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There have been several articles within the last week that may focus vendors toward community banks and credit unions (community financial institutions – CFI’s for short). Articles cite larger banks as holding on to capital; tightening up lending standards, lowering credit card limits and closing unprofitable accounts. For the most part, CFI’s have avoided the more risky mortgages, are better capitalized (ratios), retain more servicing rights and generally treat customers better (because they know them). If you are an American Banker reader, I suggest you look at: 1. Web and Branch Sign-Ups Give Small Banks Mortgage Lift, By Kate Berry, Friday, December 19, 2008 2. Small-Bank Tech Spending Up While Bigger Players Cut Back, By Will Wade, Friday, December 19, 2008 For a great article on CFI successes of late, read: USA TODAY More bank customers think smaller institutions these days, By Pallavi Gogoi, December 21, 2008 http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2008-12-21-small-co...

Recently, I saw Barbara Perino, senior vice president of operations and technology for The Washington Trust Company address a room full of bank vendors. While other speakers painted a gloomy picture of the industry, she provided insights on how vendors should approach her and the bank’s spending priorities in technology and related services in 2009. About Washington Trust: · Founded in 1800 · Based in Westerly, Rhode Island · 17 branches · Four wealth management offices · $2.8 billion in assets (as of September 30, 2008) · Earnings before taxes = 40% from retail, 34% from business banking and 26% from wealth management · Washington Trust Wealth Management (a division of the bank) has approximately $4 billion in assets under administration Perino aligns technology spending with the bank’s strategic goals, only considering projects and/or vendors who can demonstrate either a positive ROI or show an ability to mitigate risks and threats to Washington Trust. She said that her 2009 spe...

I'm testing out the code provided from YouTube for the above video. If you are interested, the video was made using the slideshow feature in iPhoto...then converting it to .mov file. If this works like I hope, I'll be sharing more information with my customers. As background, the Innisbrook Group is a peer network of agency owners (PR and advertising), which meets twice a year. We discuss new business efforts, operational issues, client retention and more. As seen in the video, we also tend to eat well, drink wine and enjoy our time together. If you have questions about the YouTube experiment or Innisbrook, don't hesitate to contact me directly. Scott

There have been a handful of times when clients and the agency have disagreed on writing style. For the record, our style for press releases is very lean and written for the media we are trying to reach. WMA beliefs regarding release style -- * If you can say what you need to say in 150 words instead of 300, use 150; * Avoid buzzwords that make the media wince, such as “revolutionary;” * IF (I repeat, if) you must include “salesy” language, put it in the executive’s quote; * If writing about something complex, do your best to present it in a way even your mom would understand; and * Answer the “so what/who cares?” question in the first paragraph. Don’t make people search for why this news is important. (Hint: if it is not really important, consider not doing it.) So your boss or client is asking you to write and distribute what you know in your gut is not the best material. My rule on working with clients: 1. Recommend something to them 2. Do your best to persuade them to do what...

If you are in a position whereby you hire and manage employees, you might like to see this piece from Catalyst featuring yours truly. http://www.catalystmag.com/Articles/2008/September/Happy_Employeesx_Better_Bottom_Line.html

I had one client who was extremely confident in his contracts. When asked about the affect on his business when one bank client acquired another client, he responded, "It does not matter -- I'm going to be paid either way." I've lost PR clients when they lost business due to acquisitions. While I have not surveyed clients on the subject, I know some companies are better prepared for bank acquisitions than others. I am certain that how well you craft your contracts today, will impact revenues down the road. Consider how your contracts can be constructed to provide a little protection your company, in anticipation of bank mergers and acquisitions.

Times Editor Russ Stanton said in a memo to the staff. "Thanks to the Internet, we have more readers for our great journalism than at any time in our history. But also thanks to the Internet, our advertisers have more choices, and we have less money." In a recent article, the LA Tims reported they were cutting 150 jobs in the editorial department. Thant brings the editorial group to about 700 down from a high of 1,200 in 2001. I'm sharing this because it really illustrates how dramatically the world of news and information has changed. We have more people reading more stuff from more sources, e.g., blogs. As a PR practitioner, I'm seeing more targets and looser editorial standards. Companies and individuals are far more likely to be confronted with a negative or down right nasty piece by a blogger, which gets shared via RSS. Additionally, the piece could have a very long shelf life on the Internet and Google. I predict in the next 12 months, you will see a news sto...

Richard Bitner author of “Greed, Fraud & Ignorance: A Subprime Insider’s Look at the Mortgage Collapse” and co-founder of HousingWire stopped by the office yesterday. I must admit he was better than I expected – entertaining, informative – just a good representative for his organization. Every company needs good ambassadors for the brand. It seems as though I get asked a lot, “Do you know any good sales people?” I unfortunately see companies who tolerate people who either cannot sell, or worse, make a bad impression on the prospect. Sales people in the first camp are almost always the people who complain the loudest about needing more tools developed, such as interactive demo’s or brochures, that will make it easier for them to close deals. So what is the impact of a subpar sales person on an otherwise very good public relations and marketing campaign? I have my theories, however, I am confident we all need to ensure consistency and superior performance at every touch point in the...

We discovered the CEO of a company we serve emailed a PDF’s of an article we generated through the public relations program. While I am not an attorney, I prepared the following guidance regarding appropriate use of copyrighted materials. Dear Customer: You asked for an opinion about the use of copyrighted materials generated from the public relations program. As background, I have recently had some uncomfortable discussions with a publisher regarding our forwarding articles to clients and his insistence that he be paid for his company’s work product. (This is reasonable considering how they make money – subscriptions and reprint rights.) The good news is there are several options that will not break the bank (or break the law). The challenge: We cannot legally use the text of an article without permission. Typically, this requires a reprint rights payment (which can run several hundred dollars). On some rare occasions, a publication may give you rights if you ask them. The risk: ...

In an email dated 2-19-08, Anthony Garritano, editor of Mortgage Technology Magazine, said of the print edition of Mortgage Technology magazine, "...there will be fewer of them and they'll be geared around prominent industry trade shows." Citing printing costs, SourceMedia will make the monthly magazine available for download from their Web site. http://www.mortgage-technology.com/ Commentary: I'm looking forward to more articles available online. Information can be shared faster and likely more subjects covered. With publishers favoring online at the expense of print, you will see fewer in depth, long-form articles addressing trends and strategy.

It seems everyone in financial publishing is looking to do more with their online products, which I find amazingly interesting (one publisher laughed when I told him I get excited about this stuff). Here are a few developments of note (in no particular order): * American Banker now offers ABTV for free, whereas the newspaper's online service has been for paid subscribers. Please visit http://www.americanbanker.com/pagedisplay.html?pagename=ABTV * ABA Banking Journal has revamped their website and has made the magazine available in a digital format. There is a NEW PRODUCT section, which is actually a very rare feature in bank publishing (more magazines require end user testimonials before they will write about new products/services). Please visit http://www.ababj.com/index.php * Our friends at Zackin Publications has an online blog/portal for real estate finance professionals called MortgageOrb. Please visit http://www.mortgageorb.com/ * Data and physical security seems to be ge...

For the full report, go to -- http://www.williammills.com/images/pdfs/bankers%20as%20buyers%202008%20final.pdf Bankers As Buyers 2008 The focus of Bankers As Buyers is to help financial institutions (banks, credit unions and lenders) and those companies serving them, validate their strategic IT direction/ concerns and compare investments in technology by type and/or direct further research. Mobile Banking on the Move This past year saw real progress by large banks in offering mobile banking. This year’s report discusses what we can expect to see in 2008 and a few suggestions on how banks should approach roll out strategies. You might want to check out the article by Richard Crone, Crone Consulting, LLC and Debbie Wood, Jack Henry & Associates. Credit Markets Reshape Industry 2007 was rocked by the slow down in the housing and mortgage markets. I expect lenders to look at improving fraud detection; property value analytics and any technology or process that will turn fixed costs i...