My Marketing Strategy

Nicolette Lemmon, President & Founder

Just as the news seems to be good from the stock exchange, there continues to be the shifting sands under companies decades old. It seems that as businesses today are faced with a maddening pace of change, consumer habits have precipitated the demise of several. An example is Max Factor, founded in 1909, which should be celebrating its 100 year anniversary, but instead is being removed from U.S. shelves by Proctor & Gamble who bought the brand in 2005.

While Max Factor will still be sold in European markets, the choice to pull the cosmetics line off U.S. shelves was noted in a June article in the Wall Street Journal, by reporter Ellen Byron. In the article, Chief Executive A.G. Laffley of P&G stated, “Look at the [falling] retail sales numbers for department stores and specialty channels. My belief is some of that is gone forever, and it’s gone forever because [the consumer] has changed her pattern of shopping.”

Max Factor will begin disappearing from U.S. shelves in early 2010.

What can we grasp from the demise of brand after brand? Consumers are looking for value and choosing those companies with brands that demonstrate value at price points that are affordable.

As the financial industry continues to see consolidation, from banks closing and credit unions merging, many local brands are disappearing. The ability to survive and thrive comes in monitoring the behavior of those you serve to make sure their patterns have not changed and your brand stays relevant.

One of the first ways to get in touch with purchase behavior is by reviewing your member/customer database to see if any patterns have changed. Are you still seeing a steady flow of deposits and loans, opening of accounts, serving more addresses? If you notice some shifts in loan payoffs, new versus used auto loans, deposits from savings into certificates, less new member households, or net losses in certain product types, the next step is to analyze your competitiveness.

In working with our clients and using database analysis with MCIF software, we have noticed shifts and changes in consumer behavior which has allowed us to redirect marketing dollars or create different offers. Need some help with your analysis and strategies? Let me know…