CFMP key terms

A written document that summarizes the market situation, states measurable marketing objectives, and specifies the strategies, tactics, budget, responsibilities, and timeline a financial institution will follow to reach chosen customers.

A structured review of internal strengths and weaknesses plus external opportunities and threats, such as economic conditions, competitors, and regulation, that provides the factual basis for marketing strategy.

Dividing a broad market into smaller groups of customers who share similar needs, behaviors, demographics, or financial goals, so that products and messages can be tailored to each group.

The specific customer group an institution chooses to serve and toward which it directs its products, messages, and marketing resources, usually selected after comparing segment attractiveness with institutional capability.

The place a brand or product occupies in customers' minds relative to competing alternatives, built from the attributes, benefits, and associations the marketer consistently emphasizes in every message.

A concise statement of the concrete benefits and reasons a customer should choose a particular product or institution instead of the alternatives, usually combining price, convenience, service, and expertise.

The set of controllable elements a marketer combines to execute strategy: product, price, place, and promotion, plus people, process, and physical evidence in service businesses such as banking.

The estimated total profit a customer generates over the whole relationship, used to judge how much the institution can reasonably spend to acquire and retain that customer.

Data collected first-hand for a specific marketing question through surveys, interviews, observation, or testing, rather than obtained from sources that already exist.

Analysis of information already gathered by someone else, such as government statistics, trade reports, competitor filings, or the institution's own account and transaction records.

Exploratory methods such as focus groups and depth interviews that probe attitudes, language, and motivations in detail but produce findings that are not statistically projectable to a population.

Structured research producing numeric data from sizable samples, such as closed-ended surveys or tracked behavioral data, so results can be measured, compared, and projected to a population.

A subset of a population chosen so that its characteristics mirror the whole group, allowing researchers to draw conclusions about all customers from the responses of a few.

A research-based profile of a typical customer in a segment, describing goals, financial situation, behaviors, and frustrations, used to guide messaging, offers, and channel choices.

A visual timeline of every step and touchpoint a customer experiences from first awareness through purchase and ongoing use, used to spot friction, gaps, and moments that shape loyalty.

A loyalty measure calculated from a survey question about likelihood to recommend, subtracting the percentage of detractors from promoters to yield a score from -100 to 100.

Using trained evaluators who pose as customers to observe service quality, sales conversations, and whether staff follow required disclosure and fair-practice rules.

The sequence of stages a product passes through, typically introduction, growth, maturity, and decline, each requiring different choices about pricing, promotion, and distribution.

Packaging two or more products or services, such as a checking account with a credit card and safe deposit box, and marketing them as a combined offer, often at an attractive total price.

Setting an unusually low introductory price, rate, or fee to attract customers quickly and build share, with the intention of moving to normal levels once volume is established.

Setting rates and fees according to the total depth of a customer's business with the institution, so customers with more accounts or balances receive better terms than single-product customers.

The route through which a product reaches customers, such as branches, call centers, websites, mobile apps, ATMs, or third parties like mortgage brokers and insurance agents.

Encouraging an existing customer to add additional products or services, usually by identifying needs revealed through the relationship and offering a relevant solution rather than a generic pitch.

Total marketing and sales spending for a period divided by the number of new customers won in that period, indicating how much the institution pays to gain each customer.

Coordinating advertising, public relations, direct response, digital, and sales promotion so that every channel and touchpoint delivers the same consistent message and brand impression.

The combination of communication channels and specific vehicles selected for a campaign, together with the portion of budget assigned to each, chosen to reach the target audience efficiently.

Reach is the count of distinct people exposed to a message during a period; frequency is the average number of exposures per person. Together they indicate the weight of a schedule.

The extra value a recognized brand name carries, such as trust, familiarity, and preference, which can let an institution attract customers more easily or support better pricing.

Creating and distributing genuinely useful material, such as articles, calculators, and guides, to attract prospects and build credibility instead of leading with a sales pitch.

Improving a website's content, structure, and technical performance so that it appears higher in unpaid search results for terms the target audience is searching.

The percentage of people exposed to an offer or page who complete the desired action, such as opening an account, submitting an application, or clicking a link.

Unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices; the legal standard regulators apply to advertising claims, fee presentation, and disclosures for consumer financial products, regardless of intent.

The Truth in Savings rule requiring depositories to disclose fees, interest rates, annual percentage yield, and account terms, and to follow specific advertising rules when rates are stated.

A federal law governing commercial email that requires accurate headers and subject lines, identification of advertising content, a physical address, and a working way for recipients to opt out.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which limits automated and prerecorded calls and text messages to mobile phones and generally requires prior express consent for marketing contact.

Two consent models: opt-in means marketing contact begins only after the person affirmatively agrees, while opt-out allows contact to continue until the person asks to stop.

The profit generated by a campaign minus its cost, divided by that cost and usually expressed as a percentage or ratio, showing whether the marketing spend paid for itself.

A measurable value tied directly to a marketing objective, such as cost per funded loan, account growth, or share of wallet, that shows whether activity is producing the intended result.

Showing two versions of an ad, email, or web page to randomly split audience groups and comparing results on a chosen metric to determine which version performs better.