Marketing Financial Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing Financial Services - Essay Example The greatest asset of any consumer finance business is its base of customers. In the current competitive market, acquisition of profitable customers is tricky and tough. Nurturing the relationship into long-term profitable assets require lots of perseverance, innovation, and research. All customers are different, and to acquire the value they bring, they need to be treated differently. There are many methods to acquire customers. Advertising is one of the foremost methods. US Advertising Spending by Financial Services companies by media 2003 & 2004 (as a % of total spending).....Source: TNS Media Intelligence & Advertising, June 2005: 2003 2004 TV 27.7% 31.15 Newspaper 23.8% 22.4% Magazine 14..7% 15.5% Cable TV 12.9% 12.5% Internet 14.7% 12.5% Radio 3.2% 3.0% Outdoor 3.1% 3.0% Acquiring new customers through email and direct mail marketing are other methods that are fast and cost-efficient. With the help of thousands of interest categories demographic information, and behavioral targeting, you can find the exact people you are looking for and then giving you the information you need to convert these prospects into customers through email and direct mail marketing. CUSTOMER RETENTION Customer retention marketing is a tactically-driven approach based on customer behavior. It’s the core activity going on behind the scenes in relationship marketing, loyalty marketing, database marketing, permission marketing, etc. ... information, and behavioral targeting, you can find the exact people you are looking for and then giving you the information you need to convert these prospects into customers through email and direct mail marketing. CUSTOMER RETENTION Customer retention marketing is a tactically-driven approach based on customer behavior. It's the core activity going on behind the scenes in relationship marketing, loyalty marketing, database marketing, permission marketing, etc. Here's the basic philosophy of a retention-oriented marketer: 1. Past and current customer behavior is the best predictor of future customer behavior. Example: Take these two groups of potential buyers who surf the net: People who are a perfect demographic match for your site, but have never made a purchase online anywhere and people who are outside the core demographics for your site, but have repeatedly bought online at many different web sites If you sent a 20% promotion to each group, asking them to visit and make a first purchase, response would be higher from the second group than the first group. It works because actual behavior is better at predicting future behavior than demographic characteristics are. 2. Active customers are happy (retained) customers; and they like to win. They like to feel they are in control and smart about choices they make, and they feel good about their behavior. Marketers take advantage of this by offering promotions of various kinds, ranging from discounts and sweepstakes to loyalty programs and concept approaches such as thank-you notes and birthday cards. If you want your customers to do something, you have yo do something for them, and if it's something that makes them feel good, then they're