Marketing Automation – A Step Towards Marketing Transformation

This pandemic has brought a lot of changes and challenges for all of us. A similar effect can be observed for credit unions. Prior to COVID, marketing automation was in ideas for many though many were doing it. Now, it has become a necessity as there is a shift in consumers’ behavior. These shifts include expectations surrounding online services, personalization, and remote access. And, point to be noted, these expectations will not go away when the COVID crisis ends.

For better understanding, David Eldred has shared his marketing transformation journey at the 5th annual CULytics Summit. His journey started 4 years ago where he used marketing automation as a catalyst to create a revenue engine. He is a Chief Experience Officer at Solarity Credit Union having $770 million value assets and headquartered in Yakima, Washington.

Data shows that 88% and even more consumers do online research before calling or visiting a branch. The behavior of the consumer is the best indicator to find out what engages him/her the most. Demographics can work but what members do tell more; means what are the interests at that moment. So, to know how to set goals and about the marketing automation platform that David used and experienced, read on:

Goals for Marketing Automation

Automation in marketing can be helpful for credit unions as they can make available tailor-made products and services that fit the members’ requirements. Goals that should be created and kept in mind are:

1. Leverage the data you have about your members to facilitate more relevant targeting and improved cross-sales for members and prospects as they approach the organization.
2. Automate programming to free up marketing personnel and build a content mountain. This is a cost and time-saving measure for marketing automation.
3. Embrace the digital age to pull new prospects to the website & branches and create more expansive opportunities to establishing deeper relationships with the existing members as well as new prospects.

Platforms for Marketing Automation

Marketing automation platforms help in creating, managing, and expanding relationships with the members. Platforms like Marketo and Salesforce among others are proven to be effective in organizing and improving credit unions’ marketing and sale efforts. Salesforce has its own ecosystem. It would be great to use as its CRM, financial cloud, and marketing cloud makes it a robust marketing automation platform. It is not just a marketing automation platform, it acts as a feedback loop between marketing and sales teams to create opportunities for the organization. Marketing Platforms help you generate more leads with greater efficiency and facilitate you to personalize your marketing message according to the target market/ audience.

Use the D3 Model to put marketing forward. With this model- Demand Creation, Demand Management, and Demand Expansion are done through people, technology, data, and analytics to drive revenue.

With marketing automation, the major focus is on turning visitors into new members. Dynamic Landing Pages to show different information to different users based on location, behavior, etc., no matter they are new or existing members. Identify the Visitors’ Behavior and track their activity to know what motivates them. Custom Nurturing Campaigns can be used to send targeted content based on the browsing interests, history, and habits of the members. Also, know your market, members’ requirements, and accordingly transform your marketing strategies and automate them.

To find out the full session video and similar other marketing transformation stories, click here.