October 14
Financial Service Companies: Start Communicating!
“The worst financial crisis since the great depression” seems to be the headlines these days. What should financial services companies do? Communicate, communicate, communicate!
Many of the top financial services sites still have no mention, nor even a link, to their thoughts about the crisis. The media is consistently peppering the public about the state of the economy, yet clients are finding that the place that they entrust their money to, is silent!
Hey financial services companies: Clients and investors want to know what YOU think! They want to understand your company’s views of the markets, your investments, and what you think is going to happen. Even if there is no news, or bad news, keep people informed.
Don’t wait for the whitepaper to come out, or the official press release. Start the conversation early. Here are some ways this can be accomplished:
- Place some content on your home page: optionsXpress has a short paragraph with the title “A Safe Haven” to help bring confidence as clients log in
- Provide a link that builds confidence: Wells Fargo has a link to a CEO letter saying that they are “staying the course”.
- Start utilizing your corporate blog:
- Allow an output for your experts to talk about the market – it allows clients to perceive they have access to the experts
- Highlight discussions your executives are having with policy makers – it shows that you are in control and helping guide the US and the world
- Start monitoring twitter: it’s a great way to see how a segment of the market is talking about your brand
Overall, show empathy. People are nervous, frustrated, and annoyed. Being quiet only increases frustration. Start utilizing the tools that you have already invested in, and start communicating with your constituents.
What is your financial services company doing? What should they do to help you feel more informed, or confident?
The Financial Service Companies: Start Communicating! by Molecular Voices, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Craig Andrews said on October 15th, 2008
For example, would it not be great if Comcast had a blog which would say, “In 2 years, we’re going to roll out IPv6!” or if Oracle had one that said, “We found a bug in load distribution… so if you see symptom xyz, just wait for the patch.” (I used tech examples, but it applies equally to TV manufacturers talking about how common problems with picture quality, or VCR producers discussing how to set the time).