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

Follow me on Twitter @egagliano

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."

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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

Tell the World Your Goals to Hit Them.

Any runner will tell you, "If you want to stay motivated to train for a big race ... tell everyone your goal."

What's true in running is typically true in life.  And what's true in life is almost ALWAYS true in business. 

Last year, we had a client with a core objective of growing loans.  We looked at their current portfolio, recent growth trends and local market conditions and determined that funding $100,000,000 in new loans in one year was a reasonable goal.  Now, the exercise could have stopped there ... but it didn't.

We weren't happy with simply posting an internal goal and measuring, we wanted the world to know.  So, on January 1, we bought ads telling the area that we were lending ... In a time when big banks were perceived as reining-in their approvals, we were lending ... In a time when the economy was beginning to recover and larger purchases were once again an option, we were lending.

Through the entire year, we carried the $100,000,000 theme. If we talked about an auto loan, we mentioned our goal.  When we touted our mortgage expertise, we mentioned our goal.  Whether we talked to new members or old, we mentioned our goal.  One thing was bluntly clear to the community, our members and staff ... come what may, we were going to lend $100,000,000 before the end of December 31!

Tell the world when you set it,
tell the world when you hit it!

And it worked!  Our $268 million credit union client funded 3,590 new vehicles, 548 homes, helped 185 small business grow and assured that 417 students went to college.  In all, we loaned more than $105 million in 2012. 

You can read about it in this link to the CU Times.

And this year, through refined targeting and improved processes, we expect to do even better!

How did they accomplish what so many institutions are vying for?  Consistency!  

• A consistent and clear message to staff
• A consistent message all year to the community and members

As marketers, we too often feel a need to change up creative with every single media buy.  This case proves just the opposite.  Pick a message and run with it!  Month-after-month; day-after-day.  

Tell the world your goal this year and watch it happen!

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With more than 177,000 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.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848

FOCUS ... Momentum ... Results (Part 1)

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 1 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

FOCUS

Thank God it's Monday!  That's right, TGIM!!!  

Most of us, like most every other Monday, are attending staff meetings ... and management meetings ... and meetings on when to have our next meeting.  

We are gazing at our calendars, as we drain another cup of coffee, trying to figure out how the heck we're going to get everything done this week.

But Mondays in December are a bit different, aren't they?  It's not just what can we get done this week.  On these special Mondays, we're thinking about what we can get done next YEAR.

On any given day, there are a million strategies that you can focus on. The trick is to identify the handful of strategies that you should focus on. 

Our Approach

We recommend you start with the desired end results and back into the most relevant and impactful strategies to help pin-point the focus and maximize the available resources.

• Identify no more than 3 core objectives for your credit union or bank.
• Most growth-oriented objectives typically have 3 parts: Acquire new accounts, Grow or expand existing accounts and Retain existing accounts.
• Identify the 3-5 most impactful tactics to fill these 9 buckets.

It's really that simple.  If a new opportunity doesn't fit into this chart, it's not a priority.  If a new "fire" doesn't affect this chart, it's not a priority.  If a new idea doesn't enhance this chart, it's not a priority.

At the end of the day, if you stay focused on this chart, you should drive MOMENTUM for your institution.

At the end of the year, if you complete each tactic on this chart, you should experience the RESULTS that will achieve your core objectives and drive growth for your institution. 

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

Conventional Wisdom be Damned!

I run ultra-marathons…

            when conventional wisdom says that even 26.2 miles is too much for the human body.

My wife and I eloped to Florence, Italy with just the two of us…

            when conventional wisdom says to have a large wedding with all of your family and friends.

When we were married, I took my wife’s last name…

            when conventional wisdom says that it’s the woman who’s supposed to change surnames.

We have 10 rescued animals running around our house…

            when conventional wisdom says that one or two animals is enough.

 I’m not a fan of conventional wisdom.

Conventional wisdom says that the only take home you bring from a restaurant is what was remaining on your plate when you got full.

Have you seen the new Olive Garden “Dinner Today & Dinner Tomorrow” promotion?

In an attempt to add greater value for their guests, the nation’s leading Italian Food restaurant is offering two meals for the price of one affordable meal. 

I’ve never seen a restaurant sell TOMORROW’S dinner today.  I love the unconventional thinking!

And aren’t we all trying to add value for our guests?  Well, here’s your chance marketers.  It’s planning season for 2013 … The time to think unconventionally. 

First, know how you will judge success next year, then lay out your plan to get there.  Write down the tried and true tactics … Then, throw out all of the rules and try to add to your list of ideas. 

Are there ways you can repackage your products?  Olive Garden didn’t reinvent pasta, they simply found a new reason for you to leave the restaurant with more.

Are there ways you can add greater value for your guests?  Don’t just think price, but consider time, convenience and experience as value too.

Yes, this blog has more questions than answers – but if I laid it all out, it would take away the fun.  But trust me, this “ultra-marathon running, eloping to take his wife’s last name and collect too many animals” guy, has some great, unconventional ideas for client’s plans next year.  Conventional wisdom be damned!

With more than 138,000 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