Six Steps to an Effective Marketing Plan

by Susan M. Chapman

An effective strategic marketing plan is a roadmap that should guide your tactical decisions. Following the steps below will help you develop an effective marketing strategy that will allow your marketing team to focus on campaigns and initiatives that are key to the success of your credit union.

  1. Analyze and define your target market(s). Market research is the foundation of an effective plan. Conducting a demographic analysis of the market within a three-mile radius of each branch location will help identify opportunities to increase wallet share and fill any “gaps” that might exist in the current products and services you are offering, versus those wanted by your potential member base. Consider utilizing psychographic data to evaluate the propensity of different demographics groups to use different products and services.
  2. Set smart marketing objectives for each target market. Whether you want to increase loan market share around a particular branch or increase your market share of youth accounts, setting objectives is the first step in making it happen. Think smart – objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.
  3. Create tactics to achieve each objective. Now that you have done your homework, identified opportunities, defined your target market, and set objectives, you can begin designing specific tactics to help accomplish these tasks. For example, if your market research has revealed that you have a low share of wallet or auto loans among existing members in a credit-driven demographic, an auto loan recapture campaign would be an appropriate tactic to help increase auto loan penetration with this segment.

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