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What's New With the Marketing Network?

Posted on: Thursday, 11 August 2005, 03:01 CDT

Earlier this year, Maggie Kelly was named as the new director of marketing for ABA's Professional Development Group. Part of her responsibilities includes overseeing the marketing of the ABAMN. Marketing Edge posed some questions about the current state of the ABAMN to her and Peggy Hudson, CFMP, the current chairwoman of the Marketing Network Council.

Maggie, what is your marketing background?

I have spent my entire career in the field of marketing, and have enjoyed all aspects of this wide-ranging discipline. I am originally from the United Kingdom and have worked in the United States for over 15 years, so I feel very comfortable working in the U.S. market.

My work experience has mainly been in the business-to-business arena, although I have spent a little time working in consumer marketing. I began my career in working in the London-based European marketing headquarters for Avon Cosmetics, as a marketing planner on the French market, and gained a solid foundation in the principles of direct marketing. I moved to the United States when I married my American husband, and joined Ogilvy & Mather Direct, in Houston, where I further honed my direct marketing skills, and learned from some great agency experts.

Maggie Kelly

When my husband and I relocated to Washington, D.C., I moved into the technology sector, where my role was very focused on lead generation, working closely with the sales team. I then moved into financial services with The NASDAQ Stock Market, where I had a varied career, working on branding, advertising, customer acquisition and retention, and finally, moving into the international arena, working on the European and Asian markets, including a three-year stint back in London.

I have recently joined the ABA and am very much enjoying new challenges in a different, but complementary, area of financial services.

What are your responsibilities with ABA?

I manage the branding and marketing for the ABA professional development solutions. These solutions include online training, professional certification, conferences, classroom training, schools, telephone briefings and publications. Organizations that effectively use training tend to be higher performing institutions, and our portfolio of products and services help our members in advancing careers, developing talent and improving performance. Our marketing encompasses a wide range of direct marketing; print advertising; on-site promotions at conferences; and marketing support for our sales team.

Peggy Hudson, CFMP

What is your role with the ABAMN?

An important part of my role is to manage the marketing for the ABA Marketing Network, and working closely with our advisory council, developing initiatives to build membership, and develop new products and services to provide greater value to our members. The annual Ad Awards competition is also a very big event for us, and we have received a large number of entries this year. Now, we have the hard job of judging those entries. With the high quality of work we have seen so far, I am sure there will be some hard decisions to make. The winners will be announced at the ABA Marketing Conference, Sept. 7-9, in Miami.

I have been fortunate to pick up the reins from Brenda Marlin, who has been deeply involved with the ABAMN for several years. She has laid a very strong foundation for the network and successfully built a loyal membership. Already, I see a high degree of enthusiasm among the ABA Marketing Network members, and our chapters, which is very contagious.

Do you anticipate any changes with ABAMN as a result of your new responsibilities?

I am looking forward to hearing ideas from members, as well as working closely with our very talented ABAMN Council. The council and I are actively working on some exciting new products, which we plan to roll out over the coming months. We are very focused on developing a variety of tools and networking opportunities which provide value to all levels of marketing professionals, from newcomers, to more seasoned executives. I'll let Peggy tell you more...

Peggy, what is the current state of ABAMN?

Celebrating 90 years of service in 2005, ABAMN is functioning at a very high level and has grown steadily stronger since it was born out of the former Bank Marketing Association. The marketing professionals who have managed and led the ABAMN and the Marketing Network Council have demonstrated a true commitment to advancing the theory and practice of financial services marketing. Thanks to their dedication and vision, ABAMN is the only organization of its kind and the first place bank marketers turn for timely statistics and trends, innovations, problem-solving tools and materials, career development opportunities, and peer networking. New and renewed memberships reflect this strength and value.

What future directions do you see ABAMN moving in?

The word "moving" is appropriate here in that ABAMN is working quickly with enormous energy to identify the cutting-edge issues and trends that will impact our profession and our banks in the months and years to come. These trends serve as the catalyst for the development of new products and services to assist bankers as they craft and deploy marketing strategies. To ensure "just-in-time" delivery to meet marketers' need for speed, many of our services are available online at www.aba.com/Marketingnetwork.

Our website is the ideal on-demand service-delivery channel for members-only, and we will continue to add online enhancements and benefits. Look for our new "Desktop Marketing Assistant" link that will lead members to valuable hands-on tools, including marketing plan and budget templates, and a return-on-investment calculator to aid marketers in their marketing analyses. On the subject of speed, our members-only ListServ has quickly grown into one of our most popular and effective member benefits. Through our moderator, bankers can pose questions to our ListServ subscribers to get immediate answers to difficult marketing problems. Marketing Network peer responses result in better-informed perspectives and multiple solutions for success. Watch for more online networking opportunities and Web-based services in the future.

Research indicates that many bank marketers are coming into our field with marketing experience gained in industries other than financial services. For those who are new to banking-and those who are young in their bank marketing careers-our professional development opportunities, such as the ABA School of Bank Marketing and Management, provide the bank marketing curricula they need to jump-start their careers. Savvy marketers also know they need to continually educate themselves to remain at the top of our game, and ABAMN provides them ongoing career learning through our magazine, annual marketing conference, telephone briefings, online courses and more. The Marketing Network Council currently is evaluating advanced learning and networking opportunities for seasoned bank marketing professionals.

What aspects of ABAMN have you found most rewarding during your tenure as chair of the Marketing Network Council?

Without a doubt, working with my ABAMN Council peers and the staff as a team has been most rewarding. The synergy of effort and attitude in service to our colleagues has resulted in new opportunities for our members' career growth and success. Our peers on the ABAMN Council are among the most knowledgeable, skilled and sharing in our profession. Our staff is committed to providing bankers unique value and the knowledge, contacts and ideas they need to succeed. The friendships that have grown and the fun that we've had working together on behalf of bank marketing professionals has been an experience second to none.

I am looking forward to hearing ideas from members, as well as working closely with our very talented ABAMN Council.

ABAMN is the only organization of its kind and the first place bank marketers turn for timely statistics and trends, innovations, problem-solving tools and materials, career development opportunities, and peer networking.

Copyright Bank Marketing Association Jul/Aug 2005

Source: ABA Bank Marketing

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