Retaining Profitable Member Households is Key Except…

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President As an MCIF analyst, I am sometimes pegged as “just a numbers guy.” However, like Nicolette commented in her blog post, Balancing Analysis with Losing Control, numbers can be misleading. It is wise to proceed with caution when analyzing “the numbers.” Take for example, segmenting the most “profitable” members in your database. Especially during the current economic climate, this may be a prudent approach. While I will agree with our marketing strategists at …

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Be Your Own Media

Friday, March 20th, 2009

My Marketing Trends Kelly Kressner, Marketing Specialist Being your own media is a concept I recently embraced after listening to a webinar by Marketing Strategist, David Meerman Scott. This concept is about utilizing today’s technology to increase brand awareness. For example, if you have a press release or compelling story you want to publish, you no longer need to hope that a news editor will run it because you can easily publish it online. The birth of the Internet and …

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The Rest of the Story

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President Sometimes I think a group of marketers hearing the words “the numbers” immediately illicit yawns and rolling eyes. Granted, numbers can seem to be less fun than creative themes and great offers. However, I think having good analysis of “the numbers” provides “the rest of the story!” For example, in reviewing the data pulls from one of our client’s MCIF databases, the VP of Marketing direct mailed to almost 8,000 member households for …

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Turn a Deaf Ear

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

My Marketing Strategy Nicolette Lemmon, President & Founder What are you reading and listening to in the media? My suggestion, turn a deaf ear to the constant reports of unemployment, the financiers who have robbed people of their savings, and the issues with bonuses at AIG. The media’s job is to get your attention to do what? Sell advertising. Remember that your marketing strategy is deeply affected by the people implementing it. So, if you are feeling helpless and depressed …

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Cut Your Way to Marketing Failure

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

My Marketing Strategy Nicolette Lemmon, President & Founder With the economy slip-siding and senior management discussing budget cuts across the board, what is the real impact on the organization when marketing gets slashed? A noted marketing authority, Jack Ries, commented in his book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, “Marketing is a game fought in the mind of the prospect. You need money to get into a mind. And you need money to stay in the mind once you get …

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What are your customers saying about you?

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

My Marketing Trends Kelly Kressner, Marketing Specialist Are you in the dark about how your customers feel about your financial institution? Do you know how they view your customer service? With millions of consumers adopting blogging and social media networking sites to express their financial needs and concerns in an open forum, looking online to see what your customers may already be saying about you is a great place to start. An incredibly helpful tool for this discovery process is …

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As the Economy Goes

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

My Marketing Strategy Nicolette Lemmon, President & Founder As the economy goes a certain way, so often marketing budgets follow suit. Isn’t it true how the economy goes up, marketing dollars go up…the economy tanks and the marketing budget gets slashed? Consistency of the marketing flywheel is sacrificed for short-term expense cutting. Studies have shown that marketing in a recession pays off big time. However, today’s marketplace seems even tougher, which demands leveraging what you have been doing in marketing …

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Email v. Direct Mail

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President Seems that these times demand more data to provide more thoughtful strategy. Every CEO among our clients is concerned about the return on investment of marketing dollars. With pressures mounting about pulling funds to send to NCUA, the expense budget for marketing looks like a likely spot. One thing I keep hearing from clients is that email marketing is so much cheaper, why not just use that during these tough times? As I …

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Is Your Website Customer-Focused?

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

My Marketing Trends Kelly Kressner, Marketing Specialist Have you ever thought about if your website is customer-focused? There is nothing more boring to the online visitor than a website that is just an online brochure of products and services. In the new social media environment, there is a lot of “talk” about buyer personas. Marketing Strategist, David Meerman Scott, mentioned this in a webinar that I listened to recently. For example, our financial institution clients have buyer personas that …

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