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86
Education (continued)
Marketing 101
The brand less traveled
By Nancy Drexler
SignaPay Ltd.
I
have
a (relatively) new job. I'm responsible for
marketing a (not quite) 2-year-old ISO. That means
I need to make a new kid on a very crowded block
stand out. Considering that every ISO does pretty
much the same thing in the same way for the same market,
my task is a bit daunting. How do I help my new
company compete and grow?
Day one on the job: I have experience in this field, so I'm
expected to hit the ground running. I am handed a small
folder of the company's marketing materials. It takes me
all of two minutes to review. So I start with the basics.
In our world, we have two primary target audiences:
the reseller and the end user. The reseller market
comprises many submarkets from ISOs to associations
to banks to chambers of commerce – and everything in
between. Each submarket is best reached in a unique way;
each needs a separate set of communications to address
its distinct expectations.
Reaching the feet on the street
The ISO and merchant level salesperson (MLS)
market used to consist largely of hungry 20- and 30-
somethings willing to jump ship for a few basis points.
You could enter the market with a good ad in The
Green Sheet and expect to get 50 calls the first month. It
was easy.
That is no longer the case. Pass-through price wars, signing
bonuses and six-digit incentives have altered the playing
field. Acquirers who can't afford to compete in this
money-driven battle, turn instead to the two other things
they know how to promise: products and service.
However, unless you've won awards for service or have
a convincing list of customer testimonials, a promise to
deliver good service is nothing more than that: a promise.
And most feet on the street won't believe unsubstantiated
claims. As for product, the last great door-opening
product I can remember was the cash advance. Since then,
I haven't come across one that is compelling enough to
make an ISO or MLS switch processors.
So how do you win new business? Here are some tips:
• It's not what you know; it's who you know. Let
everyone know who you are and why you think
they should join you.
• Stay active in social and trade groups – local and
nationwide. Use the increasingly popular and influential
social networking options on the Web, for
example, LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) and Meetup
(www.meetup.com). Again, let everyone know you are
eager to attract new business.
• Create a referral incentive program. Then promote
it. Offer it to your current customers first; then
announce it to everyone else.
• Use the trade publications. The nice thing about
working in a narrow market like the payments
industry is that there are only a handful of opinion
shapers. Introduce yourself to them. Volunteer your
services. Send articles and news releases. Create an
ad campaign that stands out.
• Remember your brand. You can keep throwing
new ideas (ads, direct mail, promises) out there and
seeing what sticks, but every time you take a new
turn, you leave the old road behind, and you make
it easier for your audience to forget where you've
been. Each marketing investment should contribute
to the overall image of who and what you are.
• Find the hole and fill it. There must be a need you
can fill better than anyone else or one that no one
else has noticed.
What is your brand? Who are you, and what do you bring
to the table that is new, different, or better? Answering
these questions is your greatest challenge. Take an
informed look at what is going on in your industry.
You need to walk in the shoes of those who comprise your
target market. You need to ask yourself, If I were doing
their jobs, what would I be looking for?
When I started at Cynergy Data, we felt that sales offices
and merchants were tired of jumping from acquirer to
acquirer. We decided our brand would be based on our
being the ISO you never wanted to leave. We created the
tagline "Make your next acquirer your last acquirer."
We supported the brand with products and services that
would reinforce the promise that everything you need
could be found in one place – our place. It worked.
Identifying the brand
So, back to my job at SignaPay, a new boutique ISO in
Texas: Seeking direction, I immerse myself in the lives of
feet-on-the-street prospects. What can I offer them that
will be appealing? How can I make the name SignaPay
stand out and be recognized?