The New “Basics” Every Marketer Should Know

This week, we are focusing on the fundamentals of marketing on the MarketMatch blog and Facebook.  And by basics, we aren’t talking about TV commercials and billboards, radio, newspapers, direct mail, and all of the more traditional forms of marketing.  There are some new basics that every marketer should know because marketing has changed dramatically since the days of Mad Men, and changes more rapidly as time goes on.

Let’s break down the basics of today’s marketing:

Tell a story with personality

Business Banking Services – Example 1

“We have business loans for all sizes of businesses and industries.  Our rates are competitive and we feature friendly, knowledgeable loan officers and an easy application process.”

Business Banking Services – Example 2

“Jerry Smith has owned his glass shop for 34 years and always had what he thought was a great relationship with his financial institution.  That was, until he received an unexpected call from his ‘personal banker.’  ‘We understand that you have never missed a payment on your credit line and you’ve always been a good customer,’ said the personal banker.  ‘But we are cutting back our lending, and we’re closing your line of credit loan effective next month.’

Angry and betrayed, Jerry turned to his local credit union/community bank, where the loan officer came to his shop, learned about his business and designed a custom solution tailored to Jerry’s individual needs.” 

Which of these examples is more compelling to you?  People make decisions based on emotion.  Stories make it easy for people to put themselves in a given situation allowing you an opportunity to “sell” your services in a way with which the readers can identify.  And, more importantly, makes your sale more memorable for the consumer.

Solve a problem with your positioning. 

We don’t need a marketing campaign to tell us how amazing chocolate is.  Or how it tastes.  99% of people love chocolate.  So how would a chocolate company position itself?  Enter my favorite candy, M&Ms: their tagline is “melts in your mouth, not in your hand.”  It instantly creates a visual, and they don’t describe the features of their candy with their positioning.  Plus they have the whole adorable character thing going for them, too.  

A great exercise for you to try next time you are developing a marketing campaign is to take off your marketing hat and be the consumer.  What problems or opportunities do you have or see with your personal finances, accessing your accounts, getting loans, visiting the branch, etc.  Once you have brainstormed those processes, back into how your account, loan, service, etc. will solve that problem.  If there aren’t any problems to be identified (which is great), how can those touch points and transactions be enhanced so that the transactions become memorable over other financial institutions selling the same services and products?

Personalize and position your product so that someone can identify with it and make it their “own.” 

"Bride" on my wedding day

As a coffee-loving person, the experience of going into Starbucks and ordering a “grande, one pump, nonfat, no whip café mocha” is a personal experience.  Am I in line like everyone else to buy coffee?  Yes.  But that is my drink.  

We obviously don’t sell coffee drinks.  We sell trust through our financial products and services.  This doesn’t mean recreating the wheel.  It means modifying (or creating) the consumer experience.  How can you appeal to the innate human desire of acceptance and belonging through the various transactions at your financial institution? 

Stop being a logo! Show your brand personality.  (Yes, you have one).

“Flo” has over 5 million Facebook fans.  It’s an insurance company!  But Progressive has done an amazing job at taking their commodity-based transaction and turning it into a people-based transaction.

 

It’s also insurance, but the Allstate “Mayhem” commercials do a fantastic job of dramatizing insurance needs in a funny, identifiable way. 

Why is this important?  The more consumers relate to and remember your institution, the higher your brand loyalty will be.

Engage and encourage them in conversation

In the age of social media where it takes all of eight seconds to tweet about a service experience, people are going to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly whether you want them to or not.  So, instead of playing defense (or worse, not playing at all), how about being proactive and engaging them in conversation on your terms? 

Some negative response is inevitable and can even turn out to be a great opportunity for your financial institution.  In fact, your members or customers expect you to do things wrong from time to time, but it is how your organization handles those issues as Ron Zemke talks about in his article “Service Recovery: Turning Oops! Into Opportunity.”  He says, “the true test of an organization’s commitment to service quality is the way the organization responds when things go wrong for the customer.”  Conversation enables these opportunities to be uncovered and on your terms.

Choose the medium that is right for your financial institution, drive traffic there with your marketing and communications efforts, and actively engage your audience in conversation, whether it is in person or online.  Your members and customers want to know that there are real people with real personalities behind that logo of yours.  That’s why the examples above are so identifiable and memorable.

Make it about them, not you. 

In the same way that you go about positioning a product or service, remember your credit union or community bank is there to serve the people coming in the door, connecting with you online, or calling on the phone.  Marketing isn’t just about how you promote your business; it is how your business operates and involves everything from the building atmosphere, the employee dress code, how people are greeted, the transaction process…everything.  We are in a people business, and it is about them. 

It is imperative in today’s competitive environment that we as marketers go beyond traditional marketing mediums and tactics and do it before we need to.  Once your target audience has gone elsewhere, it will be that much harder to capture their attention and tell them your story.  And it’s a great story you have to tell.  

Amanda


MarketMatch brings these philosophies and die-hard energy to credit unions and community banks.  Want to learn more about how MarketMatch can help you with your strategic marketing efforts?  Contact me!

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Are We Spending Too Much Time on Social Media?

Many of us have spent numerous hours researching and learning about social media marketing along with keeping up with the trends, not to mention interpreting regulations, when in fact, only 22% of the time Internet users are actually on social media sites. (via Visual Economics) So what about other avenues of Internet marketing that can bring your company numerous benefits along with stretching your limited marketing dollars?

There are multiple Internet marketing avenues, including, but not limited to; remarketing, search engine marketing and various online ad opportunities. 

All of these tools give us many benefits over traditional marketing including tracking real-time results and instant conversion ability. In addition, you’re able to target your audience by demographics, geography (Geo-targeting), behavior and context, allowing you to place your message to a specific target in your specified trade area.

• Demographics – Age, gender, income, home ownership, and business ownership, are among a few of the options you can narrow down your audience target to include.
• Geo-targeting allows ads to be served based on a user’s geographical location whether by state, city, zip, radius to your branches, etc.
• Behavioral targeting is when ads are served based on the user’s behavior. These are based on a variety of online factors such as previous online purchases, searches, browsing history and can include demographic details as well. For example, if a customer recently visited a site looking for homes you could pinpoint this customer to receive your mortgage loan display ad.
• When ads are served based on related content a user is currently reading or browsing online, it is known as contextual targeting. For example, if you are reading an article on a news website about a bank charging for debit cards, you may see contextual ads for debit cards with no fees from other FIs.

Internet advertising is a smart option for you to consider stretching your marketing dollar and getting results. In addition, your cost per impression (CPM) for Internet advertising is lower than traditional media. If you haven’t targeted this avenue with your marketing campaigns, 2012 would be a good time to give this a try. The dollars you spend to get results will be less than you expect, often less than just one newspaper ad.

If you have questions or need help getting started, contact any of us at MarketMatch.

Cheers to you,

Melissa

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Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.  – Unknown

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.

Measuring Ourselves...in the new world.

I recently read an interesting article from MIT Sloan about measuring social media investments.  The article discussed the real-world question of the impact of social media on our marketing strategies, marketing investments and how does it all reconcile with our planning and need for an ROI.

The bottom-line?  Measure -YES, quantify the investment -YES, traditional measurements -NO

As with most things (and this is where we completely agree) the impact of social media CAN be measured, but the key is in what you measure, when, and the activities that each measurement drives toward your goal.  Traditionally, we have measured units sold, balances of new accounts, new applications, etc.  This "traditional" measurement approach is more than likely either falling apart of departing dramatically to the why we need to use social media.

Social media is no longer a passing wave...it is the present and future of communicating and interacting with our customers and market.  However, with the change of the communications also comes the change of what we are intending to communicate or the expected outcome.   We may very well be trying to simply have people pass along...in a credible, referral-type way...a message of our capabilities vs. an outright sales pitch for a product.  Social media is a different animal and calls for not only its own set of strategies but its own set of measurable variables, too!  Here is an interesting chart that MIT Sloan shared in their report...

They key here is determining what to measure and that the "what" is actually indicative of the end-result you are trying to achieve...and then getting everyone on-board to measure and monitor and change accordingly... sound complex or yet another thing to add to your day??

Worry not...we can help!

Cheers...

Bruce Clapp

5 Steps to Engaging Gen Y

Many financial institutions have acknowledged the fact that Gen Y is a unique audience with untraditional communication preferences and they will have a long-term impact on the success of their financial institution.

A 2009 Grunwal Associates National Study predicted Gen Y will outnumber Babyboomers that in 2010 – well, it’s here! And if you have not started a plan to attract Gen Y customers, then give us a call to get started today! However, if you already have a Gen Y Marketing Plan that you are implementing, consider these tips to keep content fresh and customers engaged...

1.) Educate.
 Educate your Gen Y audience with general financial education, product functionality, financial tools, and other news and events. Keeping content fresh is key. Provide content in various contents to expand reach and deepen relationships.

2.) Expand Communication Channels.
 The more interaction your customers have with your financial institution, the deeper you make your connection to them. Communicate with your customers via social media, targeted newsletters, emails, podcasts, videos and blog, online chat etc. to make Gen Y customers more engaged.

3.) Encourage Interaction.
 Your communication schedule should consist of information messages, tools, tips, events, and news…each can elicit interaction. Also encourage interaction by offering contests, scholarships or challenges or starting a Gen Y Advisory Board.

4.) Tailor Products. Review your product line to ensure you have a complete package to offer Gen Y customers to fulfill their loan, deposit, and access needs. When communicating to them, focus on the product benefit rather than a typical product feature description.

5.) Provide Functionality. Financial Planning and Budgeting Tools, Website Enhancements, iPhone Apps and Financial Management Software are just a few ways you can bring functionality to Gen Y customers. Gen Y has high expectations for technology, and they expect for useful information to be at their fingertips. If you aren’t providing it – someone else will.

Keeping Gen Y engaged is key to successfully capturing this market segment. Make the most of your Gen Y communications!

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Social Media: Hype or Hidden Treasure?

For those of you that haven’t established a presence on LinkedIn yet, I strongly recommend that you create a profile and linkaway!

LinkedIn is on of the top 5 social networks on the Web and focuses on linking professionals to one another through networking opportunities, business discussions, information exchanges, Q&A’s, industry news, professional Groups, and. more.

It’s easy and free to get started. You simply go to Linkedin.com and create a profile. You can information on your education and career. And through your account settings you can chose what information you’d like private and what you’d liked displayed for others to view.
It’s also helpful to get and give recommendations, as it helps validate your credentials as an expert in whatever field you specialize in.Once you sign up, you can invite colleagues and business partners to join your "network" as well as join various Groups that relates to the industry you’re in. After you join those Groups, you’ll receive weekly messages from the Group leader regarding Group discussion, news, relevant articles and other useful information. You will also be able to view other Group member’s profiles and invite those you feel could be synergistic to your business to join your network.

Joining LinkedIn can help your business…and your website (and company!) in several ways…

• SEO. You can write and upload a useful articles as news or start discussions using with information that will benefit your fellow members. That’s the key, relevant and value-oriented information. When you do this, you also get to upload a URL, which can backlink to your site. Not only will this reinforce you credentials as an expert, but it’s also information that is truly benefiting you’re peers in whatever niche your in.I’ve executed this tactic frequently with the marketing articles I’ve written and those members wanting more of what they read visited the website link I enclosed, increasing traffic, and the opportunity for sales via eCommerce platform. And the traffic was easily identified with website analytics under "top referring sources."
  
• Networking and Advertising. You can easily alert members of your special skills, expertise or services by posing a relevant question and offering a benefit-oriented solution. The opportunity is there to network with responders and gain potential business. Again, the key is to be subtle and relevant. You can, however, post a classified-type ad in the Group’s Job section. And here’s where good copy writing comes into play, as your ad must get people to take action quickly. If done right, I guarantee you will also get a handful of qualified leads that will generate new business and added to revenue growth. In my experience, within 4 hours of my initial posts I received nearly 20 leads for potential clients.
  
• Increased Web Presence. If you’re goal is to improve your website’s presence, then being actively involved in LinkedIn is critical. If you spend an hour or less a day and offer expert solutions to relevant Q&A’s, provide commentary to targeted questions in your Group messages – and include your name and website URL -- your "brand" will be prominent to site users. This will not only establish you as an expert within LinkedIn, but also have the potential to drive ancillary traffic to your website from members and referrals. And the more traffic your site gets, the more it will help your organic search ranking and visibility.

Now, some may argue that social media is just the latest craze,
but it’s not easy to monetize or measure.

I wholeheartedly disagree.

I say, if you’re a creative and strategic thinker, you can not only
measure social media efforts, like those in LinkedIn,
but also increase you’re business’s bottom line.

And isn’t that what direct marketing is all about?