What makes marketing financial institutions very different today than ten years ago?  Trust.

Ten years ago, trust was assumed.  The stock market was booming,successful dot-coms were popping up everywhere and jobs were plentiful. But then September 11^th happened.  And  the dot-com “burst.” And let’s not forget about the stock market crash, the fall of Lehman Brothers, government bailouts, the real estate market hitting an all-time low and the highest unemployment rate in decades. Today, trust is non-existent.

Marketers who focus on regaining trust will make it into the next era.  Companies- especially financial institutions- will start earning trust by reaching their customers exactly when and where they need something.

Simply put, that means better customer service.  But today’s definition of superb customer service goes beyond, “thank you for your business ma’am.”  Customers today expect instant gratification.  Customers want to be seen as individuals.  And today’s customers have bigger problems to solve and bigger voices than ever before.

Old Components of Great “Customer Service Marketing” for Financial Institutions

• A friendly smile and a thank you.
• A fancy lobby, suits & nylons.
• A call center.
• Great interest rates.
• Online banking, conveniently located ATM’s and longer hours of operation.

New Components of Great “Customer Service Marketing” for Financial Institutions

• A totally awesome iPhone app.
• A response from a real person when tweeting a complaint about the financial institution.
• Listening to the blogosphere and making adjustments.
• Creating financial products that offer value, rather than offer high interest rates.
• A customizable online banking interface that allows the customer to create a budget, track investments, create a plan to payoff debt, get financial education and earn rewards that are relevant to their situation.

My online marketing business card says, “get into your customers hands” (yes, it’s a sassy play on another common phrase). Today, customer service marketing is about getting in your customers hands-meaning getting into their iPhone, Blackberry, text messages, emails and social media networks-at the right moment.  It’s about paying attention to individual needs and providing ways to solve their financial problems.

It’s easy for consumers to blame large financial institutions for the economic downturn.  Smart financial marketers should accept this and turn their focus on regaining trust.  Financial institutions in particular should change their definition of “customer service marketing” and prove that they can once again be trusted by providing instant,  applicable and individualized customer service beyond high interest rates.

What do you wish your financial institutions would do differently?  Do you trust financial institutions?  What would make you trust them more?

The title of Ramit Sethi’s latest post couldn’t be more timely for me. It’s simply called “Earn More Money in 2010.”

My week started out in a panic when I faced the doom of my credit card balances on Monday. Things got out of hand over the holidays, and, as a Catholic girl who was raised to believe that debt is worse than the devil, I was definitely bound for confession.

If you have the “Post-Christmas Credit Card Blues,” I highly recommend that you follow Ramit’s blog this month. Ramit is doing a whole month of helping you earn more money, overcome psychological barriers, get clients and get paid for what you love to do. Ramit says it best, “there’s a limit to how much you can save, but no limit to how much you can earn.”

I’d love to hear what YOU think about the idea of earning more instead of spending less:

What are you going to do to pay your debt down this year? Continue complaining, making excuses and sitting on the couch every night after work?

Do you believe you can make money doing what you love without quitting your day job?

Are you focusing on cutting lattes out of your week, when you should be focusing on much bigger things?

Do you freelance or work part-time now? What do you do and how has it helped your financial situation, confidence and/or entrepreneurial spirit?

Does your mind tend to go to “cut cost” mode rather than “earn more” mode when in a financial rut?

Routine: boring or amazing?

I always thought it was boring.  Lately I think it’s amazing. 

This is the perfect time of year to take an honest look at your routine.  You probably have some goals for 2010.  Maybe you want to lose 15 lbs, save $5,000 or pay off $3,000 in credit card debt.  Our daily habits become our reality.  How are your daily actions moving you towards or away from your goals? 

Here are a few honest examples from my own life. 

1. My money seems to run away from my wallet like a bat out of hell.  Where the hell is it going? And why the hell do I still have credit card debt?  I stopped carrying my credit card all together and now operate on the Grandma system: I only use cash.  When it’s gone, it’s gone.  I’ve been allocating cash to different envelopes, and guess what?  I haven’t used my credit card and I haven’t over spent.  Hmm.  Apparently I needed to change my routine of carrying and swiping plastic (even if it’s my debit card) every where I go.

2.  My blog posts were starting to be inconsistent and mood driven.  Adding Monday Must-Reads and Tuesday book reviews has given me structure and guarantees that I start the week off right with blogging.  Now it’s just part of my routine, I don’t even have to think about it.  Blogging on Monday and Tuesday means I’m likely to blog on Wednesday and Thursday as well.

3. Although working out has always been part of my life, lately I cannot STAND it.  I will think of any excuse to avoid it.  About 6 weeks ago, I started going to a Monday night kickboxing class. I hate it.  But it has become part of my routine, so I go.  Entering the gym on a Monday helps me go on other days.  This week I’ll be adding class two to my weekly routine.  I’m working up towards going a consistent 4x per week.  Baby steps, baby steps.

4. My new office has a McDonald’s in the building.  FML.  I never really liked McDonald’s, but then I discovered their freaking breakfast burritos.  The past few weeks (OK, month+) I’ve been eating those damn burritos 2-3 times a week.  Time to break this habit before it gets ugly.  I like math, and math doesn’t lie.  X calories times 3 visits per week + crappy processed toxins= not good. Today I brought Oatmeal with Flax seed and a bunch of yogurts to leave at work, need to change the routine up for my health.

You get the idea.  We all have our weaknesses, but have we stopped to recognize them? 

In the fast paced world we live in, it’s really easy to swipe your plastic, skip the gym, run to McDonald’s, and operate on a “when I feel like it” schedule.

Do you feel that our bad habits are conscious ones, or have they just become part of our routine?

Managing your routine means putting yourself in the drivers seat and driving towards your goals rather than around and around in circles.  I didn’t say that routine is always fun or glamourous, but I know for a fact that it works. 

What parts of your routine could you re-design in order to improve your life? 

By, Ashley Crimaldi

In case you haven’t heard, The Federal Trade Commission (F.T.C.) is going after company Experian (the geniuses behind FreeCreditReport.com, and those clever commercials) for misleading Americans into believing FreeCreditReport.com’s credit report services were actually free of charge. In actuality, users are prompted to enter their credit card information before receiving their credit report, and are then enrolled into a monthly credit monitoring program and charged a monthly fee of about $14.

The F.T.C. has accused Experian for misleading Americans seeking free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com (the FTC’s website), to visit FreeCreditReport.com instead. In reaction to the supposedly “false advertising”, the F.T.C. has changed its website name from AnnualCreditReport.com to FreeCreditReport.gov to hopefully clear up any misconception. The F.T.C. has even gone as far as releasing their own parody version of the commercials to inform Americans of the scam. Check out the parody commercial here.

So who is at fault? Should Experian be punished for misleading Americans? Or should the FTC have done a better job marketing its own free credit report website in the first place? Or should credit score commercials be banned all together?

I’d love to hear from you all- were you aware that FreeCreditReport.com credit reports were not free? Have you been duped in the past in scams like this?

Moral to the story: Don’t use Free Credit Report dot com!

For more information, or to view multiple perspective news coverage on the story check out this video from newsy.com, or read the New York Times Article.

By, Nicole Crimaldi

As you put away your Halloween decorations for the year, it’s time to start thinking about the holiday season. I know you’re thinking, “Why?! It’s only November 2!” Exactly.

Most Americans rack up tons of debt on holiday gifts because they fail to plan ahead.

If you get paid bi-weekly that means you have 3-4 paychecks left (as of this post) before all of your holiday shopping needs to be done. That is plenty of time to set some money aside so that you don’t have to use your credit card at all for holiday gifts this year.

You might be thinking, “that’s a nice concept, but I have way too many people to shop for.” Think differently this year.

For example, my best friend and I have started a “holiday dinner” tradition where we go to dinner and drinks rather than exchanging gifts. We’d probably be going out anyways, but we aren’t accumulating extra expenses on gifts and we really look forward to it!

As for my two sisters, I’m planning on asking them to donate their Christmas gift to those in our family who could use the gifts more than us this year. I will also encourage them to do the same with my Christmas gift. Giving to our less fortunate family members is a much better feeling than buying more PJ’s, perfume and junk that we don’t really need.

For your girlfriends, consider doing something together for charity this year rather than buying gifts. For example, you could volunteer at a soup kitchen, donate old clothes together or run a 5k for charity.

You may find that giving to the less fortunate or creating memories is much more fulfilling than buying someone a gift.

For those who you do decide to buy a gift for, sit down and make a budget ASAP. Even after reducing the number of gifts you give, you will probably be surprised at how quickly things add up. Divide the total by the number of paychecks you have left before Christmas/Hanukkah so you know how much you need to put away in order to end 2009’s holiday season debt-free.

Happy planning!