What We Learned From Listening To Our Clients

Image credit: Ky Olsen

I can think of dozens of times when we've struggled to design a marketing campaign, launch a new loan product, or build a community partnership. In each instance, we've attempted to put ourselves in the shoes of those we serve and adjust accordingly. Not surprisingly, we have had mixed results with this approach, for no matter how hard we try, we are far more likely to be biased toward our perspective than we are toward that of our clients.

As we look to scale, however, we realize that one of the biggest challenges will be customer acquisition; our competitors have branches in every low-income neighborhood in the state and boast significant marketing budgets. To put predatory companies out of business, then, we must have an effective and cost-effective marketing strategy. To that end, we recently partnered with Professor Joe Stasio, a marketing professor at Merrimack College, to develop just such a strategy. And the first thing he recommended we do? Listen to our clients.