Our Client
Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, Safe Systems is a leading provider of compliance-centric IT and security solutions exclusively to financial institutions. The company has become one of the leaders in the industry, managing hundreds of financial institutions representing more than $61 billion in combined assets, 1,100 locations and more than 20,000 network devices.
For many, when asked what they associate with Georgia, they’ll likely reference peaches, peanuts, Coca-Cola or the state’s rich musical heritage (Ray Charles, Allman Brothers, Otis Redding, R.E.M., among others), but few likely know that Georgia has emerged as a hub for technology -- specifically, financial technology (fintech). As 2018 draws to an end, we would like to celebrate Georgia’s influence on the fintech ecosystem by sharing some interesting facts about on the state’s impact on the industry through the years:
The importance of visual content is clearly documented – from Twitter posts to magazine articles, the research all indicates that images encourage more views, more clicks and, most importantly, more engagement. Individuals’ eyes, whether consumers, business executives or even other communications professionals, are drawn to an image on a screen and will spend more time reading the text within an image than they will on text alone. That’s not to say you should go out and start dumping text into your images needlessly, but it does make a good case for why infographics and even text-centric videos have seen such a rise to prominence over the previous five to ten years.
As we head into colder weather, we can expect shorter days and a multitude of industry trade shows. These trade shows and events can be valuable tools for educational opportunities, networking with industry peers or potential partners, and the chance to meet with editors, reporters and analysts. To make the most of every trade show, credit union professionals should determine their objectives for each event.
Account Based Marketing (ABM) isn’t a new concept, but it has been gaining more attention recently. In essence, ABM revises the traditional inbound marketing strategy by creating custom content and communications for targeted accounts as opposed to creating a wide variety of content for a broader audience. ABM advocates for starting with a list of target accounts and tailoring your content to those specific companies.
While platforms like GoToMeeting and Skype have proven their worth as effective communications tools for busy executives, there is still a quality of experience that a true, in-person meeting provides which digital means have not yet succeeded in matching. Whether finalizing a sale or securing that key round of funding, fintech executives know that closing that deal usually requires a face-to-face interaction.
The MBA Annual Convention and Expo is the largest gathering of real estate financial and mortgage professionals in the country with an estimated 4,400 participants this year. It’s fitting that such a monumental occasion was held in the nation’s capital and had a celebrity lineup including Kelly Clarkson, Magic Johnson, and Oscar winner Geena Davis (who is also founder and chair of Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media). Despite the event’s star power, attendees had bigger topics on the mind—namely the current state of the mortgage industry.
Over the past several years, social media has become an effective tool for credit unions to connect with their members, colleagues and even technology partners. Twitter, in particular, has proven to be a dynamic channel for sharing messages and interacting with key audiences.
More than 1,000 attendees recently gathered in Orlando, Florida with access to 120 speakers at 75 sessions over the course of three days to learn about the future of the retail banking industry. Of course, it would be impossible to catch all of the speakers in that amount of time, but that’s part of the beauty of BAI—attendees have the ability to customize their experience by choosing topics and sessions that most interest them and/or most impact their business, whether AI or digital transformation or compliance, everything in-between. In an industry characterized by constant change, one question seemed to underlie all of this year’s discussions—what’s next for banking?
Heather Sugg is on the scene at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas! The theme this year is Revolutionizing Payments. Heather will be talking to vendors and industry experts about the biggest themes and takeaways of the conference.
Heather Sugg is on the scene at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas! The theme this year is Revolutionizing Payments. Heather will be talking to vendors and industry experts about the biggest themes and takeaways of the conference.
Heather Sugg is on the scene at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas! The theme this year is Revolutionizing Payments. Heather will be talking to vendors and industry experts about RegTech, Voice Tech, Big Data, and handling uncertainty in the industry.
When you think of today’s biggest brands, it is difficult to think of one that has not experienced a PR crisis. Remember Facebook’s data breach? What about the Wells Fargo account opening scandal? Or NBC and Matt Lauer? While these were all publicity nightmares, public backlash can stem from something as simple as a controversial communications strategy. For example, remember Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi commercial? Or Nike’s ad with Colin Kaepernick? Even IHOP’s temporary name change to “IHOB” resulted in some negative publicity.
Recently William Mills Agency sent marketing director K.T. Mills-Grimes and marketing associate Sidney Holland to the HubSpot Inbound Marketing Conference in Boston. They learned what’s next for the platform and how the agency can take full advantage of its capabilities to provide fintech organizations with marketing programs that generate leads and provide measurable returns. If you weren’t able to make it to Boston, fear not—this blog gives all the key takeaways.
Best practices for creating and executing a solid public relations plan.
As featured in this month's CUES PR Insights.
Many times, when business is good and clients or members are happy, companies forget how important it is to maintain a consistent PR plan—and to trust the plan if it is working. In fact, some leaders are guilty of wanting to dismantle a perfectly solid media relations program for no other reason than it has been in place for a while. I want to encourage you to not do that.
FinovateFall was yet again a huge success! Having attended over 20 Finovates, William has a wealth of experience with the event. This year, there was a larger focus on customer experience and AI than ever before. As we wrap up the event, William is joined by Steven J. Ramirez , CEO of Beyond the Arc, Inc., to recap some of the biggest takeaways from FinovateFall 2018.
07:27 pm
Congratulations to the winners of Best of Show at FinovateFall 2018! Banzai, Bond.AI, Bumped, Golden, and Meniga #Finovate
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Well, we’ve wrapped up the demos for day one. Please check back tomorrow morning around 8:45am for the group of great demos from Finovate Fall NYC 2018.
William Mills Agency is North America’s largest PR and Marketing agency in the financial industry with more than 70 clients. If you would like to learn more contact Ms. Heather Sugg at heather@williammills.com or myself at william@williammills.com. We are both at the conference here in New York. We look forward to hearing from you.
William
The term corporate social responsibility had an entirely different meaning just 10 or so years ago when I first learned about it in the context of public relations. I was taught then that it was mostly an internal strategy or ethic policy for an organization to follow, almost to self-regulate or create some type of desired sentiment or employee support around a specific initiative.
Crafting the perfect press release (and making sure the right people see it) is easier said than done. It can be especially tricky when managing a financial services public relations program due to the specific nature of the content. William Mills Agency has no shortage of experience getting positive coverage for fintech clients, and in this post we’re sharing our biggest Do’s and Don’ts for a great press release.
Best practices for story development, communication and building relationships.
As featured in this month’s CUES PR Insights.
One of the most effective ways to draw attention to your credit union is to actively engage with the media in order to generate positive news stories.
The most exciting aspect of being immersed in the fintech world is that it is constantly changing and evolving. Hosting a fintech podcast is not only a great opportunity to share your thoughts on trends and events in the community, but it also has some significant potential benefits from a business standpoint. After all, the end goal of a well-rounded content marketing program isn’t just to share your thoughts—it’s to see results.
Lead generation is a key goal in every company’s marketing strategy, but focusing all of your attention on generating leads may actually cause you to miss out on opportunities. In fact, Invesp found that companies that only employ lead generation lose 80% of leads, while companies that have a well-executed lead nurturing strategy in place tend to spend 33% less while generating 50% more sales.
While podcasts have been a part of the media landscape since as early as 2004, the financial services industry was slower to adopt them as a way to promote businesses and communicate with customers. The good news is that 44% of Americans report having listened to a podcast before, and 26% listen monthly. That’s a significant audience ready to hear what you have to say.
Videos are fast becoming an essential means of marketing for FinTech and B2B businesses as their prospects tend to have shorter attention spans and less time to gather information in general. When executed correctly, video marketing is a powerful tool that can engage your financial industry audience and drive sales.
It’s hard to believe that we are already more than halfway through the year. While many of the industry’s premier conferences have come and gone, there are still many more to look forward to for the rest of 2018. When planning which events and conferences to attend, many mistakenly refer to a “trade show season,” but if WMA’s Trade Show Directory tells you anything, it’s that there is no such thing as a single season for industry events.
Building an authentic brand in an era of distrust.
As featured in this month’s CUES PR Insights.
Do you trust me?
Such a simple question has significant ramifications for credit unions. Every day, millions of people place their trust in credit unions and other financial institutions. They are trusting these institutions with securing their money, having their best financial interests at heart and offering products that are not exploitative.
A question that we commonly hear is, “What do I put in our newsroom?” Historically, most companies assumed only journalists and members of the media visited newsrooms. In reality, everyone from potential new hires and investors to customers to partners – and, of course, media – will likely find their way to this part of the website seeking information about the brand. When branded and organized properly, it can make for an effective public relations tool.Here’s what should be included:
Industry awards can be great opportunities to showcase what your business is doing, and why it stands out among others in the field. There are typically a number of award opportunities for any given industry, including ones sponsored by publications, industry associations and peer groups. And, there are usually several different types of awards to apply for that highlight organizations’ technology and service offerings, company growth, culture, standout executives or particular campaigns.
After almost 35 years’ experience working in financial technology, I’ve been blessed to be part of radical transformations in our industry. It wasn’t that long ago that “mobile banking” was the business of transforming recreational vehicles into mobile bank branches.
- Content centered on ‘Disrupting and Delivering a Better Customer Experience’ by focusing on what’s happening next in fintech -
Atlanta is a leader in transactions, a processing powerhouse, and home to global fintech companies and start-ups, which makes it the ideal city to host the Technology Association of Georgia’s (TAG) first annual FinTech
Here's William Mills and Steven Ramirez's video recap of the Demos at FinovateSpring 2018. Congratulations again to all of the presenters and Best in Show winners.
Good day! Welcome to FinovateSpring 2018. I’m here at the Santa Clara Convention Center covering the demos.
In addition to two great days of demos I’m looking forward to days 3 and 4 of conference content and a panel session I’m hosting on Friday. This is either my 21st or
Good day! Welcome to FinovateSpring 2018. I’m here at the Santa Clara Convention Center covering the demos.
In addition to two great days of demos I’m looking forward to days 3 and 4 of conference content and a panel session I’m hosting on Friday. This is either my 21st or
Mid-year is an ideal time to review and adjust to match your CU’s strategic vision.
As featured in this month's CUES PR Insight.
Credit unions rely on public relations efforts to propel their brand’s credibility, visibility and, ultimately, their growth. As such, your credit union’s strategic PR plan is its
In today’s fast-paced, business environment, it’s not if a company will face a crisis, it’s when. That’s easy to see as 2017 had its share of scandals and mishaps ranging from social media blunders to poorly planned advertising spots, as well as a host of poorly executed responses to the
In November 2017, Twitter executives decided to change the platform’s iconic 140 character count for tweets, allowing users of European languages such as English, Portuguese, French and Spanish to now use up to 280 characters. This update is a fundamental change for the platform, whose brand is closely associated with
Measuring the success of a public relations program can be a difficult task. The benefits of PR are not always as easily quantifiable as marketing or advertising, but when a company invests in a public relations program, it wants to know the true impact of these efforts on its bottom
How CUs can effectively engage with Gen Z
As featured in this month's CUES PR Insights.
There have been countless debates, discussions and deliberations on how to best connect with and establish loyalty among millennials over the past several years. However, this generation’s time in the spotlight is coming to
The troubling United Airlines situations, the Snapchat debacle, and the ongoing litany of scandals continue to steal the headlines day after day. These epic public relations failures are prime examples of how NOT to manage a corporate crisis. However, a few weeks ago a chicken shortage surprisingly provided two invaluable
Not only did Facebook pave the way for other social media platforms, it also created a methodology for businesses to connect directly with their customers.
Over the past year, however, Facebook has consistently made changes that make it more difficult for businesses to interact with their customers or reach them
Metro Atlanta has established itself as a major hub for the fintech (financial technology) industry. According to the American Transaction Processors Coalition, more than 70 percent of all payments on a global scale currently pass through companies headquartered in metro Atlanta, earning the city the moniker “Transaction Alley.” As headquarters
Demonstrate your integrity, competency, drive and positive attitude to elevate you and your credit union’s performance this year.
As featured in this month’s CUES PR Insights
About a year ago, I wrote a piece entitled “Make this Year a Success”. I hope 2017 was a successful year, one where you were
In general, financial institutions are starting 2018 off in better financial shape than in previous years, and while they will continue to focus on traditionally important areas of their businesses such as compliance, eliminating fraud and refining delivery channel strategies, there are many other key areas of technology and innovation
Financial Trade shows are an important piece of your overall public relations program, but do you know how to make the most of what they have to offer? You might think choosing not to attend a trade show in lieu of virtual meetings, phone calls or emails to save on
As we transition into the New Year, many of us are setting a series of goals or “resolutions” that we work toward throughout the year. If you’re like me, these resolutions may stick around for a month or two, but more often than not they’re forgotten by the time spring
Follow these easy tips to maximize your credit union’s reach and impact.
As featured in this month’s CUES PR Insights.
News releases are a great way for credit unions to get the word out about what they offer, what they are doing and to differentiate themselves. Unfortunately, many credit unions may
I am proud to announce the availability of our annual Bankers as Buyers report. Every year we strive to build a report that identifies the trends and major drivers in banking innovation. Our mission is to separate the hype from reality and to help clarify what technologies and market
Marketing has evolved over the years from strictly brand awareness to include more lead generation and sales nurturing activities. This has resulted in increased pressure to show return on investment (ROI) for marketing efforts, resulting in a push to gather highly qualified leads through inbound marketing, advertising, direct marketing and
No organization willingly captures the spotlight by placing itself in a crisis situation, but the reality is that most organizations, regardless of size or industry, will find themselves in the midst of a crisis at some point.
Yet, according to the “Crisis Preparedness Study” released by Burson-Marsteller and global research-based
Make sure your credit union is prepared to respond if the unthinkable happens
As featured in this month’s CUES PR Insights.
Chances are, you or someone you know has had personal information compromised due to relentless cyber attacks across various industries in the U.S. Last year alone, we saw companies