I came across an article in the Financial Brand that I thought offered some interesting insights. The article, “Forget the Fancy Digital Tools: To Win New Business Customers, Your People and Reputation Are the Keys,” focused on a Rivel Banking Research analysis of commercial and small business clients’ needs. “One of the standout findings from our research,” it said, “is the importance of personalization in banking relationships.”
This insight aligns well with our mission here at Bank Marketing Center: To partner with community banks in building trusted relationships with their customers through personalization. To achieve this, banks must, of course, offer that personalized service in their branch offices. But they must also offer it across their entire online presence, from websites to emails to social posts.
High-touch personal service, high-tech digital marketing tools
The Rivel research underscores that the primary drivers when selecting a banking partner are trustworthiness and personal service. We know that personal relationships in banking are crucial, and that trusted relationships with in-branch personnel is key to attracting and retaining customers. We also know that doing so simply isn’t enough and the reason is, well, fairly obvious. Surveys indicate that a growing number of banking customers are moving away from traditional in-person branch visits. A DepositAccounts survey1 found that 52% of Americans would be happy never to return to a physical bank branch again, highlighting a significant shift towards digital banking preferences. Similarly, a global survey reported by Computer Weekly2 revealed that 26% of respondents have no intention of visiting a bank branch again, favoring a fully digital banking experience. So, what’s a community bank to do? Leverage digital channels.
“Leveraging digital channels allows banks to engage with a broader audience, build trust through transparent customer reviews and enhance their brand presence. By actively participating in online conversations and showcasing positive customer experiences, banks can create a dynamic and compelling narrative that resonates with potential clients, ultimately driving growth and fostering stronger customer relationships.”3
This captures a fundamental truth: banks today need to be where their customers are. And today, that’s online. As consumers continue to migrate to digital banking, their expectations for personalized, authentic experiences grow as well. Social media offers a powerful (not to mention free!) platform for banks to build trust and humanize their brand. And it’s just not about being visible. It's about being relatable, responsive, and relevant.
So, with the continuing shift toward digital channels and the demand for more tailored interactions, community banks must prioritize more engaging and personalized messaging across all marketing touchpoints – especially social. Why? First, because social media remains a go-to channel for today’s consumers, who rely heavily on word-of-mouth and peer reviews when making decisions. It offers a low-lift way to put real testimonials in front of future customers. Second, thanks to scalable tech, social media offers unmatched opportunities for personalization, allowing banks to connect in ways that feel human and immediate – something we all seem to be craving in an increasingly AI world.
We help you make it personal
Here at Bank Marketing Center (BMC), we offer the tools that enable community banks to do just that; personalize their digital marketing messaging, and create that “dynamic and compelling narrative that resonates with customers.” To that end, we offer our community bank partners a comprehensive suite of digital marketing tools. With them, community bank marketers can efficiently create, store, analyze, and refine their marketing messaging across all channels, from direct mail and statement stuffers to in-branch signage and online advertising.
At the center of the BMC suite of digital marketing tools is an extensive content library featuring over 7,000 easily-customized templates designed by marketing professionals with decades experience in the financial services industry. This resource enables a bank’s marketing team to quickly and easily develop personalized, on-brand, on-message marketing materials tailored to their unique needs.
Complementing the content library is Social+, BMC's integrated social media management platform. Social+ allows banks to create, schedule, and publish content across multiple social media platforms from a single dashboard. This streamlined approach to social media management does much more than simply save the marketing team time. With Social+, features such as its analytics dashboard and engagement monitoring allowbank marketers access to invaluable data and insights across all of their social platforms, empowering them with the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) they need to assess the effectiveness of their messaging. This enhances a bank’s ability to create messaging that is far more engaging; in short, messaging that creates conversations. The Social+ monitoring feature alerts marketers to brand mentions on their platforms, enabling them to respond quickly to questions and comments, further enhancing the bank’s image as a trusted, responsive institution. To sum up, Social+ brings both automation and insight, enabling banks to not only make the most of their resources, but engage prospects in meaningful, personalized, and measurable ways.
By leveraging BMC's digital marketing tools, community banks can deliver the personalized, creative, and persuasive messaging that builds strong relationships with their customers. They can also better engage with customers, creating conversations that can, perhaps, lead to conversion. This combination of high-touch service and digital efficiency gives community banks the competitive edge they need in this ever-evolving digital marketing world.
Bank Marketing Center
We’re Bank Marketing Center, the leading, subscription-based provider of automated marketing services to community banks. Our goal is to help bank marketers with topical, compelling communication with customers that builds trust, relationships, and revenue. And we do this through automating critical bank marketing functions, such as content creation, social media management and digital asset management, as well as regulatory and brand compliance.
We also want to share what we know – and learn along the way – with all our community banking friends. Whether it’s the latest on AI technology, suggestions on how to attract and retain top talent, or the importance of data protection, we’re here to make bank marketing the best that it can be.
Want to learn more about what we can do for your community bank and your marketing efforts? You can start by visiting bankmarketingcenter.com. Then, feel free to contact me directly by phone at 678-528-6688 or via email at nreynolds@bankmarketingcenter.com. As always, I welcome your thoughts.
1DepositAccounts. 52% of Americans would be happy never visiting a physical bank ever again. August 16, 2022.
2Computer Weekly. Quarter of people don’t plan to visit a bank branch again. November 3, 2021.
3The Financial Brand. Forget the Fancy Digital Tools: To Win New Business Customers, Your People and Reputation Are the Keys. March 31, 2025.