I got another customer satisfaction survey from my bank the other day. Once again a request for me to take my time to tell them how they are doing. Once again a perfectly framed poll asking closed ended questions so that someone, somewhere can report their score delta and check off an item on their [...]
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Posted in community, consumer behavior, consumer generated content, marketing, social branding, social marketing, social media, social network, Uncategorized, web on Jun 14th, 2011
I have conversations every day with bankers and financial advisors. A question I often ask is how they market themselves to acquire new customers. My favorite answer from them is, “we’re referral-based – we don’t use marketing.” And, tongue in cheek, I reply, “and how is that going for you?” because I know from published [...]
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Posted in branding, consumer behavior, consumer perception, customer interaction, donor engagement, marketing, marketing innovation, social marketing, social media, Uncategorized on Mar 28th, 2011
The quest for ROI is distorting how we conduct marketing. In a desperate attempt to appear relevant to the C suite, there is a mad rush to test and measure. We gather and process quantitative data with the fervor of a 49er mining gold. Hey, I am all for marketing analytics and delivering ROI. But [...]
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Posted in banking, community, consumer engagement, customer interaction, donor engagement, economic recession, financial services, follower, insurance, investment, marketing innovation, network, non profit, nonprofit, social branding, social marketing, social media, social network on Oct 27th, 2010
Some transactions are pretty straightforward. Take me and shampoo for instance. I’m just another bald Boomer so I have very little vested interest in the shampoo that I buy. I can trust just about any shampoo to do what I need, as long as it doesn’t cause a rash. I understand that a whole lot [...]
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Posted in banking, branding, consumer behavior, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, financial services, follower, imitation, individualized marketing, investment, leader, marketing, marketing budget, marketing innovation, personalized marketing, social marketing, social media, social network on Oct 18th, 2010
I talk to a lot of community bankers. They’re fascinating people. Just like anywhere else, no two are alike. Everyone has a unique story. The same is true of the banks they run. They’re all different with their own unique culture. Yet, they all seem to share a common problem with marketing differentiation. How can [...]
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Posted in branding, community, consumer behavior, consumer perception, kansas city, marketing, network, personalized marketing, social branding, social marketing, social media, social network, twitter, web on Aug 24th, 2010
The concept of promoting a personal brand has gained a lot of traction as social media have grown. In many respects it’s good for everyone involved. But it’s something I’ve never been comfortable with adopting. I’ve given it a lot of thought and now I think I understand my reluctance. My friend Autom Tagsa wrote [...]
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Posted in banking, branding, community, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, customer interaction, donor engagement, follower, fundraising, leader, marketing, network, social marketing, social network, spur communications on Jul 29th, 2010
I used to skydive. If you haven’t tried it, I recommend it. It’s fun. So when my son told me he and his friends were going skydiving I was O.K. with it. I checked out the airport and club behind his back just to make sure it was fine. After all I am his dad. [...]
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Posted in donor, donor engagement, fundraising, individualized marketing, network, non profit, nonprofit, personalized marketing, social branding, social marketing, social media, social network on Jul 28th, 2010
I get asked this question a lot. When I talk with a community benefit organization about their marketing for fundraising, probably 4 out of 10 times I’m asked whether everything they send out should include a fundraising ask. In my opinion, the answer is quite simple — no. Your donors and prospects are valuable but [...]
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Posted in banking, community, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, customer interaction, donor engagement, financial services, follower, fundraising, individualized marketing, investment, lifecycle, marketing, network, non profit, personalized marketing, social marketing, social media, social network, twitter on Jul 27th, 2010
Frontline associates are often the most frequent point of human contact provided by an organization. I’m talking about folks like the teller at your bank and the undergrad working the alumni association telethon. They’re the tip of the spear, yet they are also among the least empowered in the organization. Their roles are viewed as [...]
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