• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 14, 2014

Major financial institutions like Citibank take the responsibility of communicating vital information like local branch closures or technology glitches to customers during a natural disaster, but without the technology the task seems daunting. When disaster strikes, people may initially grab their mobile device to search for local branches and closures to access funds.

Citibank wanted more control of local online content and to increase the ability to highlight vital information about national products and services during natural disasters. It paid off during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, with help from Yext PowerListings. The two jointly updated emergency messages across more than 50 online properties and 300 ATMs and branch locations in real-time affected by the storm. The financial institution even waved ATM transaction fees at operational locations in real-time.

Real-time updates are just as important for non-emergency situations. During the holidays, for example, retailers updated their daily hours of operation that served up in search engine listings across the Web.

The partnership between Citibank and Yext, which dates back to 2012, provides insight into the impact that real-time updates have on the brand's local presence. Initially, the company integrated PowerListings for more than 2,300 Citibank locations in June to streamline the information across the Internet, and added listings for ATMs and Citi Bike rental locations in 2013.

The results varied. The technology allowed Citibank to update information in real-time, eliminated 9,500 duplicated listings, and created 48,000 managed location content pages. It also allowed the financial institution to add 92,000 logos and photos to listing pages that help brand services, and update 102,000 hours of operation and 512,000 features messages.

Yext gives marketing departments the tools to manage local content, listings, social and store pages, campaigns, in-store experiences, and analytics with the GeoMarketing Cloud. Having the ability to sync and manage messages based on location generated 27 million search impressions and 810, 000 profile views with 873,000 consumers clicking through to the company's Web site for more information.