Not only profit organization follows marketing strategy but also nonprofit organization follows marketing strategy . So , the nonprofit organizations need to divide the market into different segment , targeting one or more segment and build a strong position in the mind of target customers by delivering superior service and quality . These are the part of marketing strategy of nonprofit organizations.
To segment the consumer market of nonprofit organization’s microfinance follows –
· Geographic Segmentation (location),
· Behavioral Segmentation (User Status),
· Psychographic Segmentation (Social Class, lifestyle),
· Demographic Segmentation (Age, Gender, Income level).
Geographic Segmentation: Nonprofit organization mainly focused on rural areas that help to fulfill its objectives. Besides, It also segmented different poor parts of the world. Most of the Nonprofit organization’s Microfinance Branches are located in rural area.
Demographic Segmentation: It’s segmented its products into smaller segments to reach its targeted customers and providing specific offerings. Nonprofit organization made a large variety of microfinance products to satisfy different age groups and gender under demographic segmentation.
Psychographic Segmentation: Nonprofit organization focuses on lower middle class and lower income people. It promotes the lifestyle of sustainable financial condition. By these psychographic segments it produce exact product that fulfill the need of this type of group.
Behavioral Segmentation: Nonprofit organization made some clear segmentation over user status, usage rate and loyalty status. Therefore, It also divided readiness of its customers to help them by providing enough information.
However, Nonprofit organization has chosen some unique segments such as slum dwellers, job jobholders, Migrant households, and agricultural loans etc. which usually are not tapped by other competitors. This gives them a competitive advantage.
Targeting: Unlike others microcredit institution, Nonprofit organization has discover heterogeneity among the poor and based on that target and develop customized financial services that best meet their different needs. They have designed systems for their microfinance members to get access to and benefit from nonprofit organization’s other development interventions. Moreover, For microfinance products nonprofit organization specifically target and meet the needs of specific groups such as rural poor women, small entrepreneurs, migrant workers, youth, tenant farmers, and land owning farmers.
Differentiation & Positioning: Nonprofit organization differs from other microfinance institution in some ways. It differentiate and positioned itself from other MFI’S by adopting credit plus approach that means they provide loans to poor women in combination with various forms of skill training, non-formal primary education for children of nonprofit organization members, health care services, social development services, creating grassroots organization for poor etc. To reach diversified group of poor they applies different approaches for facilitating their access to financial resources in the form of microfinance services. Also for differentiating and positioning themselves in the consumers mind they provide additional voluntary facilities to complement credit and savings. These are:
· Micro-insurance: A unique voluntary facilities named Credit Shield Insurance. It is a complimentary service to microcredit that if a client opts into, would protect the insurer and any family member in the case of death against a fixed premium with an additional cash benefit to cover funeral costs after the death of the sole earner of the family.
· Digital financial service: A digital financial service where their microfinance clients can deposit their savings through mobile money platform Mshift, a subsidiary of Nonprofit organization . It offers a flexible, convenient and high return savings alternative for borrowers.
· Cashless Branch: For client’s living in remote islands, reverie islands (chars), wetlands (haors), and hard-to-reach areas, Nonprofit organization launched cashless branch by initiating seven fully mobile based microfinance branch offices in USA that completely eliminates cash transactions and expands access to financial services for people who would otherwise be excluded.
In comparison to other MFI’S, Nonprofit organization differentiated and positioned itself in consumers mind by providing this additional voluntary facilities to complement credit and savings and also by making different kinds of positive social impacts such as changes in continuing education, nutritional status of children, empowerment of women, changes in marital violence against women, changes in women’s fertility, credit empowerment health linkage etc.
SWOT Analysis:
| Strength Long term experience (more than 50 years) Trained workforce Designed with fully developed policies, systems & procedures Support of international donors Indiscriminate behavior No loan processing fee Strong recovery rate Strong network all over USA | Weakness Concentrating mainly on rural area High number of people have access of informal sources of finance Dealing with non-performing loans High administrative cost Financial illiteracy of the rural people |
| Opportunity Employment opportunity Huge demand and supply gap Huge untapped market Increasing number of socially responsible investors Govt. and bank support to the program | Threat High competition Frequent political changes Regulatory Constrains Loans being provided for unproductive or unfeasible projects Multiple loans to the same borrower lead to unrecovered of loans |
Nonprofit organization’s Branding
In comparison to other NGO’S in USA, Nonprofit organization brand itself such a way that, whenever someone hear the name of them, the first things comes out in their mind is the largest NGO in the world as well as in USA that confronts poverty with a holistic approach by providing financial services, health, education and social justice. It creates its brand by bringing the diverse and evolving aspects under the umbrella of a unified purpose and identity. Researchers point out that, the bigger the organization, the more the challenges and opportunities branding entails. And in USA few Non-profit organizations know it better than others Nonprofit organization. Its unique & consistent branding strategy helps it to make strong brand image in the eyes of consumers.
