Know Your Audience Better

Our July 16th Brown Bag Lunch session on One-to-One Marketing talked about how useful certain tools like MCIF and CRM are. It also talked about the power of Claritas P$ycle data to better segment and understand who your target audience is, what they do, what media they use, and where they live.

Click here to learn more about our FREE Brown Bag sessions.

More importantly, we talked about how you can still have a robust one-to-one culture even without the tools in-house. That caused me to think, about how you can still have the power of P$ycle-style data on a more conservative budget. It is possible!

Though not as robust as P$ycle data and not as efficient to complete multiple segments, if you can identify a key strategic segment or two, you can collect your own lifestyle information through research. The key is to create a brief survey that touches on your target's hobbies, entertainment preferences, preferred media and financial goals.

Click Here For a Sample Survey.

You have several choices to collect this data. Since this does not, necessarily, have to be a blind survey, you can expect a better than average response rate from a phone survey. Of course, an email (like the above sample) would be faster and cheaper. You can also conduct branch intercepts or have a focus group to dig deeper into each question.

With this data, you can better create lifestyle or life stage marketing, or create a mirror modeling strategy to acquire more customers that resemble your best customer. You can be more strategic in your media buys and more targeted in your grassroots efforts. You'll also have relevant data on a strategic segment to have more intelligent one-to-one conversations about products and services that match their immediate financial goals.

MarketMatch has already made the investment into the Claritas ConsumerPoint system so that you can tap into the valuable data and also benefit from the expertise of our strategic team driving the process.

Of course, MarketMatch can be your resource for all of this. To learn more, email us at egagliano@marketmatch.com, or call 866-501-2233, ext 106.

Spend less, grow more.

Call it what you want: one-to-one marketing, segmentation, target marketing…

Regardless the terminology, with shrinking budgets and more savvy consumers, you need to focus your marketing efforts. The goal here is to: filter everyone “into” a group versus out of groups, to maximize response & activity and to get the highest ROI for the greatest impact.

MCIF, CRM and Claritas system can all definitely help here, but are certainly not the only answer.

You’ll want to base your segmentation, ultimately, on: your bank or credit union’s financial goals, your existing customer-base, any regional factors and what your competition is doing.

Certainly you want to be strategic in your planning, but don’t suffer from “Analysis Paralysis,” while you’re planning your attack (or picking up the phone to have us help you), here are some segments to consider approaching:

• Checking/debit card without online banking
• More than 5 POS activities with no loan
• 5 or more CDs with no investment services
• 2 or more installment loans with no LOC
• Installment loans maturing within 24 mos.
• Equity LOCs booked 5+ years ago
• Equity LOCs with more than $5K available
• Checking, Savings and no Money Market
• Checking, CD and no Money Market
• Homeowner with no HELOC
• HHs close to balance thresholds
• HHs with open LOC space
• Homeowner with no HELOC
• Grandparents/Parents/College grads (select any life-stage that generates specific financial needs)
• Small business without retail

Consider how you will approach these folks. What do they look like? What ultimately is motivating them to need your services? How aggressive should you be? Once they are in your front door, how will you identify them? What will you say? Will you have to offer them a special, or simply demonstrate how you can help them?

The bottom line is that smart, strategic, targeted marketing demands a larger investment of your time, but can save your budget and ultimately show better results.

Take care,
Eric

Today's Marketing Challenge: Is it worth it?

We talk to financial marketers from all over the country, every day. During our chats, we hear what's bugging you. This week, we'll address some of the more common issues we're hearing.

You're not alone!

Today's Marketing Challenge: Is it worth it?

Today's solution covers a wide variety of marketing challenges: "I think we need a MCIF or CRM, but they won't put it in the budget." "We need more marketing resources, but how do I pay for it?" "My department simply isn't respected at my institution ... marketing is more than 'arts & crafts!'"

The solution? Measure your results (or expected results)!

The simple solution is to demonstrate the value (or anticipated value) of your marketing efforts through ROI.

Think like a marketer and understand that your CEO/COO/CFO/Board/etc. are your target audience. You have to speak your target's language ... numbers!

What's that? You "don't do numbers"? Here's a quick cheat sheet:

ROI = (Incremental Profit - Marketing Investment) / Marketing Investment

The bottom line is:

• Define where you are at the start
• Determine the expected or actual outcome of your efforts
• Measure the financial outcome against your investment

What was your return? Can your CEO/Board get a better return by investing the bank's/CU's money in stocks, HR or IT?

ROI is simply the best way to brand marketing as much more than "arts & crafts." It's also the most logical way to justify your dream marketing budget and wish-list resources (like MarketMatch).

We have an in-depth Financial Impact Analysis form that we use to justify our ROI Guarantee. If interested, call me at 937-426-9848 or email egagliano@marketmatch.com.

Take care,

Eric

Branding ... It's Not What You Say, But What You Do.

If you don't think that you can afford to rebrand your institution in this economy, think again.

It’s all in the definition.  Yes, your brand is tied (in part) to your name, logo and visual appearance.  But it is defined by the customer experience.

To rebrand your institution properly, you need to focus less on the creative department and more on strategy and day-to-day interactions.

Check out this great article published on customerthink.com.  

Where are you in the continuum of: do-nothing; basic Customer Loyalty programs; CRM (customer relationship management) and CEM (Customer Experience Management)?

As financial institutions, we know more about our customer’s activities than most any industry – yet we are one of the most commoditized.  We help our customers manage their money – yet we tend to take the emotion and empathy out of our messages. 

This is why branding is my passion!  It’s about people … it’s about turning “potential-customers” into “customers” and converting “customers” into “evangelists!”

When there is little tangible difference between “Bank A” and “Credit Union B,” can you afford NOT to rebrand in this economy? 

Take care,

Eric