October Doesn't Have to be Scary

October Doesn't Have to be Scary

Can you feel the chill in the air? The foreboding feeling of things to come? Yes, it's planning season...

But planning for 2011 doesn't have to be scary. Just take planning in bite-sized chunks.

1. Build a knowledge-base. I know you have a smart management team and Board. But unless your target is old dudes in suits, you may need to talk to your market before planning. This can be as fast and cheap as branch intercept surveys (you know, like the clip-board-toting folks at the mall) or as robust as statistically relevant, quantitative research that's cross tabulated across multiple data fields ... or anywhere in between. The key is to try to understand what you want/need to know and research accordingly. Click here for more information about research strategies.
2. Gather before you hunt. In many cases, the most prudent planning starts with your existing customers/members. Understand how your customers use you and why. What do your most profitable customers look like? Where do they live? What makes them profitable? We often recommend starting with customers with 2 or 3 products with you already (as opposed to targeting single-product households). These folks have started building a loyalty with you. Often times single-product customers are single-product for a reason and hard to convert. The bottom line is that you will get the biggest bang for your marketing buck if you focus on building share-of-wallet instead of acquiring new customers.
3. Don't forget your Halloween night strategies. When I was a kid, I had a 3-pronged approach to trick-or-treating: 1) First hit the houses that knew me. They were more likely to throw in a little extra. 2) Go to the bigger, more expensive neighborhoods, they usually had the full-sized candy bars (remember when people used to give those away?!?!) 3) Before calling it a night, hit the houses that knew me again - they often would dump whatever was left in my bag. Who knew, at 7 years old, what a great marketer I already was!?! 1) Target by proximity to those who are most likely to be aware of you and have a positive perception - they will be more open to your message. 2) Target those that have the highest propensity to be most profitable. In banking, this isn't always the biggest houses. You can analyze by census-tracts where the opportunity lies. (If you can't, we can do it for you!) 3) Keep talking to those that know you best. They're more likely to give you more.
4. Go into planning thinking about ROI. Too often, institutions only use ROI as a follow-up -- like a report card of sorts. It is a powerful planning and budgeting tool. Demonstrate how your department and your efforts will add to the bank/CU's bottom line.

Take care,

Eric

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