By Chris Gibson, Marketing and Communications Manager and

Nandini Das, Marketing and Communications Officer

Marketing and Customer Care

– “Reaching out to the wider

community – Meeting

members needs and

demands”

The Marketing Strategy

PART 1

1. Introduction

2. What is marketing?

3. Planning a marketing strategy

Part 1: The marketing strategy

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

• 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 today 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 to recruiting new

and retaining existing customers?

Your experience

“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?

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

• 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

• Detailed and on-going investigation of the market and its sub markets or segments

• Look at the social, political, economic, cultural and technological trends which are shaping the market

• Reflection of your organisation’s own position within the market

• Ensure resources can be marshalled to enable your organisation to change or influence the market

Marketing strategy: The marketing audit

Marketing strategy: SWOT analysis [Practical]

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

• Define objectives, targets and performance measurements

• Within budget! • The marketing strategy should then be reflected in a

specific plan of action • This is not fixed – it should be revised and updated

throughout the year

Marketing strategy: The marketing plan

• A mission statement should be a definition of the organisation, what it does and for whom

• Must provide direction without restricting opportunities

• Must reflect needs of the target market

Marketing strategy: Mission statement

The Social Investment Business’ mission statement:

1. To have a transformative effect on the sector – strengthening the sector at both the organisational and strategic level, so that it is more sustainable and valued in public service delivery

2. To bring more money into the sector, to meet the high demand for social investment and to support this with knowledge and expertise

3. To be a thought leader for social investment, based on our demonstrable success in helping civil society organisations of all sizes do more of what they do best

• Values should both inspire and guide employees in acceptable behaviours

• Values are about ‘walking the talk’ and should be Clearly articulated and communicated Timeless Rewarded when behaviour matches values Followed by everyone in the organisation

Marketing strategy: Values

• Perceptual maps - a diagrammatic technique that attempts to visually display the perceptions of customers or potential customers 

• Portfolio analysis - An analysis of elements of a company's product mix to determine the optimum allocation of its resources.

Marketing strategy: Helpful tools

Marketing strategy: Perceptual maps [Practical]

Audience/customer segmentation

PART 2

1. Audience segmentation

2. Customer profiling

3. 5 steps to customer segmentation

Part 2: Audience/customer segmentation

• “Mass personalisation” • Smaller the organisation the easier it is to provide a

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?

Why is audience segmentation important?

• 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

• 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”

1. Establish which customers are profitable

2. Profile your customers

3. Define customer groups

4. Decide which customer groups you will target

5. Compile a target list of prospective customers

How to segment your audience – 5 steps

• Use your own experience and knowledge • When evaluating customer profitability, think of the 80/20

rule (80% of the profits are produced by top 20% of profitable customers and 80% of the costs are produced by top 20% of unprofitable customers)

• Profitable customers may be those that save regularly, take out regular loans and repay those loans – look after those customers!

Step 1: Establish which customers are profitable [Practical]

• How do they use your financial services or products? • How and how often do they use your financial services

or products?• Are they looking for a particular benefit that your service

or service product? • How do they live their lives and does that reflect why

they buy your products or services?• Is it, where they are based, live or work?

Step 2: Profile your customers [Practical]

• Determining which customers are profitable • Are they ‘good’ for the business• What are the characteristics of those customers• “Profiling” • Attract those customers

Customer profiling

Usage Needs

Running about in cities and towns Economy, small size, limited luggage capacity

Family/passenger Seating capacity, carrying luggage capacity, safety, economy, price

Business Status, appearance and finish, reliability

Leisure driving Appearance, sporty, speed

Local deliveries Carrying capacity, and courier economy, reliability, security

Example of ‘profiling’ – Car manufacturer

• Identify one or more customer groups• List a number of groupings that have common

characteristics • Look at the services you are currently offering• Do they appeal to these customer groups• If not > product development

Step 3: Define customer groups [Practical]

Objectives Grouping A Grouping B

Few competitors

1 2

Potential for higher margins

2 1

Growth potential

2 3

Mainly large organisations

1 3

Total 6 9

Step 4: Decide which customer groups you will target [Practical]

• Should be able to satisfy their needs with the same marketing mix

• Group should be unique and react specifically to the marketing mix you offer

• It should be expressed in clear terms that correlate to the purchasing decision

• It should be identifiable – you can find data on this group

• The group should be large enough to cover fixed costs

• You now need to find your new prospects • Use your own data • Collect new data • Buy a list from a commercial source • Decide on the messaging and marketing mix appropriate

to your target audience

Step 5: Compile a target list of prospective customers [Practical]

Understanding your customer

PART 3

1. Customer service

2. Customer behaviour

3. Talking to your audience

4. Messaging

Part 3: 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

4 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

• 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?

• 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 marketing mix

PART 4

1. The 7 P’s

2. Routes to market

Part 4: The marketing mix

Marketing mix – 7 P’s for the service industry

Physical Evidence

Place

People

ProcessProduct

Price

Promotion

• Physical environment refers to all the tangible, visible touch points that your customer will encounter before they sign up

• The customer has an opportunity to make judgments on the organisation

• Customers will make perceptions based on their sight of the service on offer which will have an impact whether they make a positive or negative decision

Physical Evidence

• Smart• Run-down • Interface• Comfort • Facilities • Security

Physical Evidence

If your premises are not up to scratch, why would the customer think your service is?

• Where the customers come to buy the product must be appropriate and convenient for the customer

• Right time, right place, right quantity etc. • Delivery performance have been shown to be one of the

most important criteria when choosing a supplier• Place also refers to how you display your product to a

consumer• Invert expectations!

Place

• Retail• Wholesale• Mail order• Internet • Direct sales• Peer to peer• Multi channel

Place

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?

Place – 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

Let’s talk about navigation

Place – 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

Place – What should your website do?

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

Place – Finding your website

Website – example

Website – example

Website – example

• Anyone that comes into contact with your customers will make an impression

• Can have a profound effect – positive or negative• Brand reputation rests in the hands of your

employees/volunteers• Trained, motivated with a good attitude!

People

• Get the right people for the job• Customers cannot often separate the product or service

from the staff member who provides it. • Level of sales support and advice provided by a

business is one way of adding value to your offer• Which products account for the highest percentage of

sales? Are you offering adequate after sales support? Are you adding value to those products?

People

• The process of giving a service, and the behaviour of those who deliver are crucial to customer satisfaction

• Think – do customers have to wait? Are they kept informed? Are your people helpful? Is your service efficiently carried out? Do your people interact in a manner appropriate to your service?

Process

“I don’t care how your business runs, I just want your systems to work!”

• Find out if there is a market for your product before you offer it

• What do your customers either need or want? • Needs to have the right level of quality for now and in the

future • Research - talk to your customers, use simple

questionnaires, online survey tools etc.

Product

• The product must have value to the customer not perceived value attached by the organisation creating the product

• It does not have to be tangible, it can be a loan or a savings account for example

• You should have systems in place to regularly check what your customers think of your product

• Don’t go too far with product development!

Product

“Why not try our Rolls Royce?”

“But all I wanted was a 1982 Lada!”

• A product is only worth what customers are willing to pay for it• A smaller business can compete with larger businesses by

providing extra services or details that offer customers better value for money

• Thinking of price as ‘cost’ to the customer helps to underline its importance

• Price positions you in the market place – the more you charge, the more your customer will expect

• Existing customers are less sensitive about price than new customers – a major reason for looking after them!

Price

• Promotion is the way a company communicates what it does and what it can offer customers.

• It includes activities such as branding, advertising, PR, corporate identity, sales management, special offers and exhibitions.

• Promotion must gain attention, be appealing, tell a consistent message and above all else give the customer a reason to choose your product rather than someone else’s

Promotion

• Good promotion is not one-way communication – it paves the way for a dialogue with customers

• Promotion should communicate the benefits that a customer obtains from a product, not just the features of the product

• Whatever form your promotion takes, it should grab the attention of your customers. It should be easy to read and enable the customer to identify why they should buy your product

Promotion

• Think of the most cost effective and value driven promotional tools

• For example – a brochure may be an obvious choice but is not necessarily the best way of promoting your business

• Once its printed, its fixed• A more cost effective alternative is to produce a folder

with inserts, which can be customised to the bespoke requirements of your customer group

Promotion

• Special offers• User trials• Free gifts• Competitions• Joint ventures• Endorsements

Promotion: Routes and strategies

• Advertising• Leaflets/posters• Direct mail • E-mail marketing• Social Media • Events

Brand development

Advertising - examples

Advertising - examples

Advertising - examples

Advertising - examples

1. Go after your target audience

2. Highlight your competitive advantage

3. Establish an image

4. You have to spend money to make money

5. Don’t allow your budget to run your advertising campaign

6. Advertise in the right places

7. Diversify

8. Don't try to be everything to everyone

9. Test your ads in advance

10. Monitor your ads

Advertising – 10 tips [practical]

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

Social Media

• Anything we haven’t covered that you would like us to address?

Q and A

Practical: planning your future marketing strategy

Final session

• You can contact either Chris or Nandini on the business cards in your pack

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

Thank you...