If you were a... (A fun branding exercise)

When we work at molding a bank or credit union's brand, we ask a lot of questions.  The whole goal is to find that magic intersection between an institution's personality and strengths; the market needs; and a positive point of competitive differentiation.

We ask obvious questions about perceptions, and processes and capabilities, but SOME of our questions are always greeted with funny looks.

If your institution were a person, what would it be like?
   ~ Man or woman?
   ~ Introvert or extrovert?
   ~ Physically fit?
   ~ Liberal or conservative?
   ~ Are you Oprah, Woody Allen, John Wayne or Forrest Gump?
   ~ What socio-economical background?
   ~ What do they regularly wear?
   ~ What kind of movies do they like?
   ~ How do they act at a party?  Do they even go to parties?

We all have a personal brand.  This question helps to humanize the bank or credit union and get at the institution's true personality.  It's funny how often a bank's "personality" matches those specific characteristics of their CEO.  If you want to know your institution's real personality, throw this question around the office this afternoon.  

If your institution were a car, tell me about it?
   ~ New or old?
   ~ Clean or rusty?
   ~ How does it run?
   ~ A lot of upgrades or basic?
   ~ Escalade, Corvette, Lexus or VW?
   ~ Does it have GPS or hand-crank windows?
   ~ How many miles are on it?
   ~ Is it well cared for and oiled every 3,000 miles or can it use some TLC?

Our vehicles are an extension of ourselves.  We name them and we talk to them.  Of all of our functional tools, they probably have the most personality.  When you compare a financial institution to car, you get a feel for how it's built.  You will quickly get a handle on it's efficiency, it's primary target audience demo and it's self-perseption.

If we put a music score to the security tapes of your branch lobby, what would it sound like?
   ~ Indiana Jones adventure?
   ~ A love song from Casablanca?
   ~ Boring - simply "white noise?"
   ~ Is it more Kenny Logins or Randy Newman?
   ~ Something from Friday the 13th
   ~ Yakety Sax?

Nothing sets the mood in a movie like the music.  Think about it ... where would Rocky be without his iconic training montage tunes?

When you think about the mood, culture or environment that you provide to your customers or your staff, what does it sound like?

Here's a fun homework assignment.  Ask these questions around the office this afternoon.  It'll generate some interesting conversation and answer a lot of important questions about your brand in a unique way.  Then come back to this blog and share some of your most interesting responses in the comments section below or on the LinkedIn link to this article.

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With more than 170,000 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.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848

What's The Big ROIdea?

Most of us know ROI as:

Return on Investment = (Incremental Profit - Marketing Investment) / Marketing Investment

But you can take it soooo much further! 

I would argue that you can’t have a great ROI calculation without a great…

Results Oriented Idea … or ROIdea

So, how do you get a great ROIdea?

Objectives

Every Result Oriented Idea starts with desired RESULTS.  At MarketMatch, we always say that there are a thousand things you CAN be doing as a marketer … what are the handful of tactics you SHOULD be focused on?

(See Marketing Law #1 here) 

Cause & Effect:

Your work needs to make something happen to reach your objectives.  Make your target feel something.  Encourage them to interact with your brand and product.  Motivate them to make a decision and get off their couch.

Less You … More Them

Yes, your communications needs to be about your brand and product.  But more importantly, it should be about your audience.  If you want to cause momentum and generate results, you need to speak to your target’s needs, wants, desires and dreams … then tell them how your brand fits in.  This philosophy fits from ad messaging, to point-of-sale communication to staff training.

Scare the Hell Out of Them

In my ad agency days, we had a creative director that expected his team to, “Give ‘em one idea that will scare the hell out of them.”

Keep in mind, your audience will see more than 5,000 advertising messages today!  What will make YOUR’S stand out?

If it doesn’t scare you a little bit – it’s likely a cookie-cutter, boring, non-impactful idea … clearly not results oriented.

Measure, Measure, Measure

To be successful, all Results Oriented Ideas need … well … results.  Now is the time to see if you’ve impacted those objectives that you laid out earlier.

• Was there a sales lift over the months prior to the campaign?  How about the same months of the previous year?
• What was the difference between increased applications and increased new accounts?
• Did growth come from existing customers or new?  Which did you want?
• Would the community name you in the top 3 in an unaided awareness survey?  Would they name you first?  How does that compare against a pre-campaign baseline?

 At MarketMatch, we believe in ROIdeas so much that we offer an ROI Guarantee. 

I believe that outstanding results trump a shelf-full of awards.  When you sit down to plan your next big idea, make sure that it is a Results Oriented Idea.

With more than 127,000 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

4 Tips to Get More From Your Next Conference

There is a lot that I love about being a conference speaker!

First, conferences are rarely held in undesirable locations … I’ll see you next week Hilton Head!!!

But even more than the sunny locales, it’s the people, the energy and the brainpower packed into hotel conference rooms (and occasionally the hotel bar) that I love.  I’ve found that you can never get a group of marketers together without great ideas taking flight.

As you prepare for your next conference, here are a few tips to help you avoid simply collecting great ideas and actually putting them to immediate use.

Immediacy:

Don’t wait until you get on the plane or back to the office to create your summary notes.

• Use the voice memo feature on your phone to remind yourself of the really great ideas
• Send yourself emails so that great ideas are waiting in your inbox

Network, network, network:

We all know the value of exchanging great ideas with colleagues, but have you ever asked for a copy of someone else’s session summaries?  By trading session notes you can:

• Gain a whole new perspective on sessions you mutually attend
• Extend your conference reach by gaining session notes on breakout topics that you did not attend. 

Bring the Learning Home:

As you sit in your sessions, consider what will be best to share with your management team and staff:

• Any new ideas
• How the ideas fit into your existing plan
• How your customers or members will benefit

Ultimately, listen to your speakers and ask yourself:

• What ideas can I turn into training?
• What ideas should be the focus of our next management meeting?

Once you have your world-changing ideas summarized:

• Prioritize them based on what makes sense immediately and fits your existing plan and what should wait for future initiatives.
• Outline next steps and assign responsibilities to get it done.

Action Plan:

In short, to get the most from your conference experience, you need to treat the conference like a project or campaign with:

•  Timelines
• Milestones
• Measurement

By moving from idea collection to bringing home meaningful, actionable plans, you can better demonstrate the value of conferences and, hopefully, justify attending more.

For a quick video blog on this topic, click here.

With more than 115,000 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.  

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.

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

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

This is a Career Changer!

Alright, stop what you’re doin’,

‘cause I’m about to ruin

the image and the style that you’re used to…

Seriously … stop … take a breath … grab the biggest, boldest writing instrument at your disposal … and write this down as large as you can…

BE DISRUPTIVE!

How will you get the market’s attention?

            Be disruptive!

How will you differentiate your brand?

            Be disruptive!

How will you get people motivated to care … and to act?

            Be disruptive!

Your new Marketing Mantra from now on ...

BE DISRUPTIVE!

Now the fun part … how?

There is no one way to be disruptive.  All you have to do is come up with the obvious answer, do an about-face, and run like hell the other way!

Message

The most obvious disruption is to not be obvious at all in your marketing message.  Think about your favorite ads.  The reason you remember them at all is because they caused a disruption and impacted your memory.

To often, marketing is like those annoying political yard signs, you see them everywhere, but nothing stands out.

Here’s a link to a past blog with 6 examples of disruptive marketing.

Actions

We’ve helped several clients be disruptive in their actions.

For a branch opening for one client, we created a Street Team staffed by college kids that went around town in branded jumpsuits and a wrapped car.  Each outing was strategically choreographed to provide giveaways and generate positive awareness for the bank.

For another client, we orchestrated a "Restaurant Ambush" where we coordinated with a restaurant to “buy dinner” for everyone at select times.  Rather than a bill, each table received a, “Dinner’s on us” message from the client.

Ideally, you can disruptive at the point of sale.  What can you do to assure that a day-to-day interaction with you will stand out and make them want to come back?

Product

Every so often, you can create a product that turns a category on its ear.  You have to be first and you have to make people wonder how they ever lived without it.  Think iPad.

Frequency

OK, back to the annoying political yard signs.  The only reason every candidate pays thousand for this legalized litter is because the schmo with the most signs has name recognition.  You can be disruptive with average ads if you go crazy on your media buy and assure everyone not only sees them, but gets sick of them.

Price

It’s an option, but not a great one!  You can price your product to a place where it disrupts the competitive landscape.  Certainly not a long-term strategy, but short-term promotions can work to jump start interest.

But a disruptive offer doesn't always have to be about price!  Can you help your customers give back to the community?  Can you create a fun contest?  Can you create an experience?

Any Crazy Idea

There are countless ways to cause a disruption in a product category, and most of them entail creative muscle.  A truly disruptive idea should scare the hell out of you.

Here’s the winning spot from this week’s The Pitch.  This approach is disruptive!

OK, I think I've disrupted enough of your day.

Take care!  Thanks for reading.

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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 efforts that will generate the greatest  MOMENTUM for your organization and demonstrate RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.

Want to learn more?  Enroll in the MarketMatch eCollege!  Smart online sessions delivered with CFMP credits, tactical advice and a game plan for success!

Learn more about us here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848