Strategy Services

Strategic and marketing Planning

Marketing

Our PATH planning process is designed to identify growth opportunities and build the optimal marketing mix to achieve that growth. The process is structured and collaborative. At every stage, customer and market data is used to confirm or challenge the financial institution’s assumptions and to provide the measurement and analysis of growth opportunity that serves as the foundation for effective strategy.

Go-to-market planning

For special projects and initiatives that demand more than incremental growth to be considered successful, our approach creates a winning customer experience for the right customers while driving the highest possible sales at the lowest possible cost.

Omni-channel strategy

How do you continue to meet new customer demands for access and convenience as adoption of digital channels increases? That’s the core question we seek to answer. By blending channel use data with channel preference survey tools, we have built predictive models to inform omni-channel planning.

Pre-Retired segment

Customers aged 50 – 65 have one financial need on their minds: Retirement. Collectively, they are the most valuable retail segment in community banking. But tapping this opportunity requires that you demonstrate and deliver the expertise they seek. Our extensive knowledge of this segment provides the insight you’ll need to craft a successful plan.

Small business segment

For so long the sweet spot of community FIs, competition for small business customers has intensified. Competitors have reinvented the standards for convenience and responsiveness. Through insight into customer needs, channel usage, and effective promotion, we’ll help you leverage and reposition your strengths to regain your competitive advantage and continue to grow this segment.

Product design

Effective product design seeks to solve a customer need in a more effective way; by doing so, it creates competitive advantage and the opportunity for profit. We employ a comprehensive approach that considers customer needs and behaviors, available technology, the competitive environment, and advanced profitability modelling to both design new products and breathe new life into current product lines.

Channel optimization

The role of the branch network is changing. We examine its importance to customer service and new account acquisition in terms of a multi-channel delivery strategy. Our analysis provides perspective on the value of the business each branch generates and services and provides recommendations to optimize resources and improve profitability. Similarly, we analyze how digital channels are being used and how they may be enhanced to improve the customer experience and customer acquisition.

Digital strategy

The quality of the digital experience has become a primary factor influencing bank or credit union selection. Yet community FIs are not perceived to be technology leaders capable of providing a competitive online and mobile experience. Understand your customers’ needs and develop a strategy that will change this perception and stem the flow of younger customers to non-traditional competitors.

brand strategy

The more customers see banking as a commodity, the less value they see in community FIs. Nondescript branding doesn’t help the situation. Our brand development process will reveal your customers’ needs and desired experience together with your organization’s strengths. We then marry the two in a distinctive, memorable way that changes perceptions of relevance and value and differentiates in the marketplace.