To help us both ensure there's a strong match, we'd like to invite you to complete a take-home assignment. This is your chance to showcase your skills and give us a peek into how you tackle problems. We're excited to see what you come up with!

Guidelines:

1. The assignment shouldn't take more than 2 hours. We value your time, so please try to stick to this.
2. Do the assignment whenever and wherever works best for you.
3. Please complete the assignment before Monday (5/27) evening. If you need more time, just give me a shout and we'll sort it out.

Ready to dive in? Scroll down and get started. We can't wait to see how you approach this fun little challenge! If you have any questions along the way, just email @Steve Albarran. We’re happy to help!

Assignment Overview

1. Part 1: Technical Reading & Writing Assignment (45 min)
2. Part 2: Marketing Case Study (75 mins)

Part 1: Technical Reading & Writing Assignment (45 min)

Objective: Showcase reading comprehension, attention to detail, and skills in clear communication of complex information.

Time: 45 minutes

[https://confidentcannabis.typeform.com/to/jtfg7VsI#assignment_type=Simple Technical Writing](https://confidentcannabis.typeform.com/to/jtfg7VsI#assignment_type=Simple Technical Writing)

Part 2: Marketing Case Study (75 mins)

Objective: Using the fictional scenario below, we invite you to show us how you think about marketing a technical B2B software product to a small total addressable market of potential buyers.

Time: 75 minutes

<aside> ℹ️ Approach & Reasoning over Solutions We are mostly interested in seeing “how” your plan solves the businesses’ objectives and “why” you chose those solutions. We are less interested in “what” you recommend, since we wouldn't know if your suggested tactics are right or wrong for this fictional company.

</aside>

<aside> ℹ️ Substance over Form We care about “substance” much more than “form”. Please don't feel compelled to spend a lot of time formatting a beautiful presentation. We would score a thoughtful list of clear and concise bullet points equal to a beautiful 50-page slide show with the same content. However, if graphic designs are part of your answer, we would take aesthetics into account when evaluating the designs themselves (not the surrounding presentation).

</aside>

Assignment Brief

The Company

Credit Union Compliance (”CCC”) is a specialized compliance workflow automation tool for credit unions with over $1.5 billion of assets. CCC is the leader in this vertical, serving 55% of large credit unions in the US.

CCC’s Target Market

There are ~300 of credit unions in the US with over $1.5 billion of assets (source). Given CCC’s leadership position among its target market, most targets know of CCC, but many targets either hold incorrect assumptions about CCC or do not fully understand what CCC can do for them.

Problems Addressed by CCC

Large credit unions often face challenges in automating their compliance workflows due to the complexity of federal and state Know Your Customer (KYC) and other FinCEN requirements that differ from those imposed on federally-chartered banks of the same size. Additionally, large credit unions typically have specific requirements that are not always addressed by other software automation tools geared towards smaller credit unions. Credit unions may also struggle with integrating new software into existing systems, ensuring data accuracy, and managing compliance with industry regulations. This can lead to inefficiencies, errors, and compliance risks.

Solutions Offered by CCC

CCC offers purpose-built software specialized to address the needs of large credit unions, including a complete suite of CRM and compliance tools to manage the entire lifecycle of potential and existing customers, along with related reporting and documentation automation to assist with compliance across several branches and teams. CCC also integrates with various government reporting tools and other common business applications, such as ERP systems (NetSuite, MS Dynamics, Sage, etc) and MS Office.

CCC Pricing

CCC’s software is offered on an annual subscription basis, with the annual fee determined by the number of active customers the credit unions manage in their system and the bundles of features the credit union chooses to use. The average revenue per account per year is $50,000, but varies from $20,000 per year to $100,000 per year. This price is roughly 30-50% higher than the solutions offered by competitors that offer software to smaller credit unions or federally chartered banks.

Your Assignment: Marketing Strategy Proposal

Develop a marketing strategy to partner with sales to increase CCC’s market share within their target market. You will be asked to present your strategy to senior management at CCC.

Consider the following constraints and conditions:

• Main Problem to Solve: CCC is the market leader but faces competition from more generic, industry-agnostic, and cheaper compliance and CRM tools.
• Customer Segments:
  • Current Customers
  • Past Customers
  • Competitors' Customers
  • New Credit Union Targets
• Resources: The company is small, with 30 employees across Sales, Service, and Product teams. You are the only member of the Marketing team. Freelancers can be hired for specific tasks such as SEO, graphic design, and copywriting.
• Budget: Fixed budget, focusing on cost-effective strategies.
• Timeline: You may phase your strategy and tactics over the next 2 years, but CCC’s leadership team expects to see measurable results after the first 90 days, each subsequent quarter, and sustainable long-term results over the next 2-3 years.
• Product Constraints: The strategy should not interfere with CCC’s existing customer workflows or data integrity.
• Audience Diversity: The solution must effectively engage and resonate with the ICPs at large credit unions, including their management, compliance, and service team members who would use the software, regardless of technical expertise.

The marketing strategy can be presented in any format you like, and include any sections you deem relevant, however management specifically requested that you address the following:

• Overarching goals and objectives of the strategy
• Expected key results at various stages
• Tactics to be implemented and rationale for each, including
  • Launch communications (internal and external)
  • Messaging across various channels
  • Performance measurement / KPIs
• Timeline of implementation
• Resources required (external and internal, budget)
• Campaign execution plan describing how you’ll coordinate resources from prep, launch, maintenance, measurement, and iteration
• Areas for further research or open questions

Submit Your Presentation

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