consumer marketing trends page: positioning

Showing posts with label positioning. Show all posts

Monday, September 24, 2012

The Art of War...and Marketing (Part 3)

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.

This is Part III in a series of blogs that breaks down each chapter. The brief chapter summaries are from Wikipedia, but the marketing commentary is all MarketMatch!

To read Part 1, click here.

To read Part 2, click here.

10. Situational Positioning looks at the general areas of resistance (distance, dangers, and barriers) and the types of ground positions that arise from them.

As you are continually measuring against your objectives, you may find that you are not tracking as well as you’d like. What are the dangers and barriers to your success?

Awareness: Are people aware that you exist, what you sell and what you stand for?
Perception: Are you too small, too big or confusing to the market? Does your brand align with market wants?
Access: Does your target pass several competitors to get to you? We have a client who is literally one block away from heavy traffic and has a hard time generating momentum. What about your e-access? If you have it, is it easy to use? Do your customers know about it?
Price: You don’t need to be the lowest price, but this is always a discussion criterion to consider and analyze.
Attrition:Analyze the attrition of key products within each branch. Are they new or old relationships that are leaving you?

11. The Nine Situations describes the nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, and the specific focus needed in order to successfully navigate them.

The 9 stages of a campaign as I see them are:

Set measurable objectives: Define what success will look like
Determine desired action: Know what you want your target to do. What product, how quickly and what is the desired entry point?
Define target: Who best fits the mold for this product? Be as specific as possible. Where do they live? What do they want? What do they think?
Determine how best to reach target: The goal is frequency, not necessarily reach. How can you reach the best percentage of your target at least 3 times?
Create messaging: Be clear, stand out and differentiate.
Train staff:The worst thing that can happen is for an employee to hear about a new promotion from a customer. Be sure that your team is aware of the message, what it promotes, who you’re targeting, what you expect and how they should communicate once the customer comes in or calls.
Launch: Make it happen
Measure: Don’t wait until the campaign is over to track. By tracking progress along the way, you’ll know if you need to make any adjustments.
Adjust: If needed, tweak your approach. Is a lower cost tactic pulling better than an expensive one? Is the target misunderstanding the message? Is the call to action clear?

12. The Attack by Fire explains the general use of weapons and the specific use of the environment as a weapon.

As a marketer, you have a lot of weapons at your disposal:

Traditional: Newspaper, radio, TV – these are best used to build awareness with limited segmentation. Usually your best cost-per-impression.
Direct:Targeted direct mail, outbound calls, email, text – though more expensive per impression, these allow for a more one-on-one conversation. By narrowing your target focus, you can speak to specific needs. Expect a higher response rate.
Web-based: Pay per click SEO, web banners on partner sites, micro sites, QR codes – this category is evolving every day. This allows for a more interactive experience. Being electronic, this is typically also highly measurable.
Guerrilla: This is where you can use the environment as a weapon. Guerrilla marketing hits the target when they are not expecting to be sold. An example from the MarketMatch files is when we “lost” 100 wallets (in strategic locations) around a market. In the wallets was a message to return the wallet to a given branch for a $20 reward. The campaign was successful in driving new foot traffic, awareness and word-of-mouth.

An army of only tanks, though powerful, would not be successful. For true success you need to control the air, the land and the sea. Each tactic has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. The magic is finding the right mix for the given target that fits your budget.

13. The Use of Intelligence focuses on the importance of developing good information sources.

We have talked a lot about the importance of measurement and analysis. Where you obtain your data is as important as what you measure. MCIF systems are very useful here, but not vital. For most in-house data, you’ll want to buddy-up with IT and Finance. Clearly define what it is that you want to measure and brainstorm with your team on how best to pull it.

Aside from in-house numbers, there are countless online resources and survey techniques to gather what you need. The emphasis should be more on WHAT to measure than HOW.

Aside from basic growth numbers, you can also consider:branch-by-branch or market-by-market analysis, attrition in key products, accounts per customer/household, debit card usage, awareness/perception, product usage trends, percentage of referrals, web site usage/effectiveness, application-to-loan conversion ratios, profitability, media channel effectiveness, cross-sell per employee, referrals across business units. The options are limitless and should be tied to completing your key objectives. (See “What’s the Big R.O.Idea” for more info)

There you have it ... how 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!

With more than 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.

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Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Art of War...and Marketing

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.