Nandini Das

Marketing and Communications Officer

Marketing & Social

Networking

• Worked in marketing and communications for over 8 years mainly in not-for-profit

• Learnt from making mistakes as all good marketing professionals have

• Jack of all trades, master of none – not strictly true but…• Have worked on the All Wales Credit Union Support Programme for

the last year – that’s the extent of our credit union knowledge but we’re learning fast!

• Your input will make this session a success

Our experience

• What have been your marketing successes? • What hasn’t worked so well? • What are the main barriers you face in speaking to new

and existing customers?

Your experience

This is why effective marketing is especially important for credit unions...

Back to principles:

Marketing Strategy &

Knowing your Customer

PART 1

“Marketing is the management process for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably”

- CIM definition

What is Marketing?

• Not just advertising and/or selling• Helps you interpret your customer wants and needs and match or

exceed them• The marketing process is central to the business performance of

your organisation• It provides you with the best possible chance to survive in a

competitive market place

What is marketing?

• The marketing strategy focuses on markets and customers and is just one part of business strategy. 

• Business strategy takes a broader view that includes other business functions such as manufacturing and operations, finance, quality, purchasing and supply chain, and information and communication technology.

• For example, a business objective may be to increase sales. Marketing objectives to achieve this would be to reach new customers, promote repeat buying among existing customers and launch new products.

A marketing strategy is one part of the bigger picture

• A marketing strategy is needed to help an organisation focus on their most fundamental requirements…

Marketing strategy

Identify customers

Research needs and

preferences

Analyse attitudes to promotion

Other factors that influence

purchasing decisions

Marketing Audit SWOT Marketing plan Objectives,

targets, KPIsAudience

segmentation Messaging Channels

Marketing strategy: The process

1. Audience segmentation

2. Customer profiling

3. 5 steps to customer segmentation

Part 2: Audience/customer segmentation

• “Mass personalisation” • Helps provide a more personal and bespoke service• Grouping customers allows you to continue to offer a

high level of value and service to customers as you grow• Effective segmentation can avoid energy being wasted

on undifferentiated offerings that fail to please anyone.

What is audience segmentation?

• No customers are the same• Meet the needs of large numbers of

customers • Maintain/increase profits as business

grows• Retain customers by providing products

and services specifically for them• Communicate messages relevant to your

target audience• Avoid competition from larger

competitors by focussing on specialist needs

Why is customer segmentation important?

If you try to please everyone you’ll end up pleasing no one

1. Customer service

2. Customer behaviour

3. Talking to your audience

4. Messaging

Understanding your customer

“Customer Service is what your business delivers to achieve customer satisfaction. Excellence in customer service, using the idea of relationship marketing, can help you retain customers.”

The Chartered Institute of Marketing

Customer service is integral to an effective marketing campaign

• Marketing has moved from ‘transactional marketing’ to ‘relationship marketing’

• Relationship marketing will help ensure customers are

Less likely to go to your competitors More satisfied, therefore more likely to

recommend you to others Less likely to tell others about bad

experiences Focus on those with highest potential

lifetime value• A happy customer also leads to the added

bonus that your staff will feel good!

From ‘transactional’ marketing to ‘relationship marketing’

It is said that it costs up to 10 times as much to win a new customer than to keep an existing one”

1. Identify which of your external customers are the most valuable

2. Identify your internal and external customers

3. Find out what level of service your customers want

4. Develop customer service standards and a programme to provide customer satisfaction and help build loyalty

5. Know where your customers are…then take your service to them

5 steps to improving customer service

• Prioritise the level of customer service you offer• Develop a profile so that you can target more new

customers in the profitable groups. • The lifetime value of different customer groups will differ,

as will the expectations of these groups.

Step 1: Identify which of your external customers are the most valuable

• Identify all the ‘internal customers’ involved in getting your product or service to the end customer

• Ensure they all understand the impact they have on others in this ‘chain’

• The service given to other parts within your organisation will also impact on the level of service given to the external customer

Step 2: Identify your internal and external customers

• Carry out customer satisfaction surveys to identify an appropriate level of service for each

• Areas to check include Quality of service Accuracy of service Promptness of response Satisfaction with facilities Staff attitude and behaviour Complaint handling • Equivalent staff surveys are also useful > happy staff = happy

customers!

Step 3: Find out what level of service your customers want

• Develop customer service standards that reflect the findings in your survey results

• Even for a small business, a few basic standards will contribute to better customer service

• Some pointers: Involve customers and staff, state standards clearly and document them, link standards to company goals, make them achievable and easy to understand, develop a culture, review standards…

Step 4: Develop customer service standards and a programme to provide customer satisfaction and help build loyalty

• Do you interact face-to-face or over email or through the post?

• Do you know where your customers would rather do business with you?

• Have you changed how you interact with customers over time?

Step 5: Find out where your customers are…

• Understanding customers is the key to giving them good service. To give good customer care you must deliver what you promise.

• Good customer service can positively effect customer loyalty

• Three key ways to understand your customer1. put yourself in their shoes and try and look at your business from their

point of view

2. collect and analyse data in order to shed light on their buying behaviour

3. simply to ask them what they think

Understanding your customer

Recognise Need or Problem

Search for information or solution

Evaluation all options Purchase Use product

or service

Your customer has a problem.• Do you know what it is?• Do you know how to solve it?• Does your solution really work?• Can you do it better than your competition?• Tell them what to do about their problem

Customer Behaviour: Is your product any use to me?

• Get data and use it! • Only relevant data• Even old data can be useful • Use existing customer information where possible • How to get new data? E.g. Newsletter sign up for new

and existing customers, competitions for new customers, events etc.

• Data Protection legislation - http://www.theidm.com/marketing-training/courses/data-protection-in-practice/  

Data - “Data is the new oil”

Messaging:

Talking to your customers

PART 2

• Mission statement• Tagline• The elevator pitch• Emails• Phone• Sales and marketing material (leaflets, website)• Press releases

Let your messages do the talking

• Many methods you have for learning about customers (surveys, focus groups, phone questionnaires)

• Sometimes the simplest approach is just to talk to them! • Some organisations are afraid of what they'll find when

engaging customers directly• Listening to your customers will provide you with the

tools to speak directly to their wants and needs

Messaging: Talking but more importantly listening to your audiences

The below comments were posts made after seeing the Dragonsavers video: • Be great if everyone in Britain used credit unions instead of high street banks. Peoples money being used as it

should be, not being gobbled up in the dark arts , corruption, charges and bonus payments of the mainstream financial system. 

• I like the idea of CUs and looked into joining my local CU. However, I found it very hard to contact them by phone and the only weekly opening they have is during working hours. I know that deposits at CUs are protected by the deposit protection scheme just like banks but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with depositing money where I can't get it back easily.

• I see from the dragonsavers website that loans charge 28% apr - that doesn't seem too affordable to me.• and the interest / dividend on savings is only 1.5%, plus savings require 7 days notice for withdrawal.• he point from the video was that although the credit union offers an alternative to higher interest loans, loans

aren't really their main focus. It is the community aspect, the volunteering, the education of its members in better personal finance and so on that is worthy of investigation.

• There are many credit unions who offer (more or less) full 'banking' facilities to their members; after all why should someone not have access to their money, in the way that a bank customer has access, because they are on low income and cannot get a bank account.

• It's way more affordable than the 4000% apr - and more - that payday loan companies such as Wonga charge.• CUs more than just lending money. There's the community aspect, the fact that they have no fat-cat executives

and shareholders. 

A snapshot of what the public think of credit unions?

• Unique Selling Proposition • Helps customers save time by defining what makes your

product or service different• Can be used for every product or service

Messaging: define your USP

1. Capture the attention of your target market with a headline that clearly defines who you are talking to.  If you are selling to retirees your headline might be something like, "If you are 65 or older.“

2. Identify the problems, symptoms, issues, needs and wants of your target market. You must start with where they are and then move them to the action you want them to take. To continue our example, if you are looking for retired people to volunteer time to a cause your sub-head might read, " And looking for a way to make a difference in the lives of others".

3. Provide a brief description of the product. This is the features of your product or service. Be sure you describe features that matter to the target market you are communicating with and that you describe them from the target market's prospective. In other words, talk about what your customer is buying - not what you are selling.

4. Describe the benefit and the value that the customer will derive from purchasing your product or service (or from taking the action you want them to take). Again these benefits must be pertinent to the customer group you are selling to.

5. Give your message credibility. This could include testimonials, case studies etc.

6. Specifically state the action you want the recipient of your message to take. For example, "Pick-up the phone now and call…to register" is much more likely to lead to action than simply giving a telephone number and assuming that if the person wants to register they will call the number. Whenever possible, you will also want to offer multiple ways for people to take action (i.e. phone, email, fax, regular mail, and website).

Messaging: 6 tips to forming an effective marketing message [Practical]

The channels

PART 3

• Website• Social marketing (using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube)• Direct marketing• Advertising (online and offline)• Events• Affiliates (other similar businesses)

What are your key channels?

Your Website

• Dressing the shop: Look and feel• Stock room: content is king • Stacking the shelves: Organising your content• Shop floor: Determining functionality• Signage: Helping your customers find you• CCTV: What are your customers doing?

Recreating your ‘shop’ online

Life isn’t easy –5 top tips to make life easier for your users

• Create a clear visual hierarchy• Take advantage of conventions • Break pages into clearly defined areas• Make things obvious and clickable• Minimise noise

Make navigation really easy!

Organising your web content

Convert!

1. Get people to the site: SEO, banner ads, PPC, affiliates, targeted emails, blogs, social media, offline advertising, press coverage, point of sale promotion, flyers

2. Persuade them to take the desired action: understanding buyer behaviour, clear call to action

3. Build a lasting relationship to increase the lifetime value of the customer: earn their trust, anticipate their needs, reward them

What should your website do?

• SEO or Search Engine Optimisation• Pay per click advertising• Affiliate or referral traffic

Finding your website

Website – example

Website – example

Website – example

1. Get permission

2. Plan your campaign

3. Call to action

4. Links

5. Subject line

6. Design

7. Targeting

8. Experiment

9. Deliverability

10.Measurement

E-mail marketing

• Twitter• Facebook • YouTube• Flickr• Prezi• Slideshare• SoundCloud

Social Media

• Share• Listen• Ask• Respond• Reward• Champion your customers/followers• Voice

Are you tweeting today? #CUSummerSchool

Social Media: Twitter for businesses

• Anything I haven’t covered that you would like me to address?

Q and A

• If you ever want some advice, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thank you...