FD Focus

Thursday 22nd May 2008

Winning Big in the Boardroom

Wednesday 21st May 2008

There has never been a better time for financial marketers to take the lead in business. Strategic differentiation is the new imperative in markets that are so competitive that they are in danger of becoming even more heavily commoditised. But are financial marketers grasping the nettle?

The answer is that some are, but there are still far too few. Research from PA Consulting and the Marketing Forum shows that of the 50% of senior UK marketers who expect to reach the main board, 90% won't make it. On reading the report further, we learn that only 14% focus on improving economic profit, a compelling reason why there is such a low representation of financial marketers in UK banking boardrooms! Maybe that's why Professor Philip Kotler considers that marketers are lucky if they have full control of one P.

1.    They must be bold visionaries, leading the strategic agenda of the business to create market space.
2.    In owning the growth agenda, they must set specific, measurable, business-focused outcomes - what gets measures gets done.
3.    Marketing plans must be based on cross-functional delivery of the strategic business plan across the entire organisation, so that everyone is engaged in the process of value creation.
4.    The language used by the financial marketer should be the language of the boardroom, not of the marketing text-book. Talk about profit - not promotion, margin - not marketing communications.
5.    Accountability in delivering top and bottom line results is the fifth and most vital imperative.

The new stars of the boardroom will be those genuine financial marketing specialists, who challenge accepted norms, are truly visionary and have the commercial acumen to drive business growth and value. Wimps need not apply!

The A-Z of Financial Marketing

Tuesday 20th May 2008

Attribute – The distinctive characteristic financial marketers aim to own in their customer’s mind
Brand Pillars – The guiding insights that support the essence of a financial organisation’s brand
Core Essence – Your brand's promise distilled in the simplest, most single-minded terms
Differentiation – The fundamental purpose of today’s financial marketing – to Create Your Own Space
Experience – The means by which your brand comes to life through consistent interactions 
Frequency – Maintaining the momentum of your message, long after you are bored!
Gaps –  Living on the edges of the mainstream to reap optimum rewards
Harmonisation – Consistent application of the brand identity and image across all applications
Intangible assets – Trademarks, copyrights, patents, proprietary expertise that create future profits
Joined up marketing – Cohesive brand management, maximising clarity, consistency and impact 
Killer applications – Concept that ignite imaginations and shift markets
Lifetime value – The sum of future revenues over your customers’ anticipated life
Market shift – The ability to create a disruption and displace a market
Naming – Using evocative or descriptive brand name strategies
One to one marketing – Building relationships through economies of scope, not scale
Positioning – Defining how the audience, attributes and appeal map out for a preferred brand
Qualitative research – Understanding perceptions, beliefs and emotions
R Axes – Remarkable, Reputational, Relevant and Real
Space Model – Strategy, Positioning, Architecture, Communications, Engagement
Tone of Voice – How the brand communicates and tells its story to its target audience
UVP – Unique Value Proposition
Viral Communications – delivering contagious messages to tip the networks
Web 2.0 – Embracing new technologies, podcasts, blogs and internet tv
X-Marketing – Cross marketing affinity through complementary services and brand values
Yield – Delivering Return On Marketing Investment (ROMI) with Key Performance Indicators
Zero based budgeting – Determining budgets to achieve new marketing and corporate goals

The Power of Partnerships

Friday 16th May 2008

I'm often asked by financiers how prospective channel relationships can be developed to become powerful business-driving partnerships.

I have developed the 4Cs model for the purpose of assessing partnerships and this takes into account the following criteria:

Congruence - First, we examine the closeness of fit to the client's existing introducer base - size, structure, geography, mix of lenders they work with currently and service / product gaps etc.

Contacts - Then, we look at the network base (the introducers' client base) and identify how closely this matches with the type of business we are looking for.

Culture  - We assess the beliefs and cultural fit of the leading players.

Commitment - And we look at the level of commitment they have to the partnership -  shared project marketing budgets, direct mail, pr and news bulletins, other joint promotions to accelerate business development.

Self-Actualising People Make It Happen

Thursday 15th May 2008

Self-Actualisation - Top-level Marketing

Wednesday 14th May 2008

Self-Actualisation Needs
Whilst deficiency needs may be seen as "basic", and can be met and neutralised (i.e. they stop being motivators in one's life), self-actualisation and transcendence are "being" or "growth needs" - enduring motivations or drivers of behaviour. It could be argued that in business to business marketing and particularly in financial services marketing, Maslow¹s pyramid should be turned on its head! This need is driven by the desire to make the most of a person's abilities and to strive to be the best they can ­ to fulfil their potential. As Nike's strap-line states - Just Do It!

Cognitive Needs
Maslow believed that humans have the need to increase their intelligence and thereby chase knowledge. Cognitive needs is the expression of the natural human need to learn, explore, discover and create to get a better understanding of the world around them. Harness this desire for knowledge in the pathways to gaining enquiry. Involve the customer with transactional tracking capability. Educate them with tailor-made Amazon-like accuracy - 'people who bought this item, also bought...'

Aesthetic needs
Based on Maslow's beliefs, it is stated in the hierarchy that humans need beautiful imagery or something new and aesthetically pleasing to continue up towards Self-Actualisation. How often do we see the the vocabulary of design devalued as a 'makeover', as if the function of design is non-strategic and cosmetic. The reality is that design shapes and reveals truly the personality, values, beliefs and behaviours of an organisation. More importantly, style is a deeper validation - the external representation of the customer's self-image. Virginia Postrel wrote a book called The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value is Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness in which she argues that increasingly wealthy and sophisticated customers demand "an enticing, stimulating, diverse, and beautiful world." Aesthetic is more than a nice-to-have, it's very cool-to-have, the new must-have!

Maslow Under the Microscope

Tuesday 13th May 2008

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is often shown as a pyramid consisting of five levels: The first four levels of the pyramid are what Maslow called "deficiency needs": Physiological, Safety, Social, and Esteem and the final ‘Growth’ level is defined as Self-Actualisation. In this blog, I am focusing purely on deficiency needs.

Physiological Needs
In today’s relatively affluent society, impact of the credit crunch aside, the majority of target customers have their physiological needs met to a greater or lesser extent.

Safety Needs
In a business sense, sometimes the following are perceived as being less important than Self-Actualisation principles and can be neglected unless awareness is raised, particularly by the hard pressed Owner Managed Business:
Liability - Limited Liability Company or Partnership Formation
Insurance -  Personal Liability Insurance, Illness / Key Worker Insurance, Payment Protection Insurance
HR Procedures – Health & Safety, Grievance, Whistle Blowing, Trades Unions
Corporate Governance – Meeting Minutes, Non Disclosure Agreements, Audits
IT Security – Passwords, Firewalls, Encryption, SPAM Filters
Savings - Savings Accounts, Pensions Provision

Social Needs
Today, we act as connectors, not just as directors. Business people need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large social group (such as the office, professional organisations, networking groups) or smaller connections (Mentors, close colleagues, business confidants). This need for belonging can often overcome the physiological and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure. Blogs, wikis and forums are Web 2.0 examples of virtual worlds where like-minded people can connect based on affinity and where marketers can share their ‘cause’ and engage at a deeper level. People are transforming markets into communities by choosing their role as citizen over consumer and this will become an increasingly important part of ethical, sustainable marketing.

Esteem needs
All humans have a need to be respected, to have self-esteem, self-respect, and to respect others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued. Incentives, awards, events and aspirational marketing all tap into this important human need but the main area of marketing growth is to be found in experiential marketing -  making customers feel special and important. This may involve customer involvement in product decisions to having greater control over how services are delivered or distributed. The ultimate empowerment for the customer is for them to continually rewrite your brand story.

Planetary Positioning

Monday 12th May 2008

Here's some jamming with words that I did this weekend when exploring the theme of creating space. There are some associations inherent in the names of the planets that struck me as interesting:

Mercury  Messenger / Communication / Speed / Agility
Venus      Love / Emotion / Desire
Earth        Strata / Solid / Dependable / Grounded
Mars         War / Strength / Competitiveness
Jupiter      King / Leadership  / Power
Saturn      Agriculture / Growth / Plenty
Uranus    Skies / Height
Neptune  Ocean / Depth
Pluto        Destiny / Vision

Visiting Deep Space

Friday 09th May 2008

Launching into Space

Thursday 08th May 2008

Scope
SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
PEST Analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technological)

Define
Markets
Target Audience
SMART Objectives (Strategic, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound)
The 8 Ps (Positioning, Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, People, Processes, Physical Evidence)
Positioning in Depth
- Core Essence
- Brand Pillars
- Key Messages (Brand Vocabulary)
- Unique Value Propositions
- Positioning Statement (Elevator Pitch)
- Proof Points

Explore
Concepts
Design
Methodologies
Scenarios

Evaluate
Define Key Success Factors
4Rs Test
SPACE Model
Define Communications Tools
Map Budget, Impact, Speed
Prioritise Actions
Measure Results

Create Your Own Space Check List

Wednesday 07th May 2008

Brand Staircase - Messaging Hierarchy

Tuesday 06th May 2008

The hard work of determining what you say and who you say it to shouldn’t be re-invented with every marketing project. Being consistent not only saves time, it helps your target audiences organise their ideas about you. A messaging hierarchy organises your positioning in a way that makes sense for the customer - and all of your future marketing.

The Conative Campaign - Knowledge to Act

Friday 02nd May 2008

I noticed a series of striking text-based ads from Thomson Reuters on the tube today. The key messages support their 'Knowledge to Act' campaign.

Each of the ads reveals a different aspect of the business and it struck me immediately that the nature of the proposition is fundamentally Conative.

The first creative execution is headed, "The end of think. The beginning of know", which is a theme echoed in the line "It's no time for 'think'. This culminates in the dependable promise:"knowledge that businesses and professionals rely on worldwide."

Here, the proposition is played out by emphasising the inherent dynamism of the process in response to Board pressure, driving towards a decision to act instantly, eliminating or subjugating both cognitive and connective dimensions: 

The second ad in the series serves to highlight the difference between feelings and knowing. Although friendship is mentioned, the decision-making process taps into gut instinct and experience, rather than the world of emotion and feelings. The proposition for this advertisement centres on trust:

"Introducing a better gut instinct.
Trust your instincts. Trust your experience. Trust the world's leading source of intelligent information, business insight and knowledge to act, for businesses and professionals; information mined, analysed and filtered by the smartest software anywhere. Thousands of industry experts. Friend to your gut. Thomson Reuters - Knowledge to act."

The third ad execution is creating empathy based on peer knowledge and experience, resulting in robust insight and knowledge that drives action:

What you may ask is missing from these Conative ads? Oh yes - a Call to Action!

Get Connective - Bridge Functional and Emotional Attributes

Thursday 01st May 2008