Bank of the West Content Marketing & Social Media (2019-2023)

Transformed a lethargic, siloed department into an integrated team producing content that built brand consideration and delivered acquisitions.

Project goals

  • Transform lethargic department with no measurable business impact

  • Create strategic and integrated approaches to social media, content, and influencer marketing

  • Harness these resources to grow business and brand

My role

  • Formed multi-channel storytelling, content marketing, and influencer strategies for B2C and B2B audiences

  • Built new resources and scaled up existing ones (people, tools, and training)

  • Transformed siloed social and content marketing teams into high-performing, integrated machine

The impact

  • Drove a 50% lift in brand consideration for 2021

  • Earned back 9% of consideration media budget (a 375% return on the $)

  • Mitigated churn rate by one-third among those who engage with our content

The challenge

We started with a broken engine, driving a machine not built for performance. We had no clearly defined goals, no measurable business impact, no codified program or channel strategy.

 

The sleepy, misdirected department were using limited tech tools in an undifferentiated, siloed approach to social media and content, with no content performance tracking. Our social media was mimicking our competitors, when not reacting as de facto customer service. We had an underperforming blog, with low average visits (200 per article, mostly employees), and a high bounce rate (85% for top 50 posts). 

 

And guess what? We had very low brand recognition.

 

Our challenge was to wake up this sleepy, regional, no-name bank and build the brand (and its consideration, and business) via the stories we tell, the ways we tell them, where we show up, and the visuals we use.

The solution

As Head of Content & Social Marketing, I set out to transform the department. To create one with a differentiated, strategic, and integrated approach to earned, paid, and owned channels of social media, content, influencer marketing, and brand ambassador partnerships. One that could grow the business and the brand, spark a lift in brand consideration, and save on budget.

 

We had a marketing strategy to differentiate the bank by telling unique stories of sustainable finance. We had a blank slate to do it with earned media. We needed new people and ideas; new tools and platforms; and a dynamic approach to working with other teams.

 

Our goal? To remind people that banking is an impactful part of our personal and business supply chains, and that sustainability and money are inextricably linked. We needed to tell this story wherever we could, bringing it to life in new and exciting ways.

From uninspired, underperforming bank blog and stock art social media…..

to the award winning "Means & Matters" and distinctive, high-engagement social channels.

Some of my team’s top achievements…

Website redesign

We consolidated multiple content hubs into one thought leadership and storytelling ecosystem: Means & Matters.

Interactive content

The most visited content that my B2B team produced was our Real-Time Payments Interactive Guide.

High-profile social engagement

UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J Mohammed, tweets our COP26 story.

The project

We delivered our brand differentiation strategy by redefining what a bank talks about and revealing “a-ha!” moments about what happens to money in banks.

 

We began by rebuilding our content marketing and social media team through new hires and reorganisation of existing talent. We worked hard to convince key bank executives of the value of content marketing, integrated our team with the bank’s growth engines (LOB Marketing, ABM Programs, Industry Verticals, Digital Acquisitions, Exec & PR Comms, CSR, Events & Sponsorships), and fueled customer experience improvements by bringing relevant, modern and data-driven insights to these business units.

 

We invested in new tech software and efficiently scaled our content marketing hub traffic, consolidating siloed content hubs into one Webby award-winning site: Means & Matters.

 

We populated this cutting-edge platform with high-impact, interactive, B2B thought leadership content to enhance strategic product launches and nurture commercial banking leads. We developed a B2B podcast series to champion women in business. We leveraged existing CSR partnerships to create award-winning content: documentary films focused on two Conservation Alliance projects expanded our mutual audiences to like-minded film festivals, businesses and non-profit organisations.

 

We fixed major social media issues by rebuilding our team and extending our distribution and tracking tools. We set distinct channel strategies to reach targeted audiences (LinkedIn for thought leadership, Facebook for short-form advertorials, Instagram for change-making brand partnerships), maximise our impact and increase active engagement (not passive followers).  We used these to leverage our modern content hub, supported by strategic sponsored content and influencer marketing. We sourced outdoor enthusiast influencers to build trust by getting the right people talking about the bank.

 

We introduced performance reporting and accountability on key metrics, to measure our success with increased prospecting through customer engagement.

At a glance…

70%

of visitors to Means & Matters are new to BOTW

$6.5M

earned media value 2021/2022

2,600%

higher engagement rate compared with average US financial institutions

The outcome

We transformed a sleepy, siloed department into a high energy, focused and integrated network of teams that deliver nimble, efficient and effective results. Our highly distinctive, award-winning content supports and leverages strong business partnerships and guarantees real accountability on content performance.

 

Since Means & Matters launched in 2020, our cost efficiency improved by 40%. Quarterly traffic surged three-fold, and over two-thirds of the 1.7M site visitors in 2021 were new to the bank. This sparked a 50% lift in brand consideration for 2021, increasing both acquisitions and savings (we earned back 9% of the consideration media budget, with a 375% return on the $, at an estimated value of $1M). We reduced our churn rate, with 1/3 the attrition rate in customers who engage with our content (vs those who don’t).

 

The stats show that we produce the best content marketing of any bank in the country, with best in class social media channels for any company. Our distinct and integrated earned and paid media program has improved brand recognition with measurable business impact. In 2021, our engagement rate was 12x the financial industry average, trending up in 2022 ( 23x in Q1, 28x in Q2). Our impactful influencer program had a 4% ER in 2021, more than 2x cross-industry benchmarks (not just financial institutions). Social media engagements generated by paid influencers had a net value of $1.2M.