterday's blog)
• Set goals
• Review and prioritize recommendations
• Gain internal approvals
• Create segmentation strategies
• Implement sales processes & training
• Reprice
• Repackage
• Produce external communications
• Launch strategic programs

If all goes well, you're likely 60-120 days from today until launch - based on where you are in the list above. You can then plan on another 30-60 days from launch until you experience real results.

So, what's the concern again? You need to grow. You need to take advantage of a current consumer propensity to move money from "big banks" to community-sized financial institutions. If you wait, 2011 will be half gone before you see results.

Don't loose potential revenue ... seize the day!

What if you had a marketing partner that guaranteed a 100%+ ROI? What if they started helping you today and didn't invoice you until 2011? Would that help you to "Carpe Diem?"

9 Hot Ways to Build Your List...Fast!

Whether you're an entrepreneur, corporation, or publisher - the power of the "lead" is critical in growing your business. Leads, also known as prospects, are typically the entry level point of the sales funnel. A popular business model by many online publishers is to bring in leads at the free level (i.e. free report, free newsletter, free webinar), then add those names to their "list" and usually over the course of 30 - 90 days (the bonding time) that lead will convert into a paying customer. This practice is known as lead generation, name collection or list building efforts.

Today, I'm going to share with you some proven online marketing methods I've used and had great success with at some of the top publishers in America. And bonus ... many of these tactics are little or no cost!

Here's the list, in no particular order:

1. Teleseminar or Webinar. This is a great way to collect names. Promote a free teleseminar or webinar to prospects (that is not your internal list). Remember, this is for lead generation, not bonding. So your goal is to give away valuable information in exchange for an email address. The trick is to promote the event in as many places as possible without incurring advertising costs.

2. Co Registration. Co Reg is another way to collect names, but involves a nominal fee. Co Reg is when you place a small ad on another publisher's site after some sort of transaction (albeit a sales or lead gen offer). So for instance, after someone sign s up to AOL Travel eNewsletter, a Thank You page comes up with a list of sponsors the reader may find interesting as well - other free eNewsletter offers. The text ad is usually accompanied by a small graphic image representing the sponsor. The key here is to pick publishers and Co Reg placements that are synergistic to your publication and offer. Another important note is to make sure you follow up quickly to these names so they don't forget who you are. I suggest a dedicated autoresponder series. Co Reg efforts can cost you around $1 - $3 per valid email address.

3. Affiliate Partnerships. This includes JVs (joint ventures), affiliate marketing, guest editorials, editorial contributions, and reciprocal ad swaps. This tactic is extremely effective and cost efficient. The key here is having some kind of leverage then approaching publishers that may want your content or a cross-marketing opportunity to your current list (note: this only works if you have a list of decent size another publisher will find attractive). In exchange for content or revenue share efforts, you and the other publisher agree to reciprocate either eNews ads or solo emails to each other's lists, thereby sending a message to a target, relevant list for free. Well, if you agree on a rev share, it's free as far as ad costs, but you are giving that publisher a split of your net revenues.

4. Content Syndication. I've written about this many times, but can't stress it enough. Content is king and you can leverage it via my SONAR Content Distribution Model TM . SONAR is a cost effective, yet powerful, method of repurposing and synchronizing content (albeit text, audio, video) distribution into various, targeted channels. And it allows companies, publishers, entrepreneurs ... basically anyone with content on their website ... the ability to ultimately turn traffic into sales. SONAR represents the following online distribution platforms:

S Syndicate partners, content syndication networks, and user generate content sites
O Online press releases
N Network (social) communities
A Article directories
R Relevant posts to blogs, forums, and bulletin boards. SONAR works hand-in-hand with your existing search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing (SMM), and search engine optimization (SEO) tactics.

5. Search Engine Optimization. In order to drive as much organic traffic as possible to your website you need to make sure your site is optimized for the correct keywords and your target audience. Once you optimize your site with title tags, meta descriptions, and meta keywords, you need to make sure you have revised your site to harness the traffic that will be coming. That means adding eye-catching email collection boxes to home page, relevant banners, and obvious links to get to product pages. You don't want to miss any opportunity to turn traffic in to sales or free newsletter subscribers.

6. Media Buying. To compliment your "free" online efforts, you may want to consider targeted, low cost media buys (paid online advertising) in the form of text ads, banner ads, blog ads, or list rentals (i.e. eNews sponsorships or solo emails). You're paying for the placement in these locations, so you must make sure you have strong promotional copy and offer for the best results possible. If you're thinking about buying online ads and want to make sure you get the best rates around, then check out my new ebook, Muscle Media: The Complete Guide to Buying Online Ads For Less.

7. Pay Per Click (PPC). Many people try pay per click only to spend thousands of dollars with little results. Creating a successful PPC campaign is an art - one that I've had success with. You must make sure you have a strong text ad and landing page and that the ad is keyword dense. You must also have a compelling offer and make sure you do your keyword research. Picking the correct keywords that coincide with your actual ad and landing page is crucial. You don't want to pick keywords that are too vague, too competitive, or unpopular. You also need to be active with your campaign management which includes bid amounts and daily budget. All these things - bid, budget, keywords, popularity, and placement - will determine the success of the campaign. And most campaigns are trial and error and take anywhere from 3-6 weeks to optimize.

8. Viral Marketing. Make sure you have a "forward to friend" feature in your eNewsletter to encourage viral marketing. It's also important to have a content syndication blurb in your newsletter, this also encourages other websites, publishers, editors and so forth to republish your content as long as they give you author attribution and a back-link to your site. In addition, the SONAR model above incorporates viral buzz in its strategy, so deploying SONAR will help you increase your website visibility and reach.

9. Polls. Incorporating a poll on your website, or having a poll on another site or eNewsletter (via a media buy or ad swap) is a great way to build your list. It's important to spend time thinking about your poll question - something that a hot topic, controversial, and relevant to the locations you're placing your poll. You want to pull people in with your headline and make the poll entertaining. Your answers should be multiple choice and have an "other" field which encourages participant to engage with your question. I've found this "other" field as a fantastic way to make the poll interactive. Many people are passionate about certain subject matters and won't mind giving you their two cents. Then to show appreciation for talking the poll, tell participants they are getting a bonus report and free eNewsletter subscription (which they can opt out of at any time). And of course, make sure to mention - and link to - your privacy/anti spam policy.

After you kick off your list building efforts, make sure you start tracking them so you can quantify the time and resources spent. This involves working with your webmaster on setting up tracking URLs specific to each website you're advertising on. It also means looking at Google Analytics for your website and corresponding landing pages to see traffic and referring page sources. When deploying social media or SONAR tactics, it's important to look at which sites are linking back to you. You can check this with several free back-link tools such as http://seopro.com.au/free-seo-tools/link-checker/ , http://www.iwebtool.com/backlink_checker , http://www.backlinkwatch.com/index.php . As well as set Google Alerts for related keywords to your marketing efforts. You'll then be notified when someone republishes your content as well as general buzz about you.

Put in the work to win the race

In one month from today, I'll be running in my first ultra marathon - a 50K trail run in Michigan.

While on a training run last night, I got to thinking about how so many of the bankers I talk to are starting to talk about their upcoming planning sessions. As I was running through the woods, I started making comparisons to running.

When September 25th comes, the gun fire and the race begins ... the winner will not necessarily have that day's efforts to thank. Rather it's the hundreds of miles run the weeks and months leading up to the race that matter more. It's the hill repeats, the speed work and the long runs. It's the preparation!

The same goes for your planning. First, we need to scrap the phrase "Planning Session" and call it what it is, a PLANNING PROCESS. Planning should not begin and end at your retreat. You should be reviewing, working and improving your plan every day. The "session" should simply be a sanity check ... a report on progress and a group agreement to stay the course or tweak.

What are you doing now to make sure your 2011 planning is a success? Here are some thoughts:

• Make sure you have a thorough understanding of the competition: conduct secret shops, review their products, packaging and pricing. How are they doing in market share?
• Understand market trends. What do local consumers want (not necessarily what product, but what end result - lower monthly payments ... pay off debt faster ... just get by to my next paycheck?) What are their perceptions of your institution and the competition? (Primary research is best here, but if you don't have the time or budget, collect data wherever and however you can to make a informed decision)
• Analyze how your current product suite aligns with the competition and market trends.
• Analyze how your current sales process and external communications aligns with the competition and market trends.
• What are the current financial needs of your institution?
• do you have the right people in the right places to achieve what you need to?

Without some of these basic questions answered, I don't see how a strategic planning process can be very, well "strategic."

A little sweat during the preparation will make you more successful (at least that's what I'm counting on when race day rolls around!)

Take care,

Eric