Making our Own Demand

I travel a lot...and one of the "fringe benefits" is the ability to read the USA Today every day. Lots of info and timely little charts, graphs and stories.

Community banks and credit unions are facing a tough economy but more opportunity than ever! There is "push down" coming from the big banks and creating growth in both deposits and loans. Customer are re-evaluating everything...their bank relationships, their loans, their accounts-- everything! And they are coming to us!

However, the consumer themselves are being very conservative...here is where the USA Today graph comes into play. As you can see from the survey, completed by Harris Interactive, many respondents said credit needs (for the identified items) may not be high on their lists of "to-dos".

The point? We need to create our own demand!

How do we do it?

Work with your best customers. Now is a buyers market and your best customers realize it and more than likely are exercising their ability and capitalizing!

Another area....refinances. Many people bought cars in the past 3 years and you may be able to refinance these loans away from the GMACs, Honda's, etc. as people may be looking to lower payments.

Be aggressive in advertising and marketing. The "noise" in the market is less than it ever has been...so your message can be help X times more than usual. Its time to invest in your bank/CU!

One last idea...small business. Small business is the engine to our economy and many small businesses are both capable of strong growth during this economy and also many are starting, based on displaced executives.

Seek the opportunities. Be creative. Know that you must create the demand.

The industry has been stretched in the past 5 years and the rubber band has snapped back...never again to be the same shape. We MUST be proactive!

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp

Don't forget building your hot list...

So, you're about to launch a new product, service or website.

On your timeline, you're a few months away from your target launch date. What marketing can you do during this time between planning and execution?

Build a hot list. You can start by creating a simple webpage with some strong copy about your product/service/website -- teaser copy that doesn't give too much away -- and have an email sign up form. Also, it's important to include on your page your product/service/site's name, logo and tag line for branding.

This way, you can start seeding forums, blogs, bulliten boards, tweeting...where ever you can spread the word and drive traffic to your sign up page.

What you're doing, in addition to branding, is creating buzz ... you're building anticipation and a pent up demand with your targeted audience.

You can also start using this landing page in media buys or reciprocal ad swaps with industry publications. Then, as you collect these "qualified names" (as they already displayed an interest in your product/service/site before it launched), you can send them updates, do a count down to launch, or even start "soft" cross-promotional messages.

So instead of looking at a pre-launch time as taking care of pre-launch operational issues, start building your hot list and hit the ground running when launch date arrives!

Online Account Opening

Thanks Al Gore ... this internet thing might just work out after all.

BAI Bank Strategies estimates that by 2015, 50% of new accounts will be opened online -- is your institution ready?

Consumers are getting more and more comfortable picking and clicking:

• Gen Y is the most likely demographic to look to online resources
• More than 60% of online shoppers are women
• People with children are more likely to conduct business online than those without
• People conducting online transactions are looking for immediate results

In short, they are your key target and they are motivated!

Reevaluate your website - With this target, your reputation and your website may have a greater impact than your physical branches or staff. Create a web advisory council or hire a third party to evaluate your site's look and flow.

Make it easy to open the account(s) - This takes teamwork from compliance, IT and marketing. The more a consumer can complete online (without having to print and mail applications) the more likely they are to complete the process. With government regs in mind, make every effort to allow customers who want to open an account online to actually open the account ONLINE.

Make it secure - It goes without saying...

Add value - These consumers are typically online savvy, however, a little extra education can't hurt. As they are trusting you with their money, help these customers protect it with regular tips on how to keep their online identity secure.

On-Board - Opening an account online is a convenience ... not an excuse to never have direct human contact with your staff. It may be more important than usual to implement a formal on-boarding process with online account openers. Assign a Services Representative to:

• Write a hand written thank you note the day the account is opened. This can follow an email notification that should be automatically, electronically delivered to the customer immediately after the account is opened.
• Place a follow-up phone call a week or two after account opening to assure the delivery of their debit card, checks, or any other relevant materials. Also inquire about the satisfaction of the account opening process.
• Place another personal phone call after the customer's first statement delivers to assure satisfaction. Invite the customer into the branch or schedule a call to discuss further financial needs.

This will be a vital target for us as our industry and consumer needs evolve. Those institutions who are early adopters will have a leg up.

If you're having success in this area today, or if you have questions for those who are, please post a comment in this blog.

Take care,

Eric

Know Your Customer Now -- They've Changed

So, you've done your due diligence and done a big customer research project within the last year or so, right? You know, it was probably when you did a new branding push or were going through a name change. You really honed in on who your customers were and how they felt about your bank.

So, good for you -- you have a clear understanding of what your customers wanted then. What about now?

A great deal has changed in the last 12 to 18 months in the banking industry, so assume a lot has likely changed with your customers too.

The turmoil in the industry has jumped from Wall Street to the front page of the newspapers and landed smack in the middle of Main Street. Customers can't help but be affected by all they are hearing about the banking industry.

Obviously, many now have questions about the safety and security of their funds. Here's a startling fact from a recent customer research project conducted for one of our banking clients. For the first time ever, safety and soundness and reputation of the bank was selected as more important than location and convenience in determining where to bank.

Not only are more customers focused on the safety of their funds, but many have also seen a dramatic shift in their needs. Suddenly the financial landscape has become very scary and customers who once thought they didn't want a lot of guidance or hand holding from their bank may now be looking for a much more involved financial partner. Are your employees positioned to step from product pushing to the role of an advisor and partner?

Your challenge is to find out what has changed with your customers and prospects today so that you know where and how to spend your limited marketing dollars wisely. Leveraging a small portion of your marketing budget to research so that you are really targeting your messages can offer significant payback in ROI.

I also value the touch point that research gives to the customer. Being contacted to provide feedback lets customers know you value their opinions and are working to meet their needs. It also demonstrates you recognize the significant changes that have taken place in the marketplace and want to remain relevant.

So ask yourself, how well do you really know your customers now? Well, maybe its time to become reacquainted.

To Tweat or Not to Tweat

Twitter is the newest communications tool in the Arena Stage arsenal, and the more we use it, the more I am convinced it should be treated in the same manner as a blog, or perhaps a little more delicately. At its core, Twitter was created to send micro-blog messages to followers on a regular basis throughout the day, explaining what you are up to and your thoughts on current surroundings. Those who are avid users send several tweats per day, and the tweats of those that you follow aggregate on your homepage, or they are sent directly to a mobile device. Many organizations have created Twitter accounts but few have figured out how to successfully use this communications tool.

As a web 2.o application, the central idea behind Twitter is interaction, so it amazes me how many organizations use Twitter to simply push information, such as reviews, headlines and marketing promos. Remember, as I like to say, no one is interested in what a marketing director has to say. So keep it interesting, and try to make it as interactive as possible.

An alternate way of using Twitter could be having a senior member of your artistic staff set up a Twitter account, and have them twitter on their activities. Therefore, you won't have to worry about having a boring organizational voice, and the application can be used for what it was invented for -- to report on the activities of a single person. David Dower, Arena Stage's Associate Artistic Director, recently set up a Twitter account of his own where he twitters about his travels and his work on our productions. It has been embedded in the Arena Stage blog, and at any given moment, a patron can see what he is up to. Since he leads the artistic development team, his days are pretty interesting...much more so than mine. Really, who wants to know we just bought another ad in the newspaper?

Has This Recession Seen It's Shadow?

With all due respect to Punxsutawney Phil, that lovable, furry creature charged with predicting the longevity of our winters, it's hard to predict beyond a shadow (pun intended) of a doubt whether seeing this recession's shadow means six weeks, six months or six more years of this mess.  Of course, when Phil is wrong, no one will demand that he live above ground or perform community service.  Not one iota of the vitriol that would be directed at, say, Treasury Secretary Geithner if his forecasts went awry.  Plus, Phil never forgot to pay his income taxes.

There are signs of an early spring in this recession.  While the stock market has been on a bit of a roll, the credit markets, where this whole mess began, is showing signs of a spring awakening:

• Companies with good credit are borrowing more in the bond market.
• Confidence in the banking industry (especially community banks and credit unions) seems to be returning slowly.
• Junk bonds are coming back into vogue (yields are about 16.5 percentage points more than Treasuries, a large premium for risk).
• The market for securities made from bundles of car loans and student loans, a vital source of credit, has started to stabilize.
• Home buyers are seeing some benefits of the credit thaw as interest rates on fixed, 30-year mortgages fell to the lowest levels on record.

I can't see my shadow, can this be over?

 Wait a minute, like they say about the weather in Vermont, if you don't like this economy, wait five minutes.

• Credit markets are still fragile.  Ratings agencies are slashing the credit scores of such bellwether companies as General Electric.
• General Motors bondholders are bracing for a possible bankruptcy filing.
• If unemployment continues to race higher, or the stimulus package fails to take root and the economy enters a deeper period of decline, many of the tentative gains in credit could come undone, analysts say.
• With the idled capacity in the U.S.--workers, factories, retail outlets, freight lines, bank lending--many economists feel that even if the recession miraculously ended tomorrow, it would take at least three years before full employment returned and output rose enough for the economy to operate at peak levels.

Uh-oh, I think I see my shadow.

It is abundantly clear that it is virtually impossible to predict with any degree of certainty what will happen in the stock or credit markets next week.  Forget about predicting next quarter or the quarter after that.  What is clear is that community banks and credit unions need to forget about looking for their shadow and take advantage of the unique opportunity to grow market share as the negative effects of safety and soundness continue to plague the larger financial institutions.

A recent survey of 755 community banks across the U.S. showed that 55% of those banks had dramatically increased deposits, and 40% had increased loan volume since the beginning of the year.  Is your bank or credit union one of them?  Are you still waiting for that definitive answer of when this mess will end so you can then go back to some form of banking normalcy?

No one correctly predicted the breadth and depth of this economic cataclysm.  And if you're waiting for someone to tell you when it's over, you might as well borrow Phil for a few days.  The banks and credit unions that are acting now to make a positive impact with customers, prospects and their communities will be the true winners before, during and after the economic turnaround happens.

Communications...easier than we think!

Communications can be tricky...it can also be very easy! The challenge is knowing when the communication is clear and when the message is invisible to the recipient! I love this graphic...it tells the story of communication, where the sender has a clear message and the recipient sees nothing! This happens all too often...

I recently came across a string of conversations where both parties were "clear" in their intentions and needs, the challenge was both parties were talking in their own language and not in "universal speak". This is my own term...one that I use to describe simple terms, usually pictures or graphics are involved and there is nothing to "get" or interpret....it is what it is. We have to speak clearly, use common words, paint a picture of our intent, and ensure the recipient understands by asking for an action. This could be see us at www....; call us at...; come into to see us at...; we have to ask for positive action to ensure we are reaching our audience.

To my point on communications. How many times do bankers read other bankers or CU ads and articles and wander "at what point was THAT a good idea??" If you have wondered it aloud, chances are people have thought the same about your communications. In these times of uncertainty, economic pain, and universal distrust, WE have to communicate clearly and leave nothing to interpretation.

I encourage every marketer at every bank and CU to take a 2nd and 3rd look at your current communications...look at EVERYTHING. The web, your brochures, your emails, your memo's, your signage...

• Are you communicating clearly?
  
• Is it the message that is MOST relevant to your customer?
  
• Is the message one that elicits action?
  
• Do you provide value in your message?
• Does your staff "get" your message, too?
  

If you answered NO to any of these...you MUST retrace your message and present it more clearly. We have to be clear now, you have to provide value now, your message must be relevant now....change it Now!

Cheers!

Bruce