When everyone else is pulling back, that's the time to have a crack. So said Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond. Even as the GFC hit, the firm came through and this June will post record growth for the fifth straight year.
Marketers should grab the opportunities in tough times, he told delegates at the Media Sales Summit this week. That's when it is easiest to stand out from the crowd. Trouble is your friend.
Trust your gut and good things will follow, Symond advised. Prior to the crisis, Aussie had pulled away from its 'We'll save you' tagline to try and attract more than the 'battler' market. Symond had stopped fronting campaigns. The wheels hadn't come off but they were spinning.
"I'd dropped the spruiking. My gut was I should get out on the front foot again and try to reintroduce emotive marketing. So we went out with the 'It's smart to ask' campaign, and it just took off. Leads went up 40% in first three months and 27% over the year."
Use of digital was paramount, he said, and the firm followed that tack with an 'Aussie ask online' campaign. Some 80,000 people did ask, and the firm answered 750 unique questions.
"That just took off. It was really successful. And that was during the GFC. So I say to people: If you want to differentiate yourself, if you want to pluck good people, seize opportunities, don't wait for things to go gangbusters. We're in troubled times, storms are brewing and the world is a very spooky place. I say game on. Because most people are in the trenches.
"We went for it. And on 30 June this year, we are heading for our fifth straight record year of growth. Fifth straight record year in volumes, fifth straight record year in bottom line."
There is no secret recipe, he said, only to keep things simple, understand the customer, give them what they want and evolve with them to "build a team". And to evolve with the marketing landscape is equally crucial.
"The media landscape will continue to change. Today's solution may at some stage be tomorrow's problem."
The Summit also marked the launch of the AdNews Media Benchmark Study, conducted by Roy Morgan, which surveyed almost 1,300 respondents across media sales, agencies, marketing and PR. Want to find out what they think? You can buy it from Roy Morgan's Online Store.
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