www.slfc.com
Student Loan Finance Corporation (SLFC) is a South Dakota-based provider of education lending solutions. With customers from Maine to California, they are responsible for marketing to a variety of audiences in every part of the continental United States.
They needed enhanced communications to move from a regional to a national stage.
Managers at SLFC were developing and launching a new brand, and faced multiple—and very diverse—customer demographics. The new brand's marketing strategy, as well as each component, had to be designed and built in its entirety. And competitive pressures were becoming increasingly demanding. Since our principals have extensive knowledge of financial services, we were the perfect agency fit.
Bravo Zulu not only gave them the strategy they needed to set challenging—yet achievable—goals, but also the tactical support they needed to drive their strategy home. Drafting their marketing strategy entailed a facilitated meeting with SLFC’s board and management.
Upon engagement, we created a comprehensive strategy, including: a communications plan, audience and market analysis, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, goals, messaging, positioning, partnership opportunities, competitive analysis and specific plans for each supporting component.
A list of project deliverables was identified including:
- Advertising
- Print collateral
- Interactive CD’s
- Customer events
- Trade shows
- Direct Mail
- Website
- Point of Purchase Material
- Magazine Articles
- Customer Marketing Material
- Press Releases
The plan—and each component therein —was an undeniable success. The diverse expertise of our staff and management allowed SLFC to gain efficiencies of scale from each project, sharing resources, knowledge and processes. Their new brand drew not only attention, but also customers and revenue.
Some of our recommendations were bold, choosing creative directions not normally associated with the conservative financial services market. And it paid off.
In the end, our plan generated 300% of SLFC’s original stated goals.
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