We invited Michael Fisher, president and CEO of Allant Group, a data-driven journey orchestration solution provider, to sit down with Cynthia Rohde, our Managing Director of Strategic Marketing, to discuss a hot topic: how data is the way forward for banks to ensure customers are engaged in ways they expect with audience-specific marketing. Banks, credit unions and non-bank financial institutions are facing a more diverse and demanding customer base than ever before. These two experts share their opinions and insights on how to market to your customers more effectively and achieve better, more measurable results, using the power of data analytics.
Mike's work has focused on corporate transformation and revenue growth. A pioneer in relationship marketing, Mike leads an Allant Group whose mission is to help its clients leverage data, analytics, improve customer experiences, and integrate marketing and technology.
Cynthia is an award winning public relations veteran with a career long focus on branding and communication. At Artisan, Cynthia helps companies define their brand and develop an integrated marketing program that supports the company's strategic plan. She knows how to effectively message what needs to be communicated by cutting through the noise of the marketplace.
We invited Michael Fisher, president and CEO of Allant Group, a data-driven journey orchestration solution provider, to sit down with Cynthia Rohde, our Managing Director of Strategic Marketing, to discuss a hot topic: how data is the way forward for banks to ensure customers are engaged in ways they expect with audience-specific marketing. Banks, credit unions and non-bank financial institutions are facing a more diverse and demanding customer base than ever before. These two experts share their opinions and insights on how to market to your customers more effectively and achieve better, more measurable results, using the power of data analytics.
Mike's work has focused on corporate transformation and revenue growth. A pioneer in relationship marketing, Mike leads an Allant Group whose mission is to help its clients leverage data, analytics, improve customer experiences, and integrate marketing and technology.
Cynthia is an award winning public relations veteran with a career long focus on branding and communication. At Artisan, Cynthia helps companies define their brand and develop an integrated marketing program that supports the company's strategic plan. She knows how to effectively message what needs to be communicated by cutting through the noise of the marketplace.
[00:00:25] Jim Adkins: thanks for joining Artisan Unfiltered. I am Jim Adkins, Managing Partner of Artisan Advisors. With me today are Michael Fisher, President and CEO of Allant Group, and Cynthia Rohde, Managing Director of Strategic Marketing at Artisan. A quick bio on Michael and Cynthia. Mike has been in marketing technology and data solutions for over 25 years.
Mike's work has focused on corporate transformation and revenue growth. A pioneer in relationship marketing, Mike leads an Alon Group whose mission is to help its clients leverage data, analytics, improve customer experiences, and integrate marketing and technology. Cynthia is an award winning public relations veteran with a career long focus on branding and communication.
At Artisan, Cynthia helps companies define their brand and develop an integrated marketing program that supports the company's strategic plan. She knows how to effectively message what needs to be communicated by cutting through the noise of the marketplace. Welcome, Michael. Welcome, Cynthia.
[00:01:26] Cynthia Rohde: Thank you.
[00:01:26] Michael Fischer: you. Great to be here.
[00:01:28] Jim Adkins: So, um, I thought today's topic would be very, uh, very apropos, if you will. What we're going to talk about today is where data meets marketing. And we're going to look at the future of banks, credit unions, and non bank financial institutions. And so I thought a good jumping off point for the, for the group here is maybe we should talk about the competitive environment facing community banks.
And see use and other players in the finance industry and and how, you know, messaging and how all of that kind of stuff is getting more difficult as more and more noise enters in the marketplace. Mike, you want to kick us off on your thoughts on that?
[00:02:10] Michael Fischer: Sure. I think, um, I think there's a deluge of communication coming from and messaging coming from lots and lots and lots of places, community banks, which for years and years and years, credit unions as well, even super communities, right? They've been able to protect their relationships because of a branch network that was local to their, you know, their footprint or their business operations.
But with mobile banking and with with global banking. Thank you. Banks that are out there, Chase, Citi, B of A, um, you know, they, they actually can enter any community now, anywhere, and they are, right? And they're, they're offering different, um, different products to align around consumers on a broad basis.
And that just creates confusion for the community bank. Quite often, the community bank has lots of very interesting options and interesting products, and more often than not has the ability to. Align, accommodate, and negotiate on behalf of the consumer, um, in their market directly. You don't really get that with national banks.
That said, how do you cut through the noise? If you're a community bank, how do you cut through the noise to make sure that national banking doesn't, doesn't create confusion for your consumer, but in fact helps your consumer, your banking, um, customer to actually turn to you. As a community bank, and they think those challenges are real and they've got to be, they've got to be addressed going forward, right?
Or, or more penetrations going to occur.
[00:03:46] Jim Adkins: I mean, Cynthia, I think that in Cynthia and I've had this discussion many times. I've been in this banking business a long time and I've seen the evolution. Of the community bank space in particular and Cynthia, we've talked about how in our client base, we now see, you know, banks that for years and years thought marketing was a postcard and the same piece, same placement of a CD ad in a newspaper on page three in the left corner, they thought that was marketing and you would talk about the evolution of how community banks now, I think, are seeing that if they don't get on on the bus here, there's problems, many of which Mike just alluded to when it comes to competition from everywhere.
[00:04:37] Cynthia Rohde: Sure. I mean, and that's really it. Competition is coming from every direction and in different formats, different forms than we've ever seen before. It's really no longer just competing with, um, the bank or the credit union down the street from you. It's not, it's not necessarily anything you can see or touch anymore.
It is competing in this more invisible universe of mobile banking and global banking and, um, folks with bigger budgets, but You know, different approaches to the financial, uh, process, being able to sort of come in and disrupt, um, what used to be sort of a very traditional kind of relationship, uh, the banker, um, sort of historically, I guess, held a position in a community similar to other sort of notable folks, you know, people that were professionals, doctors, lawyers, people to whom you would go for specific information that you trusted to have that information and then to be able to share that and make happen for you what you needed to happen financially.
And that whole model, I think, is completely disrupted, uh, by a number of things. Everything that I just mentioned, as well as the fact that we're looking at a much more sophisticated consumer, uh, with much different and higher levels of expectation and across pretty much the entire banking experience. Um, the way they interact with the institution, the kinds of services.
Um, and when you then compare that or intersect that with, um, how segmented that our marketing has become and how we can look at, you know, very specific, uh, demographic groups, their needs are different. Their expectations are different. They're all equally demanding in their own ways and require their own, their own approach.
So we're talking everybody from the boomers. Um, the first sort of great big, you know, marketing bonanza generation. Thank you. down to gen Z, which is coming on fast. Um, much faster. I think that a lot of folks recognize if you're not really paying attention and they're all into, they have very specific needs.
There are things that they are looking to do. Uh, but their expectation of using experiences is much different. Um, so, and then in between, we've obviously got them, you know, uh, Gen Z and I'm sorry, Gen X and Millennials. Millennials. You know, kind of divided into two equal camps there, but each have their own nuances.
So it's the whole idea of having additional layers of, of competition, um, different, uh, factions within your own, um, your own potential, you know, marketing audience group and all the different ways in which they expect to hear from you, the things that they need to hear, where they need to hear it. It's really just gotten more complex and more layered.
And, um, you know, there are. There are folks at giant companies with big teams that spend all day figuring out how to make things happen and it's Figuring out the right way to approach this and scale it appropriately Um for a community bank level is a tremendous challenge Um,
[00:07:41] Jim Adkins: interesting to me is is that, you know, you have, you know, everyone has preconceived notions about stuff. And so, you know, you kind of think that, uh, say the baby boomers are You know, in one place, technology speaking and of course, you know, the younger generations are, you know, light years ahead of them.
But what I'm seeing is don't forget the baby boomers on technology. Don't forget how they. Respond to technology. They, they may not be your Gen Z or what's the newest one I heard. Is it, is it Omega generational?
[00:08:17] Cynthia Rohde: Gen alpha.
[00:08:18] Jim Adkins: is, yeah, the one before, you know, they are really catching up tremendously technology wise.
And of course, marketing to them is a vast amount of, there's a lot of wealth. in that group still. And so, you know, as, as marketers, we have to figure out, you know, how to, you know, get to them as well and not ignore them and think that they're not responding to some of the new technology. Things that that we're pushing out there,
[00:08:46] Cynthia Rohde: Yeah, it is really all an integrated communication approach. Um, as you referenced earlier the The, the one ad in the newspaper, um, probably wasn't a great idea then, but certainly isn't a good idea now. Um, there is, there is no one size fits all. Um, but I think the interesting thing is in what we're talking, gonna be talking about here today is the way that proper, uh, data collection and um, and insight driven data can intersect in a way with marketing to really help you figure out who you need to target.
In what priority order and, uh, with what kind of messaging across what platforms. Um, it's, it's a multifaceted puzzle, but I think it's, it's a really kind of a very interesting
[00:09:35] Jim Adkins: right?
[00:09:36] Michael Fischer: And it's an opportunity. I love that Cynthia, because it's an opportunity to recognize. You're right, the newspaper ad isn't going to work anymore. fact, most people aren't getting newspapers, maybe in smaller communities. They are but it's not, it's not prevalent. And as we get more and more conscious of what's happening in our environment and in our climate, you're going to see less and less of it,
[00:09:58] Jim Adkins: Right. And I think, you know, I sit in on a number of board meetings and go to these things. And of course, everyone always wants to, you know, see the cause and effect, right? We advertise. And what does that do? You know, we have a marketing plan. How much money did we make? And I think with the investments, uh, that are, are, you know, we, you've got to invest in technology.
You've got to invest in professional, uh, data analytics. Now you've got to do a lot of things. I think the board, uh, is, the boards that I see now realize that you just can't throw out a campaign and, you know, three weeks from now, it's going to produce what you want. You've got to be consistent. You've got to go with the data and you've got to work the data over time.
And, and I'm, I'm seeing some, some boards that, you know, 10 years ago would have never thought like this. Now they know this is a strategic thing instead of something that you have to do, this is a strategic thing. Um, so it's, can, we've got a very competitive environment. We've got people trying to, uh, you know, banks and non banks, everyone's trying to lend you money or take your deposits or, uh, uh, make transactions for you.
It's, it's, it's a tremendously, uh, vibrant, uh, space. And so within that, how do we go forward? You know, Mike, you're a data, you're a data dog in the best sense, right? You know, data and you know what it says. So how do we, you know, how do we go forward in this very competitive way? And, you know, how could we use data to, to make us make our marketing better?
[00:11:35] Michael Fischer: it's a great question, right? And I want to make sure that the listeners understand before I was any of those things. I was the banker. I was the banker at a community bank in a in a less than desirable, um, economic environment in the south side of Chicago in a town called Harvey. Um, and we could do the very things that we're talking about.
You could run newspaper ads, you could, you could put flyers in the grocery store, um, and you had people come to the branch. And that's just not going to work right now. That doesn't mean that you don't have people coming to the branch and the bank's challenge has got to be that it has to recognize the people that are coming to the branch need the recognition that that's how they like to bank.
Ultimately, the bank wants to look at the kinds of transactions the branch should be most appealing for. I don't want people to come in and cash checks, but I don't want to lose my customers. So there are going to be people that we're going to leverage from a data perspective that we have to understand the branch visit is important to them.
And we want to make sure that we're there for them in the most meaningful ways, which may include teaching them about mobile banking and showing them what they could do with mobile banking, but still have them come in for the larger transactional activities or to set up their Christmas club or to do whatever they want from a relationship perspective.
Leverage the branch for its expertise and use data to target the individuals that are going to drive that traffic. then look where you're going to go where that data is going to support you going to a digital landscape. Not everybody wants to go to a branch. People are happy to go and leverage mobile banking.
They're happy to use web banking. I love what I watch in terms of what BMO's doing here in Chicago. They've actually set up retail storefronts next to Chipotle's. So that you can just walk in and do what you need to do while you're shopping and walk out. It's not a traditional branch. There's no cash drawer in the bank. All cash is withdrawn from an ATM outside. But that doesn't mean you don't have a relationship position. And using data allows you to identify who needs to be serviced in what way and in what channel. Ultimately, the bank makes more money when they service the individual on a digital basis because it's a lot less expensive than they do when they have to service them on a physical one.
You have to use data. Banks have to use data to determine how are they going to service and how are they going to do it effectively. And when they get their arms around that with their customers, then we go out and look at how many prospects that they should be working with, how many people they should be promoting to so that they can help individuals understand the best parts of the bank.
We're going to do that because we understand what those best parts are based on our customer relationships, the data that initiates.
[00:14:26] Jim Adkins: Yeah, I love what you said. And I've had this discussion with bankers and I know Cynthia and I've had it as well. But, uh, the branches, branches is not dead. Branching's not dead, but branching, um, as you very nicely put it, Mike, uh, is that branches have to have a purpose. Right. You can't do build it and they will come.
It doesn't work. You've got to have a reason, a purpose for a particular branch. One branch. It may be an asset generation branch. Another branch might be a depository branch. You know, one branch may fill kind of a customer service role. I mean, there's a lot of things that branches are needed for, but you have to have data.
to back up what is a sizable investment on a bank's balance sheet to put a, uh, even now with banks that are skinny down and look like, uh, you know, Chipotle sometimes, that's not a bad thing, you know, that just they're very down, uh, but still a sizable investment. And, uh, you know, so I love what you said there, Cynthia, you've, you've been a big proponent.
that people should be able to bank the way they want to bank, right? And why don't you talk a little bit about how you view, you know, giving options to people and, and, and how you do that when you're doing your strategic marketing work.
[00:15:51] Cynthia Rohde: Yeah, I think, I mean, I'll circle back in and just touch on what Mike was just talking about with relationships because it still is all about relationships regardless of whether it's, in person, face to face banking or if it's mobile banking. And I also will just say that, you know, studies, research shows that pretty much everybody across the consumer spectrum spectrum likes mobile banking, likes the convenience of it.
Um, and everybody from, you know, certainly the younger folks to the older, everybody's in on it. Um, and so that's terrific. What I think is important is that people, bankers need to understand it. Um, Thank you. That the definition of relationship has changed. It has mutated. It has grown. Um, and the way that, uh, wanted to the spectrum like the boomers may describe, um, a relationship is a little bit different than the way Gen Z who are digital natives and have are fully convinced that the relate that the communication they have through their phone is a relationship.
So it really, it always is. It's understanding that no matter what, it's still about relationships and all branding, all marketing, everything really needs to work on that personal level. It's, it's a little less intellectual. It needs to be. Um, it needs to be felt in the gut first, felt in the heart. So I think that's one thing that it's important for people to realize, is that, um, the way they talk about relationships, um, and how they implement relationship banking is going, it's, it's changing.
Uh, and I agree with what we're talking about with the, how the, how the branch is, is going to change, um, or is changing. Um, Yes, people still occasionally want that very traditional relationship, but they also kind of want a genius bar, you know, they want to be able to walk in to grant right and have that same experience.
And so that's another thing to think about is you look at the way, um, some other industry leaders like tech industry, how they have really morphed relationship.
[00:18:08] Jim Adkins: You know, yeah, I think that's a good point. I was going to bring up the Apple example where, you know, you walk in and, yeah, you can buy stuff there, but, you know, a lot of people are there. Looking, getting information, swapping information with other Apple lights, I guess is what they would be called Apple lights.
And, and then of course the genius bar, you know, getting solutions. And, uh, I think that would be a very neat model for banks to take a look at, you know, that getting people together and, and, and sharing information, I think would be a very interesting, uh, way to pursue branching.
[00:18:43] Cynthia Rohde: Right. And creating community. I mean, that's that is something that, um, again, from a marketing perspective, um, is something that has been working on and working with for quite a while now is, um, people, people find their communities, um, that gets through the range of the segmentation. Um, Gen Z's, um, have their approach to things.
They respond to things in a different way. Um, and but are seeking out that kind of community experience. In fact, Um, it just was reading some research that it's research that indicated that Gen Z, um, the way they learn about things like banking specifically is largely through word of mouth and then social media.
Um, there's, there's interest in that. We, and we've talked a little bit about, um, or she touched a little bit about the various, um, platforms that, that people are getting their information from. And of course, you know, Gen Z. Uh, it starts with digital. Um, but then honestly, you look at the other end and, um, boomers and millennials still respond well to well designed, well executed directly.
And, you know, it's all out there. It's about getting the right mix,
[00:20:00] Jim Adkins: Yeah. Michael. Uh, you know, we've talked about this to, uh, from time to time. Banks have a, have a, have problems identifying the relationships and, and, you know, just putting a circle around them. I mean, there still are significant silos in banks of all sizes. Uh, and, you know, one area doesn't know what the other area is doing.
And, uh, how can data the use of data, you know, overcome that problem of relationship identification,
[00:20:35] Michael Fischer: Great question. Great segue, Jim. I think there's a lot to be said for what you've just called out here. And that, that is very much tied to the fact that those silos, you know, I have a mortgage department. I have somebody selling HELOC. I have somebody selling CARD. CARD's a relationship product in a community bank if there's a CARD operating.
Offering at all. I still have checking, right? I still have mobile banking option. Maybe that's going to be tied to checking and savings and maybe Christmas clubs, but maybe not. Most of the time it is. But I have these different silos. You know, the consumer doesn't care that you have these different silos.
They don't care that you've created a confusing offer strategy that doesn't align with. The simple fact, I already have the credit card, so don't tell me you're gonna give me a credit card. When you send me the HELOC offer, I already have your credit card. So the the, and that happens all the time, right?
All of the big boys do it as well. The, the point around data is, is really simple. You have to make sure that the information that you have on the individuals that you're working with, that you get it as complete as possible. If you don't have it. There's an awful lot to be said. for where you can get it. I'm not telling anyone to use data inappropriately. What I am saying, though, is why don't you look at, why doesn't a bank look at what kind of profile information they can get on a household so that they're managing their relationships from the beginning around the products and services that are going to be meaningful to that household or those individuals within it. Far too often we see banks go, I've got a new offer and I'm going to add an extra. Quarter point of interest when you open this chugging account and agree to keep it for three years or Savings account when you agree to keep it, you know, 18 month CD. I know I already have a CD with you Why are you giving me this one?
I can't shut mine down Because I'm gonna gonna pay a penalty when I shut mine down to take advantage of the quarter point by the way I'm really mad that you gave the quarter point that I didn't get to take advantage of so I'm gonna come and tell you I Want it anyway, so it really is using the data to not only understand the relationship you have But what are the things you want to know?
What's the value of a household? How many people are in it? Is there an income range that's within that household? Are these people, are these members, are these customers, are they most, um, are they most attracted to traditional retail products? Are they emerging wealth? And we've got to start talking to them about private banking.
Are they currently wealth? And then we have to start talking to them about private banking. in their household. Are they going to be adding on to that house? Are they going to be building a new one? Those kinds of things are really important for the bank to understand if you're going to serve your customer.
If you want to sell your customer what you're serving, that's great. You're not going to get many. But if you're going to look at what you can do to serve the customer based on where they are today, there is a massive, massive opportunity for community banks. Because they actually hold the keys to the kingdom.
[00:23:43] Jim Adkins: That's right.
[00:23:43] Michael Fischer: The consumer drives by all the time, the consumer sees them all the time. The consumer knows the bank president or vice president. Jim, you've been in banking. How many people did you have? Then they walked into your brakes. I want to see Jim.
[00:23:55] Jim Adkins: Yeah. Oh, yeah,
[00:23:56] Michael Fischer: How often does that happen?
[00:23:57] Jim Adkins: right. All the time. All the time. Every day. 24 7. Of course.
[00:24:01] Michael Fischer: Right. So leverage that by showing your consumer, you know what they're there for, you know about them and you're adhering to what it is that's important to them.
You're there to serve them, not the other
[00:24:12] Jim Adkins: Right. And Cynthia, you know, that's a key component in messaging, right, Cynthia? You know, I mean, if you don't, if you can't define you, yeah. Uh, a relationship and you can't have an idea of where that relationship is going. How can you effectively message any, you know, any solution? Because I don't want to sell.
I want to solve, right? How can I, uh, effectively message a solution to my clients without, you know, finding what Mike's talking about, defining the relationships in the bank.
[00:24:48] Cynthia Rohde: Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's always about solving a problem, finding, you know, identifying the pain point and, and, And providing, um, you know, the treatment for it. Um, you know, with marketing in general, um, but more and more so now it's, it's less about what the banks want to say. It's less about what any event, what anybody who's trying to, any service, any, anything they're trying to sell you.
It's less about what you want to say and what your target audience wants to hear, needs to hear and how they need to hear it. So, and that's where it ties into both messaging and execution across platforms. You need to make sure that you're developing appropriate messaging that uses the language and the touch points and the excitement points are going to engage whoever it is you're trying to persuade to take part in what you're offering.
Um, and there's, there's always this sense to have. You need to meet them where they are. Don't make them come to you necessarily. Um, meet them where they are. And so if it's, if it's physically like in a, in a, uh, a branch situation that Mike was just saying, yeah, use the data to know who's coming in your door and, and, and let them know that, you know, who they are.
[00:26:19] Jim Adkins: Right.
[00:26:21] Cynthia Rohde: With, uh, with people who are more likely to be persuaded to use your service because they're finding it on social media, um, or, you know, for apps or meeting them, understanding that platform wise, that's where you need to be. Gen Z, you really, your first step out the door needs to be on social. Um, and it needs to be, you know, a sort of a surround sound effect.
People need to hear from you from multiple, um, Absolutely. From multiple locations across multiple platforms, the same messaging. Um, and it just needs to be tailored to them. And it's, and that's, that's ideally what all of this, this data does. It really sets you up very clearly and distinctly to create messaging pathways, um, that are then going to be, I think, more measurable in the end to, um, because you're using data to, to capture the engagement, to have a sense of, of how Um, Messages are landing and whether they're working toward conversion.
So, um.
[00:27:23] Jim Adkins: Yeah, that's a good point. You know, I was thinking, Michael, we're, you know, we, we, we talked about this in the past, but I don't know if there's been some significant developments in technology and, you know, the next purchase, the next product, predictive models. I know a lot has been, you know, at the forefront of a lot of this work.
Where are we now with Uh, you know, that, that, that model that says, okay, Jim Atkins, uh, he just had a, a new granddaughter, which I did. And, uh, what's the next buy? You know, what is he, what's going to happen? You know, where are we with that, Michael?
[00:28:06] Michael Fischer: We're very far along in that, right? And you can do that in a variety of different ways, but predictive analytics that talk specifically about the relationship and its propensity or the consumer's propensity to adopt a product, that's been around for a very long time. But then if we want to look at what we call longitudinally, right, what do you do over time and what are the additional products that Um, need to be, um, presented to the consumer.
That's, that is where we spend a lot of time, right? What, what is the next best thing, right? So you may have a banking relationship, um, and that banking relationship may have retail products, I know that you've just moved. I know that your kids are not local to you, and I know that you have a grandbaby.
So all of those things come into play from an analytics perspective, so that when I'm looking at next best product. I have an opportunity to not pick one or two, but maybe three. And then my job is to help ensure that I'm educating you around that. Juvenile life insurance might be something that you're interested in, but it also might be that you're interested in college funding for your granddaughter. Right? It might also be that you've decided that you want to help your kids add a bedroom to their house because it's your fourth grandchild and they only have three bedrooms in the house. So they got to have another one because everybody's piled up and went. So we use data, um, and we use the bank's data, and we actually have automated modeling tools that will help us understand exactly what that sequence looks like from a product perspective so that the bank has an opportunity to serve and meet the customer where they're at.
[00:29:45] Jim Adkins: Right. You know, some of the, one of the, I still get a little kick every time this happens, when I get something that I really like, I get a, I get pinged, or I get an email, or I get some type of, uh, advertisement. And I, and I actually need it. You know, it's like, wow, I, you know, that's interesting. I, I'm going to check that out.
I always, I always get a little bit of a rush because you get so much that you don't need. You get so much.
[00:30:09] Michael Fischer: You can throw it out, or you can leave it out open.
[00:30:11] Jim Adkins: But when you get that one thing that you go, wow, that is a really cool. I'm looking for a lawnmower that look at that sucker. You know, I mean, it, it, it really resonates and it resonates.
very quickly. Cynthia, you have some interesting thoughts on the time it takes to engage, especially the Gen Z generation. When they see a message they move. I think, you know, their attention span and that's not really attention span. I think you said they process it faster when you want to talk.
[00:30:41] Cynthia Rohde: Yeah. It's um, yeah. Eight seconds. Um, eight seconds. Um, prior to that, um, millennials were at 12 and, and Gen Z has reduced it to eight. Um, and that really is, I would say, uh, primarily a function of being digital natives, which is the first generation that was handed a phone. Um, you know, By the time they were sometimes three years old, depending on your parenting style, right?
So, this is a generation that, um, has always had everything that they could want or need literally at their fingertips in a way that, um, you know, preceding generations really can't understand. We know what it's like to have it now, but we all think back to, like, your relative good old days of the World Book Encyclopedias.
Like, that's how we did research.
[00:31:32] Jim Adkins: Yeah.
[00:31:33] Cynthia Rohde: So these kids are just so much more skilled, um, at discretionary thinking, um, they're able to and do make rapid fire decisions based on, um, on immediately available data, which is look, feel tone. Um, they have incredible bs detectors and, um, and really, really do respond very strongly.
Like I said, sort of to tone. They know when people are trying to, uh, get one over on them. They are, they are really focused on authenticity. Um, and it's, uh, it's not something necessarily to fear. It's something to understand and to market to. Um, if you can't say it in five words in a good image, um, then you got to work on that.
Um, that's the way that generation operates. Um, so it really makes you up your game and sharpen your skills and get into a different mindset. Um, And a lot of that bleeds over and it bleeds into the other generations just because we, we all are digital consumers. Now we all have changed our expectations.
We all have, you know, like the speed scrolling and how do you, how do you stop the scroll? That's really,
[00:32:46] Jim Adkins: Yeah.
[00:32:47] Cynthia Rohde: one of the big challenges. How do you stop the scroll? And Jim, like you said, when you, when you are presented with something and if it's, you know, if it's when you're scrolling through, um, I don't know if you're on Twitter or just scrolling through your, your email.
When it, when it's the thing that stops the scrolling, that's the relationship. That's where it starts because somewhere at the other end of your phone, someone has figured out that Eugene Matkins need this lawnmower. And that's what creates a personal connection in a digital world. Is this, it's a feeling, a sense that.
Somebody knows you out there. And that is what everybody, I think is, is looking for. It's what all I think it's what all good communication comes down to.
[00:33:32] Jim Adkins: That's that's good. I'm gonna get some T shirts and say stop the scroll. I mean, that's that is that's something I think we might have some merch that we're gonna sell. So So with that, let's talk a little bit about strategic planning and how data and strategic marketing support that. At Artisan, we do a lot of strategic planning.
And, uh, in, in the banking world, the credit union world, you know, there's a lot of technical things. There's a lot of, you know, uh, regulatory issues and balance sheet issues and all this stuff. And, and, but what I think we have done. And a lot of it has to do with with Cynthia joining us is bring that strategic marketing element into a strategic plan so that the strategic plan or the strategic marketing can support the plan, right?
I mean, the whole whole idea is let's support the plan with our outreach program. Um, so I'd like to talk a little bit about that and how, uh, we can, you know, our, our clients, our banks, our credit unions can, you know, integrate strategic marketing with that long term 3 to 5 year plan. Yeah. Cynthia, you want to take that one?
[00:35:00] Cynthia Rohde: I'll, I'll take first, swing there. Um, you know, strategic planning is about, um, growth and maintenance, right? Where we gonna grow? Where are we gonna maintain? What are, you know, what are your targets? What are your objectives? Um, marketing's about how you're gonna get there. Um, and it, it, I think it historically has been seen as an ancillary, uh, tactical
[00:35:30] Jim Adkins: Yes.
[00:35:31] Cynthia Rohde: kind of a thing, and it really, and it, it really can't be.
Um, it has to be strategic because, well, first of all, we should have been, really, but, um, It's not simply about execution of tactics. It is about everything that we have been talking about. You've got data that tells you you're, you know, there's maybe, maybe 60% of your, of your, um, of your current customers that you have in your own database, um, are, uh, at sort of the boomer age level.
Um, and, and maybe you have all of your products and everything and services are really geared toward that. But we've got, you know, Gen Z's coming up who are, Um, you know, by some research really at this point, actively trying to save, um, for larger purchases, they're, they're looking at car purchases, looking at home purchases, um, they're looking for these things anywhere they can find them.
They're not necessarily. You know, married to a particular kind of banking experience. They want whatever is going to appeal to them and educate them. It could be, um, a brick and mortar with a branch. It could be chime. Um, that's, so that's always in their mix. If your data tells you that your population is aging out and you need to get some younger folks into your pipeline, the how is marketing.
And strategically, how do you get there? And it, it, it starts with thinking about what products do they need? What services do they need? Where do they need them? How can we get them? What messaging is going to work? What? And then what is our, what is our marketing mix? How are we going to execute ultimately tactically?
Where are we going to spend our money? Are we going to spend it on TV advertising? Actually, no, you're really going to look at, you know, paid social media support across the appropriate platform. You're going to look at trying something interesting like setting up a TikTok channel with um, a young banker in your organization who can give some basic direction on, on, uh, on financial matters from a very educational level because you're going to build a relationship, you're going to establish some trust, you're going to establish some credibility.
And that will help drive folks, you know, people that are younger in, into your, uh, universe. So those are the kinds of things that it really does have to start with a strategy of where do you want to be? Um, and do we have, do we have the map yet to get us there? And if we don't, we really have to think hard about what your marketing strategy is going to be.
[00:38:09] Jim Adkins: but the jet fuel, the jet fuel now is data, Michael. It's the jet.
[00:38:14] Michael Fischer: It's,
[00:38:15] Jim Adkins: the thing that really drives this now.
[00:38:19] Michael Fischer: and what Cynthia said, and what you're asking about Jim is really important. And I think to start with, I loved your eight second commentary, Cynthia. The reality though is that for the customer that you have a relationship with that expects to hear from
[00:38:34] Cynthia Rohde: hmm.
[00:38:35] Michael Fischer: gonna have six seconds.
[00:38:36] Cynthia Rohde: Mm
[00:38:38] Michael Fischer: They're not looking any further.
So your time shrinks because they know you, so they really expect you to know them. So for a strategic planning perspective, what I like to tell all of our customers, banks included, you have to begin with the end in mind. Let's take a look at the customers you know you have today, and let's go build out profiles to understand exactly what makes your best customer best, and what makes your emerging customer emerging, and what makes your maintenance customers in maintenance, and is there any opportunity to migrate any of them to different relationship strategies and structures?
Let's start there. Then let's look at who we want to acquire, based on what it is that we know about your very best customers, your almost best customers, your emerging customers, and your maintenance customers. And then, to be strategic, because there's so many options, we have to think about where we're going to spend our dollars from a testing standpoint. I think you said initially, Cynthia, one size doesn't fit all, and in here it really doesn't. But you don't have to spend crazy money to figure that out because you've stopped doing the newspaper. And you start looking, you stop doing direct mail with a card that's going to go in. It's no longer a card, now it's a, you know, it's a, it's an envelope with a special window in it and I'm sending it on across 55, 60 cents a piece. Stop that, right? We're going to layer it back in when we start looking at what are the other communication channels we want to leverage and how do we take some of the dollars that we are saved from some of our physical media and move that into digital media, right? Sending a direct mail piece can be very powerful if we don't get any reaction and we want to continue to stay in the direct mail business.
What happens when we follow the direct mail piece with a social media post to the email addresses that reside within the household that received that direct mail piece to begin with? What happens when we add an email to that social media post that was added to the direct mail piece that's exactly in that household, right?
I just changed my reach, where I was hoping I was going to get that with a newspaper ad. I just made three touches occur.
[00:40:58] Cynthia Rohde: hmm.
[00:40:59] Michael Fischer: You go on the social media channel, here comes the, here comes the bank's offer. You open your email, there it is. You open your mailbox, there it is. And I want to be able to make sure that I'm accommodating which of those sequences.
If I need all three, what three do I need? When do I need them? How frequently? That's how I test my way in to determining the most appropriate strategic plan. For me to execute. And it begins with the data, finding what looks best, ensuring that I understand what I have to do to serve those that are best, and then taking that and deploying that in all of my acquisition and all my acquisition.
[00:41:38] Jim Adkins: Yeah. And I think your comment, Mike, on knowing your customer and there's one of the things that banks have done and still continue to do is make assumptions about who is their customer, you know, sometimes they think their best customer is a person that, you know, you know, just a big borrower or some whatever, whatever attribute.
And then when they put a pencil to it, they go, wait a minute, That's not that that customer isn't representative of really, you know, the average customer of the bank, you know, we're, we're, we're putting a lot of resources to this one group when we're ignoring really, you know, our real customers over on another side of the bank.
And so I think your point is a good one there. Um, well, it's getting late and I think we could go on for another hour or two on this. But I just want to say thank you, Michael Fisher and Cynthia Rohde for, you know, joining us today. I think banks really need to continue to get better in marketing and understanding who they are using, making a marketing strategy that supports your strategic plan, using data, good hard data analytics to support the marketing plan, which then of course supports the strategic plan.
So I see our clients doing that. I want them to continue to do that because if small, if banks and credit unions. Need to stay relevant. This is the area that's going to help them stay relevant is better marketing and Getting their solutions out in a more effective and efficient way and not and being able to cut through all the noise That we all know is is out there So I suggest maybe everyone listening today if you have any questions You can call, uh, Michael or Cynthia or myself directly, uh, Michael, I guess they, uh, people can get you through your, uh, firm's website, a lot group.
com.
[00:43:47] Michael Fischer: Yep,
[00:43:48] Jim Adkins: uh, you can get to Cynthia or me through artisan dash advisors. com. So with that, uh, thank you so much and thank everybody for listening. We'll see you next time on artisan unfiltered.
[00:44:02] Michael Fischer: you.
[00:44:02] Cynthia Rohde: Thank you.