Diary of a Credit Union Marketer

Dear Diary...

"April 15: YES!!!!!  I just left the conference room after a meeting with my team, and I am so pumped about this new marketing campaign.  It’s going to be great!  This is the biggest multi-faceted campaign we’ve done yet.  We have mass media, direct mail, social media, email with PURLs, a microsite, billboards…we are going to get so many loans!  It launches on June 3, so I have a lot to do between now and then, but I’m confident I can get it done.

May 1: The staff members are all asking questions about this “new marketing campaign” the CEO mentioned at the staff meeting.  I’ve got to set aside some time to get everyone together to effectively explain what we’re doing and get everyone’s buy-in or this just isn’t going to be successful.  Then there’s that meeting I have today with a new print vendor to see if I can get better pricing for our campaign print pieces.  Oh, and I absolutely have to write that press release today about our school financial literacy program, and get a picture at the school when I am there to teach the class this afternoon.  

May 7: I’m feeling panicked because I’ve only gotten around to about half of the staff members to talk to them about the upcoming campaign.  How am I going to get to all of the branches this week and still get everything done on my list?  I need to get with our design team again because the art isn’t what I wanted exactly.  Are the programmers working on our microsite?  I also need to get all of our trade show materials ready for the community pancake breakfast on Saturday.  We need to take a game and some literature about the credit union with us.  Perhaps I should design some coupons for the campaign to hand out?  I’ll add that to my to-do list for tomorrow. 

May 15: One of our member service reps came into my office this morning needing help writing a letter to a new member of the credit union.  I was happy to help, but I still have to finalize the art for our postcard, and pull a list from our MCIF system, scrub it, and get it uploaded into our email system.  Oh my, I need to send out the Happy Birthday cards to our members who have birthdays in June.  Most importantly, my CEO asked me today to come to the board meeting tomorrow afternoon and present the new marketing campaign to the board and senior management team, so I’m going to have to work through lunch and push back my dinner date in order to get it done.  If the board doesn’t like it, then it will be really hard to justify the budget, so my presentation has to be well organized and include member data, market research and current statistics. 

May 31: I came in early today to get everything done so I don’t have to spend my weekend at the office.  I’ve spent the last hour responding to urgent emails.  Then the printer called and said that the size on our direct mail postcard dropping on Monday isn’t standard, so I have to get accounting to write a check to cover the difference in postage.  I also have to drive around to all of the branches today to make sure they have all of the collateral pieces they need for the campaign launch.  Our first email blast goes out next Tuesday and I still need to write the last two articles to go along with the campaign piece.  I should probably write a blog post, too, about the benefits of getting a car loan at the credit union.  That would be a nice complimentary piece to go along with our campaign…"

Wow, I remember being in those shoes.  At the end of the day, the work all got done.  But imagine how much better it would have been with more horsepower - especially in that last mile of the marathon? 

Many marketers are fearful of working with an agency for their marketing efforts.  They are afraid that their own positions won’t be justified if they are “hiring out” their marketing work.  But that couldn’t be further from the truth.  In fact, we work best with credit unions that already have marketers on staff, because no one knows their credit union’s strengths, opportunities, staff dynamics, objectives, and brand better than the marketing person. 

The beauty of working with an agency like MarketMatch is in times like the last mile of the race to finish that campaign.  A true marketing partner sits on the same side of the desk as the marketing person and their team to develop and execute a strategic marketing campaign.  Once the strategy is in place, we do the legwork behind the scenes to let you and your team focus on the things that you need and want to do like staff development, training, financial literacy…whatever it is.  We are here to make you look good.  

The end!

Amanda

Contact me to learn how MarketMatch can help you with your marketing efforts, whether it is through marketing strategy, branding or rebranding, budget planning, new product development, and much more.  Learn more about all of our client services by clicking here. 

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A 10 Year Old, Bad Dancing, 2 Dogs & Your Agency Relationship

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it's out there.  You know, EVERYTHING is caught on video now-a-days.

I first want to apologize to everyone, and then explain myself.

When you see that video of the dashingly handsome, painfully modest, suburban man acting 15 years younger than his true age and doing a dance in his front yard that is a unique interpretation of an Irish jig and the Macarena ... I'm sorry. But I had a darn good reason!!!

My 10 year old son mowed my lawn ... by himself ... for the first time this Saturday.  

(Pause, while I do ANOTHER little dance)

At face value, this seemingly has NO meaning to you, my fine marketing reader. But wait, it will!

With my son dutifully walking straight lines back and forth in my yard, it freed me up to do a lot more. I was able to mulch the flower beds and straighten up the shed. With a much more productive Saturday than I had anticipated - I was able, on Sunday, to be a lazy slob and nap with my pit bulls on the couch.

Don't get me wrong. It wasn't easy to hand over the mower. And at first, I kept stepping in to go back over small strips that he missed. Even now, I look at the yard and know that it doesn't look EXACTLY how it would if I were to do it, but it looks pretty darn good. And thanks to his help, I was able to accomplish significantly more.

Now, think about your 3rd party partnerships. Like my handing off the mower, it may be hard to relinquish some tasks. And since we are, in great part, in a creative business, I can guarantee that the solution an agency comes up with will be different than the direction you would have taken. 

There are two reasons to engage a 3rd party marketing firm:
1) When you need additional expertise in an area that simply isn't your forte.
2) When there aren't enough hours in the day to focus on all the things that really matter.

Had I kept stopping to "recommend" better ways for my son to mow, I would have never gotten my other work done.

That's the trick to a sound partnership, isn't it? You need to know when to let go and trust your partner. Assign them the jobs that you are comfortable handing off or where you need the added expertise. Unlike my boy, I'll bet it's NOT their first time behind the mower. Then you can look like a hero by completing more than expected. Heck, you might even have time to hit the couch and nap with your pups too.

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 214,000 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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HELP! - When to Outsource Marketing

(This topic was requested by one of our readers.)

We are all asked to do more with less.  How do you know when to outsource your marketing?

When the Twin Towers and the economy were devastated in 2001, my largest client opted to move their advertising in-house.  Immediately, I became expendable to my ad agency – along with a dozen of my friends.  I didn’t know at the time, but it was the best day of my professional life!

Within a week, I had an interview with a credit union to be their Marketing VP.  My first step … learn what the heck a credit union is!  Soon after, my life as a financial marketer launched. 

Now here’s where the outsourcing comes in.  On my third day as a CU marketer, I had a meeting with this company called MarketMatch (yes, I’m not just a consultant, I was a client).  What I realized was that I knew how to be a marketer, but there were nuances to financial marketing that I needed help with.  What’s more, I was a department of one (and a part time assistant) and I had a lot to learn about my market.  I hired MarketMatch to conduct market research that I didn’t have time to conduct on my own.  I also used them to turbo-charge my learning curve on financial marketing.

So, what’s the lesson in all of this?

When do you turn to help?

Sole Search

Understand what you and your department are best at.  Also own up to where you’re weaker.

I am an idea guy.  I have created concepts for several award winning campaigns, but I don’t even know how to open design software. 

Look to bolster your weaknesses so you have more time to maximize your strengths.

Manage Your Resources

Prioritize the most important items that MUST get done to achieve your strategic objectives.  Then list all of the day-to-day stuff that you simply can’t avoid (newsletters, meeting reports, non-marketing tasks that fall on you, etc.).

I knew that I needed market research before I could design a plan to help my CU grow.  I wanted to understand our level of awareness in the market, perceptions about us, perceptions of our competition, if the market knew what the heck a credit union was … or cared.  I didn’t have time to properly conduct and analyze the research AND run my department, so I turned to MarketMatch.

In most cases, you can hire a marketing firm of many individuals, each with their own unique strengths for less than the expense of hiring one qualified marketing professional in-house.  When you analyze your list of “must dos” and compare it to your sole searching exercise, you’ll quickly see if you can justify outsourcing and where to focus your outsourcing search.

Know You Are Unique

Every town has a local ad agency.  And every agency has its strengths.  But look at their client list (past and present). 

As an ad man, I’ve worked on an enormous variety of accounts: water parks, soccer shin guards, international container shipping, refrigeration air compressors, large-format ink jet printers, legal documents, helicopter share ownership.  While many of the basics of marketing apply across the board, I can tell you first-hand that there is no industry like ours.

Your marketing partner can’t provide prudent recommendations without a firm understanding of your balance sheet.  If your agency doesn’t understand the unique needs of banking, they’ll be reduced to order takers by default. 

Do They Help You Sleep Well At Night

The job of any outsourced partner is to strengthen your efforts, to provide an outside perspective, to fill expertise gaps and to ultimately make you look like a hero!

This may be a good time to mention MarketMatch’s ROI Guarantee!!!

Check several references from institutions of similar size, target segments and project scope.  Can your agency point to other successes that closely resemble your needs?  The bottom line … are you confident that, when you lay awake at night – concerned about all that troubles you – your institution’s marketing efforts will not be amongst the worries?

(Do you have a topic you'd like to see in this blog?  Please add a comment below.)

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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.

Learn more here. (click here)

Chat with me LIVE! (click here)

Or email me directly (click here)

937-426-9848