Communicating in a digital (and critical) world
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
Less is more, but make every word count.
Today’s agenda:
🏦 Fed blames itself (and social media) for bank failures
✏️ The secrets of effective written communication
🤖 How to protect your career in the age of AI
🤔 Rethinking the messaging for complex products
💼 Briefly — our quick news roundup
⏱️ Up & coming
Fed releases ‘rare’ self-criticism
The Federal Reserve has a lot to say about its role in the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, stating that supervisors failed to take “forceful enough action.”
✉️ Key points from Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr’s letter accompanying the report:
Regulatory standards for SVB were too low, the supervision did not work with sufficient force and urgency, and the “systemic consequences” to follow were not contemplated by the Fed’s tailoring framework
SVB’s board and management failed to manage their risks
The full extent of the bank’s vulnerabilities as it grew in size and complexity were not adequately appreciated or fixed upon identification
The report is the first step in assessing the Fed’s role in the failure and strengthening its supervision and regulation processes for the future
Social media’s role
Barr also noted that the combination of social media and technology may have “fundamentally changed the speed of bank runs”:
👉 Social media allowed depositors to instantly share concerns about a bank run
👉 Technology allowed immediate withdrawals of funding
According to The New York Times, some execs were satisfied with the report, while others found the lack of “finger-pointing” unacceptable and not a true sign of accountability.
Barr said the Fed is open to external review of the bank failure.
The report came right ahead of the third to fall: The FDIC seized First Republic Bank on Monday morning and sold it to JPMorgan.
Sharpening written communication in a digital (and critical) world
Everything we write and publish is met with a judgmental eye, whether it’s your daily LinkedIn posts, team emails, or a deep dive into your company’s latest AI strategies.
🥇 According to SmartBrief, here’s the Golden Rule: Make written messages as long as necessary and as short as possible.
✍️ Tips to focus your writing:
Know your goal: What do you want the reader to do, and why?
Organize your message so it’s simple to follow
Support your ideas to justify the request
Make it short and easy to digest
Edit significantly
What’s your CTA?
Calls-to-action are the epitome of “short and sweet”: In just a few words, you’re sealing the deal and communicating the value of why your visitors/readers should care.
HubSpot has a list of 10 types of CTAs marketers should know that you can forward to your team.
🖱️ CTA examples:
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Your CTAs should embrace your voice, whether it’s straightforward and to-the-point or fun and light-hearted.
✋ What are the highest-converting CTAs on your website or social media channels right now?
Anything you can do, AI can do better?
Dorie Clark and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic are over the comparisons between human vs. AI abilities.
Instead, they want to focus on how we can better ourselves by using these tools, with an emphasis on the unique value we can add.
🤖 Here’s how:
AI is predictable, and is only as good as the “wisdom of the crowds” — stand out by discerning when to use its suggestions and when to do the opposite of what it suggests
AI mimics authenticity and emotion, but cannot display it — knowing and caring about others can create things machines cannot
AI is stuck in the digital world, but we know the “real world” — create opportunities for real connection and in-person interaction
In a post-pandemic world, we are still rebuilding connections with our clients and customers that may have been lost over time.
Make these connections a priority in your organization to give you a competitive edge.
Taking control of a complex narrative
For some products or services, an unfavorable reputation precedes them — usually because the industry's voice has been drowned out by naysayers.
The reverse mortgage industry is one such example. In a plea to the industry, author and loan officer Jarred Talmadge says it’s time for a “seismic shift” to spur growth.
According to Talmadge, 97% of seniors who could have a reverse mortgage either don’t have one, don’t know about it, or believe the bad press.
🔑 Talmadge’s key points:
Don’t take shots at competitors — focus on new business
Industry must overcome “negative rhetoric” to reach first-time customers
Focus on target audience’s wants and needs
Talmadge wants the industry to flip the script.
It may not do any good to perform an in-depth fact check of Dave Ramsey’s claims on reverse mortgages, but it could help to learn from his successful marketing strategies and how he has earned the trust of his followers.
🧓 The bottom line: In the case of reverse mortgages, the incoming wave of Baby Boomers will need solutions for bulking up their retirement and affording to age in place.
Instead of focusing on the competition or the naysayers, focus on the 97% of previously unreachable seniors who are unaware of a reverse mortgage’s potential.
📈 How can you apply this strategy to your industry’s complex products?
Briefly
🤖 Federal agencies respond to the growing concerns surrounding the potential power and impact of AI with a promise to enforce the necessary laws and regulations — but many think the statement leaves much to be desired
💻 Pew Research Center finds that a third of workers (35%) who have jobs that can be done remotely are working from home all of the time, while 41% have “settled into” hybrid work
🏘️ A group of Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to block the LLPA fee changes that went into effect Monday, while the FHFA says the concerns about the fees are “misconceptions”
😂 Government agencies share entertaining and engaging messages on social media to connect with followers — check out their approach for your own strategy
Up & Coming
The Fed is planning to raise rates again on Wednesday for the 10th time following weeks of debate on whether a planned pause was in the works (especially following the most recent bank failure).
Now that we know a pause isn’t on the table for this week, economists are waiting to see if Chair Jerome Powell hints at one for the near future.