As an extension of your marketing department, We help you navigate the road to better results.
DEPOSIT ACCOUNT ACQUISITION
Grow your Retail Market Share
DIGITAL MARKETING SOLUTIONS
Maximize your Marketing Mix
CONSUMER NOTIFICATION MAILINGS
Protect your Overdraft Fee Income
ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
Manage your Digital Word-of-Mouth
Who We Serve
A bright idea is only as brilliant as it is executable.
Many marketing companies have great ideas, but the difference with Stellar Strategic Group is that we know the way to execute strategies that drive results. It’s all about your goals, your objectives and your resources. We want to make it
as easy as possible to reach your goals, to use our knowledge to assist in shaping the strategies that will help you prosper and within a budget that produces the best ROI on your investment. Let Stellar Strategic Group become an extension
of your marketing department to help you navigate the road to better results.
To understand our client needs better, Stellar Strategic Group commissioned an independent research firm, Brand Cool Marketing of Rochester, New York, to discover what our clients had to say about our company, our services, and our people.
Here is what we found out:
“They’re smart. Intuitive. They don’t overcomplicate it. This is how to get the results you want. Very straightforward.”
“They follow through. I can’t remember a situation where we had a miscommunication. Often, when you’re working with a third party, things get delayed or not taken care of, but not in Stellar Strategic Group’s case.”
“They’re super. A fantastic bunch to work with. I recommend them highly. Not locally, but outside this area. I’d be cutting my own throat [to recommend them to a local competitor].”
“If you’re looking for a way to cut your involvement in design and implementation and trying to gather the expertise of someone who does this all the time, they’d be a good source to turn to.”
“They’re going to meet your deadlines. They’ll think of things you haven’t thought of yet. They’re going to understand your goals. They know your pain. They know what keeps you up at night. Half of working with an outsider usually involves
getting them up to speed on these things. Stellar knows you’re short staffed and they become an extension [of your operation].”
“For a community bank, they are a great ally. They can take care of some of the marketing that a one- or two-person department can’t keep up with. It’s a good partnership.”
To speak with one of our current references, please contact Stellar Strategic Group today at info@stellarstrategic.com.
Community Banks
n.noun
1. An institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding money and, in some cases, issuing notes and transacting other financial business.
Credit Unions
n.noun
1. Member-owned organizations that serve their members by providing deposit services, loans and other financial products and services.
Financial Institutions
n.noun
1. An institution that provides financial services for its clients or members.
About US
A Few Words from our Managing Partner
Our Beginning
In 2000, I had a vision of applying what I had developed in the newspaper industry to acquire new customers and duplicate it in the banking industry. Never did I envision we would have been fortunate enough to have worked with over
1,500 institutions since that time and achieved a 98.5% satisfaction rate.
Relationships
Achieving strong, long-lasting relationships with our clients is a top priority for Stellar Strategic. Simply stated, we continually evolve our product line to meet the ever changing market demands our clients face. Plus, we work to
deliver the projected ROI promised, and treat your budget as if it’s our own. The bottom line is that we care about each of our clients and it shows in how we partner with you to achieve your goals every step of the way.
Market Growth
Today we offer a suite of products that do one thing extremely well. That one thing is helping our clients grow retail market share at a pace that exceeds that of their competitors. If you have an interest in working with a company
that successfully combines traditional marketing approaches with the ever-changing digital marketing revolution, Stellar Strategic Group can help.
Partnership
If you appreciate working with a partner as opposed to a vendor, Stellar Strategic Group is definitely that company. I treat every client relationship the way I appreciated being treated when I was on your side of the table. You’re
the boss! Let’s discuss how we may be able to assist you in substantially increasing your market share.
With Stellar Strategic Group a bright idea is only as brilliant as it is executable. Stellar Strategic's difference is we know how to execute strategies that drive results.
Corporate Office Address: 60 West Street Suite 215 Annapolis, MD 21401
1-866-347-5632
DEPOSIT ACCOUNT ACQUISITION
Grow your Retail Market Share
Trends have definitely shifted in regard to deposit acquisition strategies. Years ago, a Free Checking and Free Gift approach was very successful at driving high response rates and capturing new business. As free checking
became the standard at most financial institutions, response rates and ROI diminished over time as the focus was no longer on Free Checking but instead on who offered the best incentive.
Many banks started to offer large cash or other high-value incentives for opening a checking account. Many consumers simply went through the process of opening an account primarily for the incentive itself, with no intention of utilizing
the account. Stellar Strategic Group recommended a different strategy, one that offered an incentive that would attract the right consumer. Namely, one who was actually interested in switching their primary checking account. Our clients
are able to garner new market share during this time while keeping acquisition costs and attrition levels much lower than the banks that offered high-value incentives.
Based on the sizable changes that have taken place in the financial industry over the last several years, we are now witnessing a return to an acquisition approach that is more focused on targeting vulnerable competitors in a given market.
It was estimated that 16% to 26% of banking consumers were in transition annually over the last couple of decades.
Today, we are seeing even higher transition rates as free checking disappears at many banks and new restrictions are introduced causing negative publicity to rise in the news regarding a number of the national banks.
The previous few years have proven to generate the highest response rate in terms of account openings for our clients. Given plans in place by national banks to reduce their branch footprint in the near future, we see this opportunity
existing throughout 2016 and beyond.
Our Deposit Directsm program has been an effective long-term retail strategy focused on generating new accounts, new households, core deposits, and enhanced revenue streams.
Our focus is to fuse traditional direct marketing approaches with digital marketing capabilities and enhanced data analytics to accelerate retail market share growth - resulting in new account opening increases of 50% to 150%.
With Deposit Directsm, your institution is able to communicate directly with consumers as to why your community-based bank or credit union is better for their needs than
a large regional or national bank. With the combination of direct mail and digital marketing, we can reach a more targeted audience with compelling offers that generate better results. As a turn-key direct marketing program, Deposit
Direct
sm incorporates the following into a program designed around your budget:
Digital Marketing: IP Targeting, Geo-Targeting and Retargeting NEW
Consumer and Competitor Targeting Analysis
New Household Trending
Attrition Monitoring
Compelling Offer Development
Targeting Strategies for Millennials and Women
Customized Direct Mail Production
Branch Collateral Production
Front-Line Sales Training
Mystery Shopping
Campaign Results Reporting
Comprehensive On-Going Analytics
Stellar Strategic Group has worked almost exclusively with financial institutions since 2000, and we have gained the insights to help your marketing department analyze critical elements outside of our standard reporting options. If your
institution would like additional reporting and/or analysis options we can customize a data solution to meet your needs.
DIGITAL MARKETING SOLUTIONS
Maximize your Marketing Mix
Stellar Strategic Group is committed to helping financial institutions grow retail market share. In today’s world, digital marketing plays a pivotal role in reaching online consumers as they are looking to make a purchasing decision. With
our digital marketing solutions, we can help your financial institution grow retail market share through our online advertising network.
Our online network spans thousands of national and local websites (including Facebook, Google, CNN, YouTube, FOX) but your message will appear only in the geographic areas that you want to target. Consumers will be able to view your ads
on smart phones, desktops, laptops, tablets and gaming devices. We will design a customized digital marketing program to reach the right prospects within your digital marketing and advertising budget.
Many digital marketing companies will sell ads anywhere on a web page, but we only place ads above the fold-line, which ensures the most visibility for your online ads. On a web page, above the fold-line refers to the top of the
page, without the need to scroll down. Ads placed under the fold-line drop in visibility by 84% (according to a study conducted by the Nelson Norman Group, February 2015). The right ad placement will have a large impact on the
success of your online digital marketing campaign.
Digital marketing clearly speaks to and engages with the Millennial market, however, over 60% of all age groups have clicked on a financial ad via their tablet or smart phone (The Financial Brand, 2014). In this day and age, it is increasingly
important to maximize your digital marketing reach to ensure you are engaging consumers in all possible marketing channels, including both traditional (direct mail campaigns) and digital marketing channels.
Stellar Strategic can help your institution determine a successful digital marketing strategy incorporating one or more of the following capabilities:
IP Targeting
IP Targeting focuses down to the household level. We can match IP Addresses to any database of names and physical addresses. Your ad will only be viewed by devices attached to that physical address. Think of it as direct mail for
the internet as we can target specific addresses.
Geo-Fencing and Geo-Targeting
Geo-fencing displays your ad to selected geographic areas (on the zip code level or a set radius around each of your locations). Geo-targeting allows us to pinpoint certain online behaviors or key word searches to ensure the right
message is displayed to the best prospects in your selected market.
Facebook and Instagram Targeting (Social Media Marketing)
Reach potential prospects on Facebook and Instagram in their News Feed with your display or video ads based on demographics, interests, behaviors, or your list of email addresses or phone numbers. This is a great way to specifically
reach the Millennial market, an existing account holder or model existing account holders to find similar prospects.
Mobile Conquesting
Location based targeting is combined with demographic and behavioral targeting to reach consumers with display ads on their mobile devices. Capture auto loans or target competitor locations with this approach.
Retargeting
Retargeting consumers after they leave your website is one of the most important steps to maximize your digital marketing efforts. Not all visitors will convert the first time they visit your site so it is crucial to keep your
message active on their devices. We cap the frequency so that your ads will not follow prospects excessively online.
Stellar Strategic’s Online Digital Marketing Strategies will custom fit any market(s) you wish to penetrate. Our main goal is increasing your ROI and your retail market share with our suite of digital marketing solutions. Contact us
today to learn more!
CONSUMER NOTIFICATION MAILINGS
Protect your Overdraft Fee Income
In the past few years, overdraft programs have become increasingly important to a financial institution’s bottom line, as well as a valued service to its account holders.
With regulations (such as Regulation E) greatly affecting the rules your institution must follow, now is the time to make sure that you are 100% compliant. It is increasingly more important to do everything possible to protect this important
revenue stream. Regulators have been critical, and in some cases have fined many institutions for not properly disclosing their overdraft program.
One important step in avoiding such issues is to fully disclose the specifics of the program to participants. It can be a time-consuming process to send out the required letter and disclosure to each participant, especially if this project
is done in-house. Not only are you utilizing your own limited human resources, but you may not be minimizing the costs associated with these communications.
Since 2000, Stellar Strategic Group has assisted over 1400 institutions with executing overdraft notification letter campaigns in a timely and cost-efficient manner to produce maximum results for your overdraft program.
The following three questions are addressed in our strategy to provide clients with a comprehensive solution for consumer overdraft campaigns:
Is your overdraft program properly disclosed to your account holders?
Are you achieving the most cost-effective communications by utilizing both traditional mail and electronic communications? If your institution qualifies for a combined email and mail strategy, you could save significantly on each notification
mailing.
Have you maximized ATM and debit card opt-Ins with your account base?
As the industry leader in providing this service to financial institutions you can be assured your program is compliant and cost effective. We will provide the highest level of service to your institution, to your account holders and
increase your ATM and debit card opt-in percentage. Additionally, all of our data services are executed in a highly secure, SASE 16 data center.
With the experience of having executed in excess of 5,000 of these types of campaigns you can feel confident your account holders will receive the highest level of service available while you will benefit from having a fully-disclosed
program when regulators review your internal processes.
ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
Manage your Digital Word-of-Mouth with Public Reputation
More than ever, consumers are turning to the internet to make purchasing decisions. In fact, consumer-facing businesses (including financial institutions) can drastically increase their business online by having positive reviews and the
correct contact information for all locations.
Introducing Public Reputation, an independent online reputation management service that can help your institution manage your online listings and reviews from one page.
Protect your hard-earned reputation with more great reviews and increase your loyalty and retention by resolving perceived negative experiences into positive ones before they go live. Public Reputation allows you to respond immediately
and let your consumers know you are listening.
Enhance your online listings on 60+ major search engines and GPS systems to maximize your online search engine presence and convert more leads. With the amount of people that search for locations on their cell phone or laptop before making
a purchasing decision, it's extremely important to make sure that your listings are accurate.
With a widget, email templates and monitoring and more, Public Reputation has the tools you need to build a better reputation:
Manage your Listings on 60+ partner sites - Use this dashboard to claim and update your listings on major directories from one central location.
Review Solicitation Tools - Easily get more reviews with email templates, sharing, and a custom widget for your website.
Real-time Review Monitoring - Get real-time notifications when new PR reviews come in or when your Reputation Score changes.
Review Resolution - Be proactive and respond to critical feedback before it goes live on your PR listing.
Email Marketing Tools - Reach out to customers to strengthen your brand and request reviews with a free email template.
Own Your Ad Space - Take advantage of the ad space and customizable call-to-actions to promote your latest specials or drive traffic to your site. Post your ads on your competitor's pages.
Public Reputation Badge and Widget - Place a badge of honor on your site to show everyone that you've verified your business. Get reviews right from your website.
In-Branch Feedback Generation - At point-of-sale, provide new customers with a We Value Your Opinion card to encourage feedback on their experience.
