consumer marketing trends page: Profit

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Power of a Smile

If you follow this blog regularly then you likely know far too much about me: Where I was married and how many animals I have, I'm a terrible poet ... and play write, my favorite TV show, favorite coffee, and even what I drive. Most of all, I pray that you can see how important marketing is to me.

You've probably also picked up that I'm runner. It's my stress relief and the source of many of my best ideas. Last week, while on a 10-miler, I discovered something really cool. Well, a few things, really. Have you ever noticed that runners are rarely smiling?!?! Seriously, we usually look like we're on some sort of death-march against our will. On this particular morning, I had the same look. I was tired and slow and everything was aching. But I know to never give up in the first mile. When mile number one of a 10-miler sucks, then you start to do some darn quick self-reflexion. And I noticed that I wasn't smiling (well, duh!). So I tried a bizarre idea ... I made myself smile. Simply turned that frown upside down. It was a beautiful day. I was doing what I love. I got to see hot women in spandex... well, I had reasons to smile.

Here's the cool part. After a while of the glass-half-full method of running, I started running faster ... and easier ... and the smile got bigger.

Here's the REALLY cool part.
When other runners see a fellow death-marcher smiling, they look at you like you forgot your running shorts. It's odd ... jarring. But after the initial shock passes, they usually return the smile. Now, I'm not sure, but I would swear that, when they smiled back, they sped up too.

Could it be true ... the most important muscles on my run are in my cheeks?!?!

While it sounds crazy, it may not be. I found an article siting the 15 Health Benefits of Smiling. And I believe every single one of them:

Lower heart rate
Reduce stress
Better mood
Increase productivity
Encourage trust
Produce empathy
Avoid regret
Kill pain
Increase attention
Contagious
Build attraction
Earn success
Look younger
Longevity
Boost immune system

Many of these benefits will help professionally too. Increase productivity, encourage trust, make the smile contagious, increase attention, earn success. Maybe the fastest thing that we can do to make sure our companies thrive is focus on hiring optimistic people and dedicate ourselves to making sure they are happy at work.

The power of the smile is obvious when its face-to-face, but you can hear it over the phone too. It's not just a look, but a mindset. An ingrained philosophy.

There is ALWAYS a positive ROI on a smile ... give it a try.

We bring these marketing philosophies to credit unions and community banks nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too. Contact us to see how.

Nearing 245,000 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.

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker. Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

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Monday, December 10, 2012

Focus ... Momentum ... RESULTS (Part 3)

Focus … Momentum … Results

It’s not just our tag line … it’s our business model.

This week, we take the ultimate look behind the MarketMatch curtain. A glimpse into our innermost workings. The drivers behind everything that we do for your credit union or community bank.

This is part 3 of a 3 part series this week that will outline the simplest of strategic processes and the true value to how we partner with financial institutions to drive bottom line success.

Focus ... Momentum ... Results

RESULTS

Because of our ROI Guarantee and because it’s the right thing to do, we measure everything. The challenge is knowing what to measure and when.

At it's base, ROI is:

Incremental Profit - Marketing Investment

Marketing Investment

But there's so much more to the equation:

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? (This begins to measure that MOMENTUM that we talked about yesterday)
Was there a sales lift over the months prior to a campaign? How about the same months of the previous year?
Did you hit your required sales lift?
What might the results have been with a different offer? What about no offer?
What was the difference between increased applications and increased new accounts?
Did growth come from existing customers or new? Which did you want?
Is your attrition decreasing? What accounts are experiencing the highest and lowest attrition?
What branches or markets are growing the fastest/slowest? Why?
If your marketing is working, how can you make it better? If it's not working, why?

Once you understand your objectives-driven FOCUS you'll know what to measure.

With constant monitoring and tweaking, you can more effectively build MOMENTUM.

If you can benefit from some Focus ... Momentum ... Results, click here.

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With nearly than 160,000 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.