Increasing Loan Balances: People Want to be Seen and Heard

Understanding the Current Environment

Communicating with the current socio-economic environment is crucial when crafting your message. For example, the theme of "taking a vacation," popular in equity advertising a couple of years ago, lost its relevance during the pandemic. However, as restrictions lift, this theme may regain its appeal. Currently, the focus has shifted to home improvements. Studies from Porch.com indicate a significant rise in home improvement spending, with a 50% increase in related Google searches in the third quarter of 2020. This shift is a direct result of people spending more time at home and finding new ways to enhance their living spaces, coupled with the challenging real estate market driving homeowners to opt for significant renovations instead of moving.

Tailoring the Message to Your Audience

Another crucial aspect is understanding who you're speaking to. Take equity customers, for example; their typical age range might be between 35 and 65 years. While seemingly narrow, this range covers a broad spectrum of life stages and borrowing reasons. Creating personas within this target audience can significantly improve your ability to craft messages and images that resonate with each subgroup.

Basic demographics like age, income, marital status, and the presence of children are the starting points for creating these personas. Advanced segmentation systems like Psycle, Symphony, and Tapestry offer even more granular grouping options. Using just the top-level segments from these systems can provide sufficient differentiation for a typical marketing campaign.

Leveraging Technology for Personalization

The beauty of modern technology is that it allows for easy customization of text and images for each persona at minimal additional cost, even in direct mail campaigns. Digital printing technology facilitates personalization down to the individual recipient level. This personalization extends effortlessly to email and digital ads, with the only limitation being the number of creative files you're willing to produce.

Depending on its implementation, research shows that personalization can boost response rates by 50% to 300%. This makes it a valuable strategy, especially for campaigns like equity marketing, where resonating with the audience personally is vital.

In summary, while data and channel strategy are essential, the real magic happens when you deliver a message that speaks directly to the needs and desires of your audience. By understanding the current environment, creating detailed customer personas, and utilizing technology for personalization, marketers can significantly enhance the effectiveness of their campaigns.