Mirror Mirror...

Mirror mirror on the wall...

     Who are the best customers of them all?

Many of our clients have "Customer/Member Growth" as a core objective for 2013 ... which is great!  But, as a true consultant - I'd like to make one MINOR edit.  Change that objective to:

Growth of THE RIGHT Customer/Member.

When you are focusing on the RIGHT customer, your universe shrinks and you can become more efficient with your budget.  As a marketing director and a leader on the management team, I would rather report to the Board that we grew our customer base with slightly fewer productive and profitable folks than tons of "riff-raff" (using technical, professional vernacular).

You can acquire the very best prospects through mirror modeling.  Focus your efforts on those people who "look like" your current best customers.

Identify Your Very Best Customers
Pretend, for a minute, that you could take one of your customers and stick them in a Xerox machine.  Who would you pick?  Someone with the highest deposits?  The most impressive loan balances?  The most services per household?  Would they have checking?  Would they religiously use their debit card?

Your answer may be different than the credit union's down the street or the community bank from across town.  You need to define exactly what kind of customer you want.

Once you've identified them, pull an address file of every one of your current customers who meet the criteria.

Birds of a Feather
Think of your neighborhood.  I'll bet most of your neighbors look a bit like you.  Maybe it's an area with a gaggle of young families with kids.  Or it's a flock of empty nesters.  The socio-economic law of averages says that birds of a feather tend to flock together.  And this can be a powerful tool for targeting.

By defining a narrow target and geo-focusing your marketing efforts to those zip+4s with the highest concentration of your best customers, you'll have a significantly better strategic effort than if you simply target those who live within 1-2 miles of your branch network.

You can also have a message with a laser focus.  Understand your best customers: What are their pain points?  Why did they choose you?  Why do they stay with you?  What life stages are they living through? What products are they most likely to have?  How are they most likely to use them?  Once you understand your best customers, you'll better understand how to communicate to your most desired prospects: What products they are most likely to need with you.  How they are most likely to use them.  What their key purchase criteria is.

With a little upfront homework and a mirror modeling strategy, you can retain your best customers through better understanding, you'll know where they live to find more of them and you'll know how to talk to them.  That is a powerful marketing formula that will make you the "fairest of them all."

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

With nearly 185,000 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 credit unions and community banks 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

The Art of War...and Marketing

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military document attributed to Sun Tzu a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician.  It is composed of 13 chapters, each devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly known to be the definitive work on military strategy and tactics of its time. 

These writings have helped countless military leaders win land, riches and infamy … and in a wonderful twist of irony, we will focus on how it can help you win your customer’s hearts.

Over the next several blogs, we will break down each chapter.  The brief summaries of each chapter are from Wikipedia, but the marketing commentary is all MarketMatch!

1. The Calculations explores the fundamental factors that determine the outcomes of military engagements. By thinking, assessing and comparing these points, a commander can calculate his chances of victory. Habitual deviation from these calculations will ensure failure via improper action.

When creating an annual plan or a campaign, calculations are vital.  At MarketMatch, when we begin work with a new client (and periodically throughout the engagement), we look at several fundamental factors before putting pen to paper on a plan or Zenning-out in creative meetings.  Every tactical element should be based in strategy and your strategy should be knowledge-based.

• Financials:You can learn a lot from looking at your financials.  Review the last 2 years.  How are you trending in deposit growth? Loan growth? Checking? Customer/Member growth? Where are your deposits and loans coming from? Does all of this align with your business objectives?
• Market analysis: Market analysis goes way beyond basic market share.  Compare market share growth with deposit growth in your branches.  Keep in mind that you can see significant deposit growth that barely moves the market share needle because of the size of the total market.  Beyond market share, who makes up your market?  How’s the income?  Job market?  Have new employers entered or left?  What are the average ages?  Are there geographic “pockets” of key demographics?  What do traffic patterns look like around your branches? Where does your key demographic hang out?
• Product suite: Take an honest, outsider’s survey or your products (quit for a few days if you have to).  Are there any gaps between what you offer and market needs?  Do you offer too many accounts?  Is there real difference between each checking account?  Can your staff clearly define that difference?!?  Are you up-to-date on electronic account access?  Where are you on price (you should not necessarily be the lowest or the highest)? How does your product suite compare with the competition? 
• Communication audit: As objectively as possible, take a look at all of your customer touch points.  Is there consistence of look, tone and message? Have you looked at your ATM screens lately?  Do your brochures focus on benefits?  How are your brochures displayed/distributed?  Is your web site easy to navigate?  Do you talk “to” customers or “at” them? 
• Competitive analysis: One of the first things we typically do in a new engagement is secret shop our new clients and their key competition (see "Lessons from 100 Bank Experiences" for more info).  How does your sales/service culture compare?  Where do you rank in “share of mind” or awareness?  Who’s outpacing in growth and who’s declining?  What are their key messages?  Do they compete on access, price, products or service?  Are they local or out of town?  Overall you’re looking for a market need where you have a clear advantage over the competition.  The key is differentiation.

2. The Challenge explains how to understand the economy of warfare, and how success requires winning decisive engagements quickly. This section advises that successful military campaigns require limiting the cost of competition and conflict.

This is where you get your budget!  How does your marketing plan tie to the overall business plan?  Clearly define your objective.  Each objective should tie to a key financial measurement.  If you grow your customer-base by 5%, how will that impact the bottom line?  How will new checking accounts impact non-interest income?  How will it effect loans?!?  You should be able to estimate the financial impact that your plan will generate.  Show anticipated ROI (see "What's The Big R.O.Idea" for more info).  If your budget increases, your results should too.  And if it decreases … what results do they want to eliminate?

3. The Plan of Attack defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and discusses the factors that are needed to succeed in any war.

The key here is UNITY! 

• Unity in branches.  Your “main” branch should not feel special.  The branche furthest from your “main” branch should not feel left out.
• Unity in departments. Are your business units individual silos (see "Breaking Down the Silos" for more info)?  Is there a process in place for business units to refer?  Can retail staff talk about commercial products?  Do they know what Wealth Management’s best prospects look like?
• Unity of message.  Whether you have two branches or 20, the customer experience should be the same in each of them.  From the call center, to the teller line, to new accounts, to loan closings, are your processes and expectations the same across the institution?

Under a unified structure, you can compete with the large regional and national banks - regardless of your size.

4. Positioning explains the importance of defending existing positions. It teaches the importance of recognizing strategic opportunities, and teaches not to create opportunities for the enemy.

Each market is different.  It is important for the branches to have some flexibility in their local positioning.  A marketing mantra of mine is to “give creative the freedom of a tight strategy,” but you can also give the branches the freedom of a tight brand!  If your brand position is clearly defined, your branches should be able to operate under the brand umbrella while still focusing on what’s important in their unique market.  By allowing branches certain autonomy, you can position your institution as THE local option against larger banks who seem impersonal under cold corporate mandates and create local opportunities.

There you have it ... how the first 4 chapters of The Art of War can help you take over the marketing world.  Remember, with great power comes great responsibility.  I trust that you won’t go all Napoleon on us with this information!

Part 2 and Part3 of The Art of War…and Marketing.

With nearly 130,000 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.

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

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.

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

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

We're like the iPad - so lets learn from Apple

 The iPad is an amazing tool!  You can:

• Put video in your newspaper or audio in your magazine
• Watch movies
• Incorporate video into a phone call
• Join a classroom from anywhere
• Have access to countless books
• Learn about anything 

How do you communicate everything that this miracle of technology does in a 30 second spot?  Focus on the benefits:

• Enhance your reading experience and be more interactive
• Hold a movie theater in your lap
• Get closer to those you love
• Make learning easy
• Hold an entire bookstore in your hands
• Interact with your environment

See how Apple introduced the iPad 2 and accomplished all of this in 30 seconds here. 

If you think about it, we are the iPad of the service industry.  We can do anything ... We help manage peoples money!  If it’s at all important to a customer, we are the gatekeeper!

• Save for the future
• Buy whatever you want now and pay over time
• Access your money any time from anywhere
• Manage your money and balance your budget
• Keep your assets safe

(Note: I do not mention price anywhere here - neither did Apple.)

Your challenge for today … say all of this without saying any of this!  Take these features and talk to your target in terms that effect their lives.

Let us know how you do by replying to this blog.

Have fun.

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

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

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.

Learn more here. (click here)

Chat with me LIVE! (click here)

Or email me directly (click here)

937-426-9848