Great Marketing: It Slices, It Dices...

Hey, friends. Are you tired of your marketing budget getting slashed every year? Are you embarrassed because your CEO looks at Marketing as the Arts and Crafts Department? Well friends, have I got the answer for you…

The Seg-O-Matic … It slices, it dices, it improves your response and blows up your ROI.


Alright, I know I sound like a bad '70's, Ron Popeil infomercial. But, hey ... that cat knew how to sell!

Seriously, folks ... segmentation is all about slicing and dicing. Here's an example:

We have a client who is rolling out a new interest checking account. Like many other smaller institutions, they previously only offered Free Checking and are now expanding their product line with the hopes of acquiring more checking, increasing retention and increasing services per household.

In the span of a 10 minute conversation, we had 7 target segments:

1. Members who qualify for new product - Move them into it
2. Members who qualify by balance but missing ancillary product - Motivate them to open more services to step into the new checking (this segment could have been more than a dozen individual segments is we focused on exactly what they were missing)
3. Those who are close in average balance - Increase balances/retention
4. Members who have required balance in deposits but no checking - New checking/retention
5. Non-checking with loans - New checking, focus on convenience of online banking
6. Non-checking without loans - New checking
7. Acquisition - Self explanatory (this could also be countless segments, but this SEG-focused institution has access to a very targeted list)

So there you have it, an instant strategy for product roll out by simply considering who the product affects, what each segment needs and what those needs have to offer to your objectives.

This client has fewer than 8,000 members, so it would have been easy to create a postcard to sound the trumpets and proudly proclaims the coming of "The Greatest Checking Account in the History of the World." (Could you hear the echo when you read that?!?!) 

We could have printed 8,000 pieces, used "Dear Member" as the salutation, mailed them out, sat back and counted new accounts. But our clients (and your members/customers) deserve better than that.

Segmentation goes far beyond the "haves" and "have nots." Consider your target's needs, how they use you and how you want them to use you. 

The more targeted you get, the more personal you get. The more personal you are, the better you can:

• Speak to specific needs
• Focus on specific calls to action
• Address different objectives in one campaign

The goal is to get as one-to-one as possible. In our example, there were only about 50 members who qualify for the account today. They could easily be called at home in a few hours.

Once you've sliced and diced and analyzed your segments, you'll have a better feel for what tactics you can use to communicate with each. Does your culture fit an external call effort? Can you trust your team to send personal letters? Can you create a process that looks more personal but still takes the responsibility off the front line staff? Should you?

I believe that everything can be prioritized. Once you have a feel for the quantities in each segment and how those segments like to use your institution, you can use this list as a guide:

Hierarchy of External Conversations

1. Personal phone call 
2. Personal letter from relationship manager
3. Postcard direct mail/email specific to the segment
4. Mass media

But Wait … There’s More!
How much would you pay to increase your response rates? 

But wait ... there's more!

Not only does the Seg-O-Matic give you personalized conversations and more meaningful calls to action ... it also allows for better campaign tracking. Yes, my friends, you get it all ... a one-to-one conversation, more objectives met, the power to know which segments respond and which you need to tweak.  Now how much would you pay?

But hurry, this strategy is not sold in stores. It's available to you only for a limited time. Call today!

For more lessons from infomercials click here.

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.

With nearly 255,000 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.

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

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Focus ... MOMENTUM ... Results (Part 2)

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 2 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

MOMENTUM

A quick physics lesson:

Momentum = Mass X Velocity

A heavy object moving fast has a large momentum—it takes a large and prolonged force to get the object up to speed, and it takes a large and prolonged force to bring it to a stop. If the object were lighter, or moving slower, then it would have less momentum.

It takes momentum to push ahead. That’s why everything we do is to help drive momentum for your bank or credit union.

So, what does all this physics mumbo jumbo have to do with marketing?

MASS: From a marketing perspective, mass is a relevant and differentiated message.  It is consistent communication.  And consistent experience.  It is your brand.

VELOCITY: Velocity is awareness, understanding and word-of-mouth.  It is sales success at the front line.  A success that generates a contagious enthusiasm - for your team and your customers.

It's that simple: The more people who understand and experience your relevant, differentiated brand, the more momentum you have.

External Communication: From sound strategic planning to impactful implementation … every aspect of your marketing should be designed to generate a desired action. You create mass by defining your brand message and value proposition.  You create velocity by getting and demonstrating that message to as many targeted customers and prospects as possible.

Internal Processes: We will push further when we all push together. That is the power of training and internal communication.  Each team member must be able to understand and communicate your brand.  More importantly, they must be able to demonstrate it with every single interaction. 

You can't generate momentum overnight.  It takes a prolonged force to get the momentum up to speed.  But, once rolling, it will also take a prolonged force to stop it.  

Are you looking for justification for your marketing budget?  There it is!

To get the momentum rolling fastest, you need FOCUS.

To know the power of your momentum you have to measure RESULTS. 

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.

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

I Could Be Your Next Member/Customer!

Are you looking for new members or customers?

Now, I don’t want to brag … but on paper, I look like a pretty darn good member!!! 

And you know how many times I’ve heard from my credit union aside from my monthly statement?

Exactly never!

• No phone calls
• No "thank you" notes
• No product offers 

Why?  My best guess is one of two reasons:

1. I’m loyal and already have everything with them, so why waste the resources to communicate to me.
2. They’re so focused on growth and acquisition that they don’t even know how good they have it with me.

I can think of several reasons my credit union should treat me REALLY nice:

• I’ll be paying off one auto loan this summer
• The other auto loan is more than 3 years old
• I don’t have any CDs or Money Markets with them (they should assume that I have some somewhere)
• The summer “Honey Do” list includes several big ticket items
• And most importantly ….

The competition is calling!

Are you making the same mistakes?

• Do you know who your best customers/members are?
• Do you know where the opportunities are with them?
• How are you communicating to them?
• What are you doing to make sure they stay?

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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

Communication Behaviors in the Multicultural Marketplace

In 2011 with our national online data set we summed the number of hours per week that different cultural groups spend on different communication activities in English and in another language. These included:

●     Listening to CD’s

●     Listening to the radio

●     Listening to MP’3’s on any device including an iPod or mobile phone

●     Listening to music on television

●     Using social media like Facebook or Twitter

●     Listening to Internet radio like Pandora or Last.fm

●     Talking with friends

While these are not all the communication activities a person can engage in, the list should be a good indicator of overall communication activities by different cultural groups. The graph below reports the total number of hours per week reported in the average by each of the cultural groups in English and in another language. Clearly, the other language used would be almost universally Spanish in the case of Hispanics.

Average Sum of Diverse Communication Behaviors

The results are quite striking. Hispanics in general spend more time per week in the communication activities measured, and those Latinos who answered in Spanish (HS) reported spending more than 60 hours in media and communication per week, almost double the amount of time than non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). What is particularly salient is that the amount of time Latinos who prefer Spanish engage in English language communication is almost the same as non-Hispanic Whites. These Latinos are on “double communication duty.”

It is also important to emphasize that while Hispanics who prefer Spanish spend at least half of their time with English media and communication activities, they still spend the other half with English language communications. So it is not one language that is dominant for these online consumers, they split their communication world in two.

Hispanics who prefer English (HE) spend about 25% of their time with Spanish language media and communication, and they are the second most communicative group of all, with more than 50 hours per week. The third most communicative group is that of African Americans (AA) with about 43 hours per week, followed by Asians (A) with about 38 hours per week. Non-Hispanic Whites reported the least amount of time per week engaged in communication activities. A next posting will break down each of the activities. Here, however, the striking overall differences in amounts deserve some discussion.

The sheer amount of time spent on communication by Latinos in general should be of interest to marketers as these consumers should be especially available to receive commercial messages. We have known for some time that Hispanics are more welcoming of marketing messages, but this analysis substantiates the amazing communication openness of Hispanic consumers.

Further, marketers that produce entertainment content should find here substantiation of the enormous potential of this Latino audience. Social media use and personal interactions not only serve for the reinforcement of social ties but they also spread the word about marketing efforts.

In this case as in others we have reported earlier, we find that Hispanics and minorities in general tend to be more communicative than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. This should give some food for thought to marketers who think that their future still resides in the so called “general market.”

The data for this study was collected during March 2011. This online sample was comprised of 500 respondents per segment, for a total of 2,500, based on quotas by gender, age, and geographic location. DMS Insights managed the sample and data collection and they graciously contributed their effort to the academic program of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University. Melanie Courtright, previously with DMS Insights championed this effort. She is now with Research Now and continues to support our research. This study was conducted by the faculty and students of the graduate Multicultural Marketing Communication course offered by FSU.

Branding ... It's Not Rocket Science.

... And Rocket Science isn't branding - it's two totally different industries!


But seriously, whether you're branding a retail bank, commercial bank, credit union or coffee shop, the basics remain the same.


Strategy
In its simplest form, brand strategy comes down to one simple recipe:

• One part: know thy self
• One part: know thy competition
• One part: know thy audience
• Shake well and pour over differentiation

If you follow this blog, you've probably read one of our branding blogs. If not, here are some good ones:
     What if?...
     Brand YOU Day.
     Marketing & Branding
     Branding...It's Not What You Say, But What You Do.
     Is It Time To Relook At Your Brand?


Communicate
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"  As a true marketer, I say...who cares?!?!  No one heard it!


Any change in brand requires a focus on awareness.  Your key target audience(s) should have better top-of-mind awareness of your institution AND understanding of your brand message. This requires pre and post brand research.


Your creative doesn't necessarily need to win awards, but should be focused:

• On the right audience
• On your key point of differentiation
• Benefits, Benefits, Benefits

Employee Engagement
Advertising and logos are great, but your brand lives and breaths with the experience.  And the experience resides in your staff.

• Every employee MUST understand the brand
• They must understand how the brand is designed to make the customer feel
• They must know their role in the brand and what is expected of them
• They must be provided tools and training to make brand delivery second nature
• Experience must be measured, monitored and tweaked for improvement
• Consistency, Consistency, Consistency

See, branding is really not all that hard!

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.

Learn more here.

Chat with me LIVE!

Or contact me directly (click here).