Industry Specific Advice in a Time of Crisis from the Chief Outsiders CMOs
These are challenging times. The actions you take now and in the coming weeks will have a huge impact on what happens to your company, your customers and your employees. Some of the challenges we will face during this crisis will apply to all sectors, but some will be industry specific.
To help you decide where your focus should be, we assembled panels of Chief Marketing Officers from our Tribe at Chief Outsiders who have spent their careers working in your industry with companies like yours, to discuss what CEOs need to think about doing, right now.
The following summary encapsulates the highlights of our panel discussion for the Financial Services industry, hosted by Pete Hayes. Featuring CMOs Rich Smith, Chris Wallner and Bill DeWitt. For the full benefit, view the discussion video in its entirety (12 minutes). Short of time? See the discussion highlights (5 minutes).
Financial Services Panel Discussion – Summary
This discussion covers the current crisis characteristics, communications and ideas to make the most of the situation for Financial Services companies.
This time it’s different
- Banks and financial institutions are one of the few industries that remain open for business and by virtue of tools and experience gained in the 2008 financial crisis, are well equipped to continue to serve customers virtually
- Banks aren’t the source of this crisis and it’s a real opportunity to build trust and communicate the strength of the industry’s capacity to function and support customers in the face of adversity
Communicate broadly and often, on all channels
- Communicate across all channels to all stakeholders; your employees, your commercial clients, your community. Use your website to showcase messages about how you are keeping your customers best interests in mind – but go beyond written communications and use all social channels and formats
- Have the entire leadership team participate in getting the word out, not just the CEO. You may have to deliver your messages dozens of times for them to take hold and resonate with people – it’s hard to over-communicate during an event like this
Keep Your Customer First
- Lead with the messages that you believe are going to resonate most with your customers to help them feel, to the extent possible, as safe as possible. They need to know that you are going to protect them and protect their assets
- While you may not have your brick and mortar available to them, you're in business, you're there to serve, it's business as usual. Lay out your plan, be transparent and show when milestones are met
Past Industry Experience Creates Advantages
- Across the financial sector, there is an opportunity to build goodwill with customers as their trusted advisor. Show that your unique core competency and experience in thinking about long-term financial planning can help now and, in their future
- The financial sector has historically led the way with digital tools and remote access to services. Use your skills as virtual communicators to connect with customers now – help them with their plans – learn what’s on their minds. Help them go digital with their banking needs, from mortgages to online banking services. Use virtual communication tools now to potentially transform the way you do business when we’re all looking at this in the rear-view mirror
If you enjoyed this summary and would like to hear the full discussion, watch the video in its entirety (12 minutes), or the discussion highlights (5 minutes).
Host:
Pete Hayes, Principal & CMO, Chief Outsiders
Panelists:
Rich Smith, Partner & CMO, Chief Outsiders
Chris Wallner, Partner & CMO, Chief Outsiders
Bill DeWitt, CMO, Chief Outsiders