Helping a large bank market to Small Business.
Bank Case Study Presented by:
Market Directions
A New Business Venture for Local Businesses Citibank and other organizations that wanted to cater to SMB’s and Home Based Businesses needed to get the word out that hey were business friendly and more importantly small and really small business friendly-- they hired Market Directions to get the job done!
Executive Summary How do multi national giants like Citibank attract and retain small businesses? --- Market Directions was up to the challenge.
Rochester, NY Citibank and Citi businesses customers formed an organization whose mission was to acquire new and profitable small business accounts. They hired Market Directions to do a survey of small and home based business, publish and publicize the results, create buzz, a marketing plan and attract new business. It worked!
Challenges Local Citibank branches and their large customers were perceived in the community as not being business friendly to small and local companies.
Xerox, a multi-national furniture store and an office supply chain. The challenge was to get small businesses to see that theses large organizations
They had an image problem with this sector and yet they wanted to enter the $Billion plus market and help small businesses with their unique needs. Members of the Citi Association formed included
understood their operations and their pain points and welcomed them as customers. Additionally, the Citi organization needed to identify and learn about small businesses in the community.
Mary M Malaszek, Market Directions
CASE STUDY
Strategy Developed Citi and its member businesses hired Market Directions to conduct a survey of small and home based businesses. The strategy for this tactic was that the survey would help Citibank understand these businesses while providing a platform for introducing Citi to small businesses in the community.
Tactics Deployed Market Directions did due diligence in researching the local and national small business market along with projections for growth. Once the market was understood a survey was deployed and distributed. The survey was distributed under Market Directions’ brand as MD is a small businesses and acceptance would be greater. A local list was compiled, the survey was distributed by mail, phone and email. The results were over a 30% response rate. Once the results were compiled they were announced via a press conference, arranged by Market Directions at an actual Home Based Business. The local press showed up both print and television. An announcement about Citibank’s, Xerox’s, and the other large business small business offerings were also made at the press conference. Local businesses were also invited to the conference--- it was a huge success.
Results, and Future Plans
A press conference at a home based business, where people could see first hand that large organizations we out at someone’s home was a powerful visual.
The results was not only more business for some of the Citibank branches but also more business for the other members. Additionally, from those who responded to the survey, Xerox contacted many businesses to put together a small business advisory board that helped them design and develop tools for small businesses. Furthermore, a perk for Market Directions was that the survey gained national attention and was presented at the Conference of Allied Academics, Inc. Allied Academies, Inc. is an academic emporium composed of the International Academy for Case Studies, Academy of Entrepreneurship, Academy of Managerial Communications, Academy of Market Studies and the Academy of Strategic and Organizational Leadership.
About Market Directions Market Directions is a full service custom market research firm that helps companies to identify and clarify distinct marketplace opportunities. by asking the right questions and analyzing the answers, our unique, hands-on methodology enables CFOs, as well as senior marketing and sales executives, to significantly increase sales and gain measurable competitive advantage. Today, Market Directions has joined the Modern Marketing Consortium which expands its offers to the digital world where we have the support of other firms to become a full service digital marketing firm when required by our clients.
Contact Us: Market Directions Mary M Malaszek Boston 617-323-1862 www.marektdirectionsmr.com
Mary M Malaszek, Market Directions
CASE STUDY