Marketing Strategy for McBride Financial Services

Abstract

This paper will describe a marketing plan for McBride Financial services that will address each of the company's critical success factors that pertain to marketing. The research methods that were used to create this marketing plan and the target market will be discussed as well as the media that will be used to reach the target market. The plan to expand to offer services to other markets will be explored as well as considerations that will have to be taken into account to market to each of these target markets on the web.

Marketing Strategy for McBride Financial Services

McBride Financial Services is a mortgage lender whose specialties are FHA and VA loans for new home purchases as well as refinancing. There are currently five locations. These five locations are in Idaho, Wyoming, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Montana. The corporate office is in Idaho. The company's mission is to provide low cost mortgage services. The company's critical success factors are:

* An efficient, easy to use (front end and back end) Web site for the application and processing of mortgage applications.

* An upscale and friendly physical and virtual environment.

* Focused marketing.

* Professional associate brokers located at carefully selected offices leased in the following cities:

* Cheyenne & Jackson, Wyoming

* Billings, Montana

* Bismarck & Fargo, North Dakota

* Rapid City & Sioux Falls, South Dakota

* Boise, Idaho (Main Office)

How do we accomplish through marketing these initiatives? We take advantage of the conveniences that are offered to the customer through the first success factor. The first success factor is an easy in and easy out option. It is fast as well as efficient. Why is it easy in? It is easy in because the customer can fill out their application online. It is also efficient because any errors are addressed at the time that they are made and this produces more complete applications. Since this is all done through a website, the application processing is also done through application which makes a shorter turnaround time and faster approval.

The most important research that can be done when attempting to market a business is to determine who the competition is and what they are offering. Once this is established the company has to offer something comparable or better. What the competition does not offer is also a factor. McBride Financial Services attempts to stand out among other mortgage lenders by offering one price services. This is a good angle for marketing strategy. The customer knows what to expect and most fees are charged separately by most mortgage companies.

Which of McBride's target audience would benefit most from the convenience of an online application process? Our greatest resource is our staff. We should first interview the staff to see how many customers they have that the majority of their business is transacted via any electronic means. This is how we determine what our focus group should be. In the case of McBride Financial Services, there are 3 target audiences that the company wants to reach. These three targets are professionals looking to buy their primary home or a secondary one, families and or individuals purchasing recreational properties, and retirees purchasing primary or secondary homes.

Our first focus group would be Professionals. Professionals do not have time to visit any of the 5 offices to fill out stacks of paperwork to buy a primary home or an additional one. The convenience of being able to submit an application online, get an approval online as well as e-sign important documents in a secure environment on line is very attractive to professionals. The next question is how we reach this audience. Professionals travel quite frequently. Placing advertisements in the Sky Mall magazines is one way. This not only will reach our focus group in the five areas where there are currently offices but also other areas of the United States because Sky Mall magazines are distributed on through airlines that go to every major city. This can also begin our expansion into other areas of the United States. Families looking to purchase recreational properties can benefit from advertisement in Sky Mall magazine as well. Most families that would purchase a recreational home are those that take regular family vacations. When they choose to fly to their destination, Sky Mall magazine will be on the plan promoting easy in easy out recreational home mortgages. This is also a great time to catch this audience because they are on vacation and most likely thinking about where and how the family will spend recreational time together next time. The Sky Mall advertisement will help them make that decision. The convenience of online processing is attractive to this target group also because they want to spend less time doing business and spend more quality time with the family. The easier and the faster the process, the more time they have for fun.

Advertisement through email providers is also an option since professionals are tied to their desk on many occasions and their preferred mode of communication is email. Even though our family target audience is not tied to their computer as much as the professional target group, new age family does use email as a form of communication. It is almost impossible to find a household that does not have at least one member with an email address.

Improvements in the company Internet website is also an option. Updating it to try to be at the top of some of the more popular search engines is a great way to reach Professionals as well as families looking to buy recreational homes. Both tend to do lots of online shopping. Much of this shopping is done