Sara Watkins named as new chair of the network council.

• Position: MARKETING edge

Council to Oversee Creation of a 'Marketing Plan' Online Template

A "marketing plan" online template will be developed this year on the ABAMN website for use by members, says Sara Watkins, CFMP, the newly named chairwoman of the ABAMN Council for 2005-06.

The template will be a follow up to the successful return-on-investment (ROI) template, which was introduced on the website earlier this year. The new template will be the second of a series of planned online "desktop assistants" designed to help marketers do their job better.

Two other goals that the council has for the upcoming year are to modify the name of the ABA Ad Awards contest and to develop a curriculum roadmap to assist bank marketers with the resources needed to enhance their career, she says.

Watkins is the executive vice president of the Corporate Services Group at Sandy Spring Bank, Olney, Maryland (assets: $2.3 billion).

Two new members were named to the council. They are William D. Bennett, vice president, Americas Management, Brown Brothers Harrison, N.Y., and Nick Vaglio, CFMP, vice president of wholesale marketing at Wachovia Bank, Summit, N.J.

Watkins, who has been in bank marketing for nine years, notes that two of the biggest challenges facing marketers today are tracking return on investment and differentiating their banks. "Many bank marketers are faced with the issue of not having a sufficient budget to effectively meet the marketing needs of their organization," she says. As a result, marketers are struggling to measure their marketing return on investment to justify increased budgets.

The move to increase differentiation is being driven by competition and pricing pressures, as many banks seek to grow and attract new deposits, she notes.

Watkins received a bachelor of science degree in human resource management from Hood College, in Frederick, Md. She also graduated from the ABA School of Bank Marketing and Management and the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

Her happiest bank marketing moment came a few years ago with approval of her bank's new logo, she says. An earlier attempt to change the logo had been unsuccessful, despite six months of effort. "I learned a lot during the first attempt and drastically changed the process for the second attempt ... and it worked."

For relaxation, Watkins likes contra dancing (a type of American folk dance in which the dancers form a set of two parallel lines that run the length of the hall). "My partner, Dave, and I...