In Context - William Mills Newsletter

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News and advice

May 27, 2009

IN THIS ISSUE:

A Twitter Study....and a Few Surprises

The Forgotten Market Segment

First Study of the Banking Twittersphere Provides Surprising Findings

By Scott Mills, APR, president of WMA

In the world of new technologies, there is always a “next big thing” that seems to dominate discussion of how technology will impact our personal and business lives on a daily basis.   Most recently, new media application, Twitter (which enables users to post 140-character “Tweets” detailing their daily activities) has found itself in the spotlight.

What is undisputable is that thousands of individuals and businesses have embraced Twitter by, at the very least, registering a page on the site.   WMA has its own site and posts updates daily (we currently have about 160 followers, made up of other PR/marketing professionals, banks, credit unions, media, analysts and assorted others).

We know from first-hand experience that the media are using the site and there have been some well documented interviews conducted over Twitter.   Much was made about the recent CNN/Ashton Kutcher competition to reach one million followers (which Kutcher achieved first) and it is relatively easy to find stories about Twitter usage among celebrities and professional athletes.

Read the entire article While Twitter usage among the entertainment industry has been well documented, what we found recently is that there has been very little attention given to the potential practical business applications of the service, and virtually no quantitative data was available regarding how banks and credit unions, in particular, are actually using this social media tool.

So, we decided to get the ball rolling and conducted a survey of our own – specifically, we wanted to get an idea of whether financial institutions were using Twitter and if so, how were they using it?   We tracked 1,176 tweets created by 63 financial during the period of March 1 to 30, 2009 and learned some interesting things.

For example, community banks and credit unions, in particular, tend to be ahead of the curve in utilizing Twitter to share news and information to consumers and to solve banking issues when needed. There are very distinct “Twitter personas” that are evident in how institutions communicate through Twitter and there are marked differences in terms of average number of Tweets by national banks, regional banks, community banks and credit unions.

With our study, we hope to provide, at the very least, a benchmark of financial institutions use of Twitter and a detailed snapshot into the types of interactions that are occurring between these institutions and their customers, partners, communities, etc.

I hope you will take the time to see what we discovered and share your thoughts about the data. Our study is available for free download here.

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Industry Events

WMA will be supporting clients at these upcoming industry events:

CUES Annual Convention
June 21-24
Montreal

TAWPI 2008 Forum & Expo
August 2-5
Washington, D.C.

See our full industry events calendar at williammills.com

The Forgotten Market Segment

Jerry Goldstein, vice president of WMA

Your existing clients may be the key to selling your way out of the down market.

When developing an annual marketing budget, it is not unusual for organizations to allocate dollars to specific market segments. What is unusual is the commitment of resources and programs to market to existing clients. In today’s tough economic climate, when marketing budgets are getting reduced across the board, placing a priority on taking care of your existing clients should represent your number one marketing priority.

Your existing clients have already undergone a decision making process for at least one of your company’s products and services. They already have looked under the covers at your organization, and you have come out on top in an evaluation. But oftentimes, we fail to commit the resources to continue to market to our best prospects, assuming that they will automatically sign-up when they need a related solution.

Contrary to what we would like to believe, your clients do not follow every new product or change that occurs within your organization. Clients need to be educated, courted and sold, just like any other prospect. The good news – they already know and have a positive opinion about your company and have a vested interest in the relationship.

The majority of marketing dollars are consumed by programs designed to create general awareness and knowledge of your company within the vast universe of potential customers. You can create targeted marketing programs focused on existing clients on a much smaller budget, and these types of programs typically will yield highly measurable and profitable results.

Among the tactics you should consider are:

Make sure the client information in your CRM system is up-to-date.

Marketing programs, including mailings and inside sales programs, for additional services, support and educational offerings for your existing products.

Promotions that yield benefits for clients and their existing products, but also yield discounts or incentives for acquiring add-ons or complementary products/services.

Product advisory meetings and user conferences and custom social media networks that reinforce your commitment to customer satisfaction, allow for client interaction and provide venues for promoting your organization.

On-going communications vehicles including e-mailing of all company news and newsletters and webinars that present the full breadth of your company’s capabilities to clients.

Your business was built by delivering superior products and customer service. The companies that will survive these tough economic conditions will be those that place a priority on serving and marketing to their clients. Promoting services and add-on products will yield revenues for your company while enhancing client satisfaction. You will also experience an increase in market share as we move into growth periods following this slowdown. Your clients will remember the companies that supported them during the tough times.

While budget dollars might be tight, you can’t afford not to invest in marketing to your clients. Just choose your investments wisely and emphasize programs to your most important market segment – your existing clients.

Regards,

Jerry Goldstein
678-781-7214
jerry@williammills.com

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