The Weather Is Hot — So Are Nerves!

The heat waves that are hitting consumers are taking a toll on their nerves as well. Have you felt it, too? Have you noticed people are short tempered, possibly more irritable than usual? According to our marketing tips, you need to stay the course, protect your e-marketing rep, and be polite and professional.

By the way, our gift card winner from last month's poll about demonstrating the value of your brand was Carole L. So, take 3-5 minutes to answer this month's poll on Innovation and you may be a winner, too! It's as easy as clicking here.

Here's to your success,

Nicki
Nicolette Lemmon, President

PS. Don't forget to visit our Credit Union Sustainability video microsite – CU execs talk about the ability to survive and thrive in this economy. Another resource is our blog at MyMarketingInsights.com (link above)to read more on marketing strategy, trends, faves and other good discussions.

GENERAL MARKETING TIP

The Business of Lending

Are you feeling that you cannot seem to find enough loan applications to approve? Is your approval rate hanging around 50%? This low approval rate also puts more pressure on the marketing efforts to uncover better leads.

From the 24/7 Wall Street blog, Douglas McIntyre commented, “Figures provided by FICO Inc. show that 25.5 percent of consumers — nearly 43.4 million people — now have a credit score of 599 or below, marking them as poor risks for lenders. It's unlikely they will be able to get credit cards, auto loans or mortgages under the tighter lending standards banks now use,” according to the AP. Historically, just 15 percent of the 170 million consumers with active credit accounts, or 25.5 million people, fell below 599, according to data posted on Myfico.com. The recession, tight lending practices by banks, and unemployment have caught up to the consumer credit market, and the trend is likely to worsen.”

What to do?

• Stay the course of your marketing plan. If you only want to do auto loans, then keep the promotional focus on great auto loan offers and refinancing incentives.
• Avoid knee-jerk reactions to slowed lending. If the VP of Lending is going off the deep end that the credit union isn't making its goals, then review all the things that have been put in place to remind members to bring their funding needs to the credit union.
• Use incentives to focus staff attention on cross-selling. The incentives do not need to be money, but fun and motivational. One client uses a tub of goodies as a reward for any branch that achieves their loan goal for the month. Another reward can be pizza lunches or ordered lunch from a favorite restaurant. Individual rewards can be half or full days off.

These extraordinary times require perseverance and ingenuity. Plus, you'll build trust and value with the members you do help with a great loan.

Looking for the right strategies, tools and solutions to profile, target, and create marketing that works for your members? Email us or call toll-free at 1.888.536.6243.

E-MARKETING TIP

On Protecting Your Broadcasting

E-mail marketing is an affordable and effective direct marketing solution to drive valuable traffic back to your website. However, it is often one of the most abused forms of direct marketing due to its ease and low cost. As a consumer's trusted financial institution, the last thing you want to do is overload them with excess marketing messages.

Follow these tips to ensure success in your email marketing campaigns:

• Don't over broadcast. This will irritate your customers/members and their complaints can damage your sender reputation.
• Send a special advisory email every six months to all customers/members that have provided their email addresses that they are subscribed to marketing messages from the financial insitution. Then, offer an "opt-in" to what they want to subscribe to, in essence to continue with receiving marketing messages and e-alerts or opt for just e-alerts.
• Have an unsubscribe option- it's the law! Learn more about complying with the CAN-SPAM Act.
• If someone chooses to unsubscribe, try to find out why or offer to revise their subscription. For example, would the subscriber simply like to receive fewer emails from you? Or, would they prefer to receive e-alerts, e-newsletters or seminar updates only?
• If possible, use your customer/member data to segment membership and send out targeted e-mail messages. Not only will your offer go to a group that is more likely to act, but it will also reduce the number of emails customers/members are receiving from you.

Looking for ways to engage with your customers/members online? Contact LemmonTree's E-Marketing Department for help with online solutions.

PERSONAL MARKETING TIP

The Power of "Thank You"

In these extraordinary times, there are still companies hiring, with plenty of applicants. So, whenever you're a candidate, consider the power of sending a "thank you" after an interview. Even if you are not interested in the position after being granted an interview, it is still professional to send a follow-up.

Why? Because so few candidates do! You will stand out because there is a lack of courtesy in business.

Having just completed filling two positions at our firm, we feel that if a candidate does not send a thank you note or email that they are not worth considering.

Why send one even if you're not interested? Because it is a good habit to be in and you never know when someone you met at the company may have a connection with you or know someone you do that comes up down the road! It is better to be known as that incredibly polite and professional person whose path crossed theirs in the past.

Before the new e-book version of Almost Famous Marketing Yourself 2.0 comes out, there is a special closeout on the Almost Famous workbook! Check out the savings here!