Last day of 2010, Happy New Year!

December 31, 2010...Happy New Year everyone!

May this be the beginning of a wonderful year!

Make it a great Friday. Be safe this New Year's Eve, enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Resolve to Work Smarter

As we approach the end of the year, a reflective tone on our past performance often resonates. We often compare our actual performance to the goals we had set out for ourselves to see how we measured up.

Reflecting on the past year’s performance of what we did well and what we could have done better leads us to the question, “how can we do it better in 2011?“ Lessons learned from 2010 can guide us in the right direction for working smarter in 2011. Working smarter is very relevant as we remain in an era of increasing responsibilities and minimal budgets.

Explore these ideas to discover ways you can work smarter in 2011…

• Acquire the market and industry intelligence in order to become a “smarter” when targeting prospective customers
• How can you package products or provide relationship benefits to better engage current and new customers in a broader relationship
• Review internal customer data in order to expand balances and services per household through better targeting and more innovative profiling
• Review operational communication messaging in order to maximize retention or expand relationships
• Ensure your products and customer service are better than the competition

Looking over 2010 with a critical eye is important to discover ways that you can continually grow and improve your marketing. Using this information to work smarter will help us to deliver the results we all need to keep growing and reaching our goals.

Resolve to work smarter this year!

Jamie

The 27th...and counting

Greetings!

Seems like yesterday when we started the countdown to 2010...right after Christmas last year!

Well...the countdown is now on for 2011!  Its the 27th...the calm that arrives after the Christmas rush will quickly dissipate and return to a chaos of the new year.

Enjoy the last few days of 2010, reflect on the year ending and look forward to the year beginning!

Cheers!

Bruce

Merry Christmas

Tis the season!

May peace, prosperity, and happiness be yours throughout the holidays and new year.

I would like to personally wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Enjoy the time with your family over then next few days.

Debbi

Microsites

It's not secret ... if you want to reach the "Google Generation" you'd better be a few steps ahead on technology. Text alerts and mobile banking are as expected as ATMs and online banking.

You'd also better spend more time analyzing and improving your website than you do writing newspaper ads!

Lately, we've had a lot of clients interested in microsites. And they can be VERY useful in the right situations.

What is a microsite? (or minisite, or weblet)

It's a page or cluster of pages that supplement your main website. They are usually used to highlight a particular product or aspect of your organization.

Let me give you 2 examples.

We are in the process of completing a Mortgage-specific microsite for a client. While in this supplemental portion of their website, a user can find only information important to someone who's interested in buying or refinancing a home.

We also completed a microsite for another institution who wanted to focus on their new lifestage-based sales process. Here the user is drawn into information important to their specific lifestage. They then have the option of clicking on relevant financial products that will take them back to the bank's main site.

In short, it's a way to get a reader interested and to draw them to you. A microsite can differentiate in a very targeted way and generate qualified leads. It's also a much better marketing message:

"Come to our site with information important to you."

vs

"Come to our site all about our products."

What Makes a Microsite Successful?

Content.

The number one objective of your site should be to add value - not, necessarily to sell your products.

Where your main website is traditionally an electronic brochure of your "stuff," a microsite is successful because it draws a user to it for value - entertainment, knowledge, etc.

Many retail microsites use games to bring people in. We prefer to position or clients as experts and use value-added content.

Our mortgage site includes more than a dozen articles that are important to first time home buyers, experienced home buyers, folks wanting to refinance and moving and packing information. It also includes dozens of helpful links to anyone moving or remodeling. The entire site is designed to be a one-stop resource for everything important to you before and after you complete a mortgage app.

Our Lifestage site provides links and information for anyone experiencing specific life events, like childbirth, retirement, etc.

Of course, there are countless ways to link from the informative microsite to the "salsey" main site.

In short, a microsite should be a resource that a customer or prospect will want to bookmark and come back to over and over again.

Merry Christmas,

Eric

Forget What You Know…

If we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we were to remember nothing.

-William James

This quote may come in handy when brainstorming new ideas. Certainly your experience is worth a great deal, but sometimes, when it comes to developing new, innovative ideas for promotions, product development, campaigns, or customer communication it helps to initially throw out “what you know.” Putting everything and anything on the table in a brainstorming session can be a great way to brainstorm new ideas.

Many times, we hear banks defending certain marketing tactics with the statement “this is how we have always done it.” Not a very compelling reason, is it? Customer and market perceptions are always changing, so even if you are considering to re-execute a past successful campaign, that doesn’t mean it will be successful when executing it in the future.

If you plan only to repeat successful promotions, you may be missing out on an idea that could be even more successful. Also, if you rule out all unsuccessful promotions, you may be ruling out a good idea that was poorly executed or a good idea that would have been more successful with different situational criteria.

In some scenarios, you can take your brainstorming a step further by removing resource restrictions. If money, supplies, people, and time weren’t limited, what would you do? The ideas you come up with might not be plausible, but they may cause you to uncover new ideas within your resource limits that can make a huge impact.

A healthy dose of “forgetting” is crucial for our ability to think big.

Happy brainstorming!

Jamie

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Around here it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! This picture was taken yesterday, Dayton, Ohio. With Christmas just a week away we would like to take this time to wish you a very happy holiday season.

Before you start using up those last vacation days before the end of the year, take a moment and reflect on 2010. Both professionally and personally. Here's hoping you accomplished what you could and have something to show for your hard work.

Happy holidays from the MarketMatch family!

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Shop Around...

It’s the holiday season and everyone has shopping on the mind. But what about shopping your competition - have you shopped them lately?

Touching base with your immediate competition on their advertising, products, access, and customer service is something your financial institution should consistently be doing in order to ensure you are maintaining your competitive advantage.

It may be time to take a look at the competition and see how you stack up in the following areas:

• Advertising: What products/messages are your competition promoting and how does your financial institution stack up?
• Products: Do gaps exist in your competitions’ product lines or within product features?
• Access: What are the features of their websites and is the website interactive and resourceful? Also, what other technologies can customers/members use to interact with the bank/credit union or access their accounts?
• Customer Service: Communicate with your competition in a variety of ways (email, phone, in person, etc.) to see how they stack up. Are there ways that they excel or fall behind?

Competitive research equips you with the information that you’ll need to uncover where your financial institution excels and may lags behind. Once complete, you will better be able to identify your strengths, correct any weaknesses, and capitalize on opportunities!

Happy shopping!

Jamie

Think Inside the Box #4

Well...it finally happened.  I am actually inside the box!!

Actually...this is a favorite shot of mine.  Helps me reflect on the importance of staying within our reach.  Don't get me wrong-- staying INSIDE the box does not mean NOT being CREATIVE or expanding ideas!  Quite to the contrary...it is ALL ABOUT being creative--and realizing that you have a lot of what you need close at hand.

However, let's list the top 4 items that you will need to add to what is at hand...for the most complete planning and analysis:

• Customer insights
• Staff insights
• Marketplace insights
• The competitive assessment

These items will help provide the information to fill the gaps of what you know and provide "voice" of the customer in your planning.

Cheers!

Bruce

Turn Your Management Into Movie Stars

MarketMatch has added a resource to our website that you can also do at your financial institution.

We've added a video blog.

With sites like YouTube, it is easy and free to create the videos and with Social Media like Twitter and Facebook, it's easy to have your message seen by your target.

My recommendation? Recruit your management and branch/market leaders to share their expertise. Have your Lending VP talk about improving your credit score. Have your Commercial VP talk about cash management. Have a branch manager talk about what's happening in the community.

By utilizing all of the resources in your bank or credit union, you can provide more content, relevant content, and you can position the whole institution as THE community expert.

The Missing Piece For Consistent Cross-Sell

Cross-selling is a popular tactic used at every bank and credit union. Most financial institutions have developed a strategy and created tools to encourage cross-sell, but process shouldn’t end there…

Engaging and motivating employees is the activation piece that is crucial for long-term success. A good place to start is developing acknowledgement and/or rewards for cross-selling or referring. Rewards should commensurate with the profitability of the product or service to the bank.

In order achieve staff buy-in over the long-term, consider involving staff in developing the campaign or promotional ideas that will promote cross-sell. Involving employees in this process will give them a chance to understand the complexities of the product, rules, regulations and compliance issues. Also, getting staff involved early can provide you valuable feedback into the sales process that may provide insight on how to better target customers.

You can also keep cross-sell top-of-mind by ensuring continuous coaching to understand customer's needs and consistently share progress reports towards a goal.

Best,

Jamie

Think Inside the Box #3

Greetings...

Its time. Time to shake off the start of the cold and remind ourselves that in just 24 short days, we have a whole new year, new budget, and new opportunities with the start of 2011!

Today, I will share the top 5 "Think Inside the Box" questions you should be asking of yourself and your bank/CU.

1. What is the customer perception of our products?What is the market perception of our products?
2. What can I learn from "how" my customers are using the bank? (IE number of services, usage of electronic services, average time between new accounts, time between loans, etc.)
3. What are the top three (3) service combinations and what I can learn from that knowledge?
4. Where will my customers get their next loan? (is it us or another institution?  why?)
5. Is my staff willing & able to offer our products effectively in a way that creates success?

With answers to these questions you can move forward with a detailed action plan...or you may have more questions that arise.  Either way, you are three steps ahead!

Think INSIDE the box...you have what you need...but you need to turn information into knowledge.

Need help?  The first step is getting started.  Call us, we can help bring clarity to your thoughts and action to your information and knowledge to your planning!

Cheers!

Bruce

How relevant are you?

I'm in the middle of a huge competitive review and I am amazed at the different names people can come up with for the same products. Whether it's at the same bank or a bank around the corner...wow they sure are creative. Some banks have 10 different checking accounts while others have 1 or 2.

Which is right?

When was the last time you looked at your competition to see what they are doing? This should happen a couple times of year to make sure what you offer is relevant to your market. Do you ask your customers for their feedback? Is there something they are looking for that you don't offer? Don't be afraid to ask, be proactive and get their opinions. I'm sure they will appreciate the gesture.

I came up just for a breath of air and to wish you all a great weekend.

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Think Inside the Box #2

This week, I am meeting with a client in Florida to share our analysis of the MCIF data and review our recommendations for moving the information gained into a knowledge-backed plan!

The key has been helping them see that they have the information they need...but our "filters" based on experience and the expertise we have developed, has opened their eyes to what the knowledge they now have at their disposal to move forward in a very targeted, strategic manner!

Thinking inside the box!

Take a new look at what you have...and then extrapolate that information into tangible cannot-be-ignored knowledge that drives three levels of activities:

1. Organizational level
2. Product level
3. Point-of-purchase front line staff level

Each level in integral to the overall success of your marketing strategy and each level is inter-related to ensuring that the knowledge is moved into action!

in 2011, we are developing a Brown Bag Lunch Series session specifically addressing the "think inside the box" strategy and gives tips and hints into the exact items you need and what questions you should be asking to land at the 'cannot-be-ignored' stage.

Look for more information and the entire 2011 Brown Bag Lunch Series schedule coming out next week.

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp