I popped into DC yesterday (translation: "fought my way through nearly NYC-level traffic while trying not to run over all the joggers with iPods who don't care that the light-up hand means DON'T WALK") to have lunch with Lydia Cole and Dane Coalson, the Gen-Y Industry Analysts for Callahan, Inc. They were plenty friendly, taking time out of their day to go to a swanky little pan-asian joint a block or so away - thanks, by the way, to Cafe Asia, for terrific Pad Thai and a very funky atmosphere.
The things we talked about were mostly resume comparison - they went to different universities than I did (Dane's a Wahoo, Lydia went to Wellsley), they were different majors (Psyche and American Studies, respectively), and they went through Callahan's very involved orientation process. In that respect, they learned credit unions from the inside out and then went right into cutting them open like a biology-class frog. A gross analogy, I know, but worth noting because the two of them get credit union's concerns. They've been given a glimpse behind the curtain that very few get, and they really do know how to get that information across to readers. I'm from a much different spectrum - I didn't even know what a Credit Union was starting out. So, what did I know? I knew about the internet, I knew about where it was going, and I knew what was/wasn't working for businesses trying to cash in. Beyond that? I find out the answers when the questions come. It's a learning process for me, and it's shared by Lydia and Dane, too. They want for their stories and blogs what I want for mine - readership. And they've been getting it. I'm envious in a good way. It's strange, thinking that I've gotten to the point in my life where college is on the way out and real life is creeping on in. The work I've done, the things I've tried, what little of that handful of things has succeeded - yesterday, it hit me that all of that has become my experience. The fact that there are two other people in the world that started where I did and made their way to something important is sort of enlightening. For the record, both Lydia and Dane are considered "analysts", which is pretty big in my opinion...I'm still working on becoming the "Czar" of something, because honestly, what better title is there? But, I digress.
"You have to learn a lot about the industry," Dane said, spilling some manner of sauce on his shirt. "We can all bank on our youth as a selling point or point of interest, but better to know the industry and have plenty to say."
"That's true," said Lydia over her delicious looking fried rice platter. "I wrote an article about the recent upswing in borrowing. It's been well received." It's true - Lydia's article has, to date, received 535 reads, which is terrific. We talked about a lot of things during our all-to-brief lunch: where's the best calamari in town; who's coming out with what Webinars; how we didn't have internet for the longest time before seeing our first dial-up connection come to life; how we're all working to make Web 2.0 something that is useful to the credit union industry. But beneath all our crazy ideas and our real-life snippets, the air of dedication. The kind of dedication it takes to believe that what we're doing is helpful - to people, to the industry, to our companies, to the future and the concept of growth. If we didn't care about what we do, it wouldn't just fester beneath the surface and never show. A lack of dedication online means the whole world can see your displeasure. It's our goal to always put our best foot forward and to do unto the internet what it's done unto us: inform, inspire, enlighten, and expand.
Leaving DC yesterday taught me two outstanding lessons:
1) When planning a trip, know not only where you're going to go after you've parked, but where you're going to be parking. $14 for a decent garage and I still nearly had a coronary when I thought the valets lost my car in the lot.
2) Don't be afraid to reach out to others in the industry that can give you advice, help, and encouragement. Lydia and Dane know what it takes to reach the "youngsters" in the credit union arena. They're sharp, they're self-aware, and they're willing to show you the way. I'd be a fool to think my own experience/the information I gather is enough - I have to rely on the people who really do know the ins and outs of making this business - or any business, for that matter - work.
Which brings me to DigitalMailer, my "handlers". They've been good sports about unleashing me on the internet like some terrible hurricane because they trust my judgement. I've been through the gauntlet of the online world from a few sides now and each trip through has taught me something new and useful. I'm gaining more knowledge every day, finding new ways to pigeonhole it into my work here. In the end, I give them the best I've got and they give me a check that's worth the time it took. How do they get the money for that check?
Because they do what I do, but on a much larger scale.
DigitalMailer gives credit unions a look at their experience and their knowledge in the form of hard numbers. They've helped credit unions make millions in new loans and new members. Their systems are, quite literally, second to none in terms of dependability, speed, reach and return. There are few, if any, people that do this as well as we do. We learn more about our potential to serve all the time, and we apply that learning to the process of improving and maintaining our systems. It can seem risky to hire an outside company to boost marketing, increase member participation, and increase ROI. But people hire DigitalMailer for the same reason Dane, Lydia and I all wound up with our jobs - they want to improve their relationships with the people that make up their business. In my study of Public Relations, I've learned about brand loyalty. The folks that use us do so for one specific reason - there's nobody better.
I get the feeling that, barring anyone finds out about my beautiful singing voice and suave, manly looks (are you getting this, Hollywood?), I'll be at DigitalMailer for a good long while. I'll keep doing my best to let you know that DigitalMailer is the best at what we do. You just be sure to pay attention.
All Those In Favor: How voting changes with the digital touch.
Greg Crandell talks about how to get the vote out.
Perhaps it's all the primary/caucus fever that's been in the air recently, but more and more I think of how important the power of the vote really is. With this forthcoming election, we will be electing someone without the name "Bush" or "Clinton" for the first time in twenty years. I find that impressive, if somewhat strange. But what I find more impressive is how and why people vote.
It's easy to guffaw at the statistics for things like American Idol. There are somewhere near 600 million votes from around the US, which seems to overshadow the 112 million people that vote for president each election year. There are things to consider there, however: first, the fact that American Idol lets users vote as frequently as they please whereas U.S. elections permit one vote per citizen. Then, the fact that Idol is open to anyone with a phone. Age, registration, enfranchisement - these things don't matter to Idol. Maybe because those votes cost money? Who's to say. In America, our right to vote is also a privilege. We should consider ourselves lucky to get the chance.
Which brings me to the point of this post. When one is running a financial institution, a school system, or any large body that depends on the input of its clientele, getting votes on an issue can be about as fun as pulling teeth. Interpreting the results would be one thing, but how can you be certain what you've pulled out of the proverbial shoe box is what's best for your company? Besides that, how do you know who's voted and who's been left out?
DigitalMailer makes voting not only simple, but reliable. Like Idol, our e-Vote system lets you reach people by e-mail and makes the voting process simple and quick. Like Uncle Sam, we know who should be voting and we make sure that their vote only counts once. We let you view the results so that the real will of the people - your people - comes to life.
Ever have a time when you felt like your vote didn't count? Do you think the Presidential race could be done online? We're eager to hear your comments.
Most corporations care about your reputation as a good corporate citizen, but some don’t. Greg Crandell reports.
Eight years experience delivering email on behalf of credit unions has taught us the value of one’s reputation.
In the mail space, reputation of the sender has come to supersede all other measures of validity, including all technical schemes – both those focused on complying with regulations, and those focused on appropriate content.
Complying with CAN-SPAM rules and writing content that doesn’t offend automated checkers is still important, but email deliverability is now most dependent upon the sender’s reputation, which is built over time via good practices, technical sophistication, and expensive processes.
DMI’s earned reputation gains for our credit union clients deliverability statistics that dwarf the industry. Our safelisted status with commercial ISPs across the country, and internationally, helps us ensure emails get delivered to the credit union members targeted. However, one area in which DMI and its clients’ reputation doesn’t earn the needed respect is within the typical corporate email server. Individual companies don’t have to play by the rules of commercial ISPs. They aren’t in the business of providing email services to customers; so they don’t concern themselves with the rules followed by the commercial and general public. This means they typically set onerous rules to screen heavily any email coming to them, including much email that their own employees wish to see, but which is not specific to their corporate business. So, email from the employees credit union, while desired by the employee (your member), is likely to be screened and tossed out by the employer.
What does this mean for credit union marketers, and their email communication efforts? It means you should not ask for, and should not accept, a member’s employment email address. Your business is with your member, not their company. You need to ask for a personal email address if you want to ensure the consistent delivery of your messages to your members. So, don’t be afraid to ask, because anything less isn’t good enough.
Ron Daly discusses the best thing your teen can do for his or her future in this, the first installment of "Great Ideas from Credit Unions Like Yours". DigitalMailer will highlight great innovations in the hopes of getting others to connect, communicate, and grow.
Summer camps are a great way for kids to stay busy during those long slow days between the end and start of school. There are camps for just about everyone, whether it's sleep-away camp programs where kids get in touch with nature or day camps where kids can get experience in things like technology and acting. But where's the summer camp for kids that need to learn the value of a dollar?
Welcome to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This year, the ONRL Credit Union is sponsoring two week-long, half-day camps called Camp Money Matters, which is specifically aimed at teens to help them get acquainted with things like checking, credit cards and savings. Best of all, the camp is free. This seems like a really great program - not only does it let kids interact with each other and give them something to do, it teaches them that money doesn't just come from nowhere and that proper investment and good planning can make all the difference.
Feel free to sound off on Camp Money Matters in our comments section.
As someone who has been in the business of marketing financial services for quite a while now (tomorrow's my birthday, but that doesn't mean you should know how old I am), I got a bit of a chill when the MySpace/Facebook movement came along: I stay in touch with the "new tricks" of the day as best I can, but how does one learn to market on a whole new wavelength?
As Jimmy discussed yesterday, users - even young adult users - are reluctant to purchase and deal on social network applications. Another article from eMarketer, seen here, shows statistics that prove what I've known for a while now: e-mail marketing works. People prefer to deal with businesses via e-mail, and that's a statistic that goes across a number of age boundaries.
Numbers still remain low for telephone purchasing/level of appeal. I think the reason for this might just be the reason Jimmy outlined yesterday. Facebook, as I see it, is a lot like telephone. You like to hear from friends and family. Over the phone, however, you can't find people that have the same interests as you and you can't join "phone groups" of people who share said interests. That said, the purpose of the two mediums is mostly the same: keep in touch. You might be less than receptive in dealing with a telemarketer (see the "do-not-call" list as proof of that) because they're taking phone time away from people from whom you'd like to hear. The same goes for Facebook - better to let it be a personal space, perphaps, and let the business be done in e-mail...where some 60% of consumers like to do business in the first place.
Face to Facebook: Online Social Networks Might Not Be the Goldmine You Think They Are
Jimmy Marks, Special Guest Author and DigitalMailer's Whippersnapper-in-Chief, talks about Social Networking dollars and digs (or is it "diggs"?) into the bottom line.
I woke up this morning and started on my routine. Toaster-waffles cooking? Check. Coffee brewing? Check. Paper somewhere close to the driveway? Not even close, so...check. And once all the unimportant bits are finished, I go for the laptop. E-mail first, then the morning cartoons, then Facebook. I'm a die-hard "facebooker" - I have been since Facebook's inception my freshman year of college. By the way (I'll bet you didn't know this), Facebook wasn't always Facebook: it started as "AboutFace", a web application designed to be a directory system for industry professionals. Don't believe me? I wouldn't either...which is why I included a link to Facebook's history, courtesy of the Wayback Machine.
So, we have Facebook, MySpace, YouTube - some of the biggest companies that came from some of the most simple ideas. Back in the day, when I was a foolhardy 12-year-old, we had Yahoo! GeoCities - little websites you could cobble together with a primitive WYSIWYG and show off to whomever. You could make a site about anything and, with enough patience (hey, remember dial-up?), you could be a web-wunderkind. But making web pages was tedious at 56k and the odds anyone would care to look at your page were slim. So, it seemed there was just no way to get a hand into the Internet.
Until the birth of Web 2.0, that is.
Suddenly, life was sweet: you could have a page that you didn't have to know HTML to maintain and update! It could have pictures, video, gadgets, information, lists of songs you like, blogs...anything! Best of all, the internet evolved into something that didn't take too long to understand or utilize. So, here we are, a few years older and lifetimes ahead of where anyone believed we'd be. Of course, capital has to come into play, so advertising gurus took aim at sites such as these with the goal of hooking "the youngsters" into purchasing their various wares. A smashing success...right?
No, not really.
Sure, if you choose to advertise on sites like these you'll get some return. But will it be what you expect? And if you're a financial institution (I'll assume you are), can what you're "selling" be boiled down to pure numbers?
The dollar amount is revenues per unique visitor. According to the article linked above, that number is swelling, as is the number of businesses that are gunning for the social network market. It's not a bad idea - put your business out there on a site that people are visiting frequently (by frequently I mean multiple times an hour). Thing is, and I know I can't speak for EVERY 18-34 year old out there, but I don't go to Facebook looking to get sold on something. I go to check in with friends, post pictures from my relatively silly life, and let people know what's up with me. Advertisements are sparse on Facebook, too - which is a reason I keep using it. I get enough ads just reading blogs and news sites. Facebook is my hiding place from all that silliness.
So, where ARE those e-marketing dollars coming from? According to the good people at Nielsen - the same ones that want to know what you're watching on TV - more people spend time on email than anywhere else on the web by almost half. Hallerman's article seems to follow that, saying that direct marketing e-mails contribute to a much wider margin of purchases than do ads on social networking sites. The main means of swaying public opinion online remain search engine returns and positive feedback on the company website. When I look to make a purchase, word-of-mouth (or "word-of-web", as it were) makes a big difference for me. You can learn a lot about something/someone by using Google to see what about them stands out the most. If I find something I want on Google and the talk about it is strong, I'm more than happy to move forward. If people seem to hate it, I shy away.
This is not to say that there's no money to be made on Social Networking sites: clearly, there is. But when it comes to marketing to people my age there's not much difference between what we think and what our elders think. We want to find information, or have that information find us. When we get that information, we want to see that other people found it useful as well. What's the lesson to take away from this, then?
1) Make sure your SEO (search engine optimization) is strong, and that when people search for you they find you.
2)Make your "customer feedback" page a priority: it's common sense to put the good feedback up top, but don't dismiss negative feedback. Rob Banker, another in our DigitalMailer cavalcade, wrote a great article about how bigger companies are using Twitter to monitor customer satisfaction. You really want to make the most of Social Networking sites? See what people are saying about your company without any prodding. One person's angry post about poor customer service and support should be a COO's next "note to self". 3)Diversify, Diversify, Diversify. Advertising in one place is as good as putting on one article of clothing. Any successful marketer will place multiple sites in the marketing mix and never count on just one to make all the difference.
4)Keep watch on what booms and what recedes - Facebook and MySpace are king today, but who knows what's coming up in a matter of weeks? Stay on top of trends and never get thrown on the idea that "it's just a fad". They said the same thing about The Beatles.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go update my status so my friends know I plan to eat burritos later today.
