4 Ways to Master Finding Households that are Ripe for Deposit Growth

May 25, 2018, 14:01 PM by JD Metcalf

A sound way to increase deposits is by strengthening relationships with existing customers. In this first story in a two-part series, we lay out the four steps for growing deposits with a small but influential segment—affluent households.
Full story
How to Match Customer Investment Strategies with Products

Apr 27, 2018, 15:10 PM by Lane Yard

Saving for the future is smart. Yet, historically many Americans haven’t exactly been wired to do it. So, financial advisors have long relied on scare tactics to convince consumers to save for the future: If you’re not putting at least 15% a year in your retirement fund, you’ll be working until you’re 75!
Full story
How to Use Segmentation to Provide More Value to Insurance Buyers

Apr 10, 2018, 14:02 PM by Thea Crelin

Making the most of the investment is simply a matter of focusing efforts on the anticipated opportunities (and risks) an individual company’s change will present. By doing so, even small insurers could compete with mid-sized rivals. To get the most out of segmentation, one must keep in mind that the buyer’s journey for each segment is likely to be different.
Full story
Harte Hanks Featured Vol 8 Mar 2018

Mar 14, 2018, 15:44 PM by None

I’ve taken a slightly different approach at choosing content this month. Each of the pieces provides different insights on market segmentation—starting with Tony Ulwick’s new piece on milkshake marketing, published in Marketing Journal. In this piece, he explores the limits of traditional segmentation and how segmenting markets by jobs to be done may be a more effective approach.
Full story
How to Find and Reach Your Best Opportunities with Market Segmentation

Mar 7, 2018, 14:44 PM by None

If you think the whole world is your oyster, you're wrong. At least when it comes to marketing. No product or service can be all things to all people. To make the most of your limited marketing budget, you must hone in on those opportunities where you are most likely to succeed.
Full story
No More Assumptions—How to Understand What Your Customers Really Want

Mar 7, 2018, 12:39 PM by Natasha Silensky

Does this sound familiar? You and your significant other have plans to go out on a Friday night. One of you has a very specific expectation for the date night but wants the other to make the plans on their own, while still meeting some unarticulated expectation. It’s not mind reading but may as well be—the planning partner is playing a guessing game, working off assumptions, which inevitably leads to the anticipating partner’s disappointment.
Full story
Market Segmentation: Find Your Sweet Spots

Feb 14, 2018, 15:35 PM by None

Success isn't about how loud you shout or how far you push your message out. Work out your best opportunities for success and engage with those most likely to say "yes, yes, yes!"
Full story
How to Refine Your Growth Strategy with a 5 Pillars Analysis

Feb 7, 2018, 14:44 PM by None

We live in the “Age of Me.” Buyers call the shots. Brands don’t control the buying process. Winning share of wallet means winning share of attention. Buyers expect companies to make offers that are interesting and relevant in the moment. Anything less is an unwanted intrusion.
Full story
Evolving from Traditional Segmentation to Segments of One

Jan 25, 2018, 14:37 PM by Frank Grillo

Traditional segmentation and targeting are all about effectiveness and efficiency. We are all familiar with a classic use of segmentation and targeting: offering a luxury product at a high price to the affluent and a stripped-down, low-cost version to the masses.
Full story
New Target Stores Focus on Customer Needs, Improve Experience

Nov 17, 2017, 12:40 PM by Nicole Bump

The most obvious way Target’s focus on the needs of this underserved segment comes to life is with two separate entrances: “one for time-starved shoppers who only need to pick up a few items, and the other for people who want to leisurely browse the store.”
Full story
The Path to Virtual Advisors Begins with Getting to Know your Customers

Nov 10, 2017, 10:24 AM by JD Metcalf

Consumers are demanding a more personalized banking experience. Right now. If banks wait to offer this form of on-demand engagement, they risk being left behind. But many banks, including major brands, don’t have the resources to build a personalized, automated system.
Full story
How Retail Can Thrive in Kotler’s 4th Industrial Revolution

Nov 3, 2017, 16:00 PM by Karen Puckett

Philip Kotler recently published an article on MarketingJournal.org called “Will the 4th Industrial Revolution Kill Store-Based Retailing?” In it, he asserts that the internet, mobile devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) have brought us to the point of another industrial revolution—one that is killing brick and mortar retail. He points to closures of stores like J.C. Penney, Macy’s and Toys R Us.
Full story
How to Personalize your Printing and Buy a New BMW

Nov 3, 2017, 15:08 PM by Matt Pollock

What if I told you I was working with a client who was throwing away a brand-new BMW every week? You'd look at me like I was crazy, right? Well, I've seen it. Ok. Not literally, but figuratively. As in cash money.
Full story
Toys R Us Failure is from Customer Experience—Not Amazon

Oct 18, 2017, 10:32 AM by Karen Puckett

In his article The shockingly sad but true story of Toys R Us' decline, Roger Hamilton explains that Toys R Us recently filed for bankruptcy after a losing battle with Amazon to be the ecommerce giant’s exclusive toy provider. While many may attribute this bankruptcy to the continued decline of brick and mortar retail, this failure is not a matter of digital versus physical or online versus offline.
Full story
HHQ Vol 1 Fall 2017

Oct 17, 2017, 15:44 PM by None

Welcome to our first edition of Harte Hanks Quarterly magazine, showcasing the latest marketing news and views.
Full story
How Successful Brands Can Prepare for Disruption

Sep 27, 2017, 15:30 PM by Nicole Bump

What do car insurance and travel booking have in common? Each of these industries has largely cut out "the middlemen." Insurance companies like Geico, Progressive and State Farm make it simple and convenient to buy car insurance online and are successfully reaching customers directly through traditional and digital media channels.
Full story
The 5 Pillars of Best-in-Class Marketing

Sep 19, 2017, 15:35 PM by None

Marketing. It has until now, been viewed as companies pushing their messaging out into the world and trying to get consumers to buy more. That just doesn’t work anymore. Customers are calling the shots. If marketing is going to have any chance at success, it must be delivering value to the consumer and helping to solve the problems this person has set out to solve, in the moment they need to be solved. This goes beyond one-to-one marketing.
Full story
Sony Makes Marketing Human, Achieves Superior Results

Aug 18, 2017, 15:44 PM by None

Significant and varied marketplace disruptions were creating challenges for one of the world’s most innovative and enduring brands. Smartphones and content streaming were eating into this consumer brand’s sales of core product lines like cameras, stereo systems and music players, camcorders, and even TVs. The shift away from physical storefronts, and the rise of dominant online sellers like Amazon, added to the challenge of connecting with customers.
Full story
The Yin and Yang of Segmentation

Jul 26, 2017, 11:09 AM by Steve Acuna

Thousands of years ago, Chinese sages created a metaphor for looking at the paradoxes of the world around them. They observed Yin and Yang opposites everywhere they turned: Shadow cannot exist without light; Creative innovation cannot succeed without disciplined order; Sun Tzu’s Art of War is full of passivity being the most effective, vigorous, active strategy.
Full story
The Seven Secrets of Strategic Segmentation

Jul 5, 2017, 11:22 AM by Steve Acuna

The legendary Harvard Business School marketing guru Ted Leavitt says, “If you’re not doing segmentation, you’re not doing marketing.” He is pointing out that segmentation increases the effectiveness and efficiency of your initiatives. It enables you to target, communicate, and sell accurately.
Full story
It's Time for Banks to Stop Targeting ''Millennials''

Jun 27, 2017, 16:02 PM by Kylie Peters

Millennials, born between 1980 and 1999, are now the largest living generation—but if you're trying to target the millennial persona, you're making a mistake. Take another look at that first sentence to see why: we're talking about a broad range of people between the ages of 18 and 37 with very different banking needs.
Full story
The World is NOT Your Oyster: How to do Market Segmentation

Apr 6, 2017, 13:47 PM by Steve Acuna

There are only a few products in the world that are designed to meet everyone’s needs equally. For the most part, if you think the whole market is your opportunity, you’re wrong.
Full story
The Magic Question: What’s as Important as Baseball?

Feb 2, 2017, 10:51 AM by Frank Grillo

Case study from Dr. Karl Hellman. In our 3-second attention span world, social media marketing often grabs attention with dramatic discounts: 30% off or more. But discounts erode profits and detract from brand equity: “Thirty percent off? What’s wrong with this product?”
Full story
A Powerful, Reliable Way to Cut Through the Marcom Clutter

Jan 27, 2017, 11:39 AM by Frank Grillo

Case Study from Dr. Karl Hellman. We live in a cluttered marcom world: thousands of messages bombard us every day. Here’s how a professional services firm cut through and grew their business.
Full story