A recent article in The Financial Brand confirms what I’ve always believed: that marketing is worth every penny spent. I’ve known this since my days working as an art director at J Walter Thompson on the Oscar Mayer account, shooting television commercials that featured the Wienermobile. That long-held belief was just confirmed in TFB’s recently posted article, The Growth Secret of Fast Growing Small and Midsize Banks: Marketing Matters.
According to “a comprehensive analysis conducted by Capital Performance Group in partnership with The Financial Brand:”
- Both small and mid-size banks that spent on marketing grew loans faster than their non-marketing spending counterparts
- Small and midsize banks grew revenue faster when they spent more on marketing than their peer groups
- Midsize banks without marketing expense reported revenue shrinkage year over year, while those with marketing spend reported growth of 1.71%
- Midsize banks with marketing expenses also saw a higher loan-to-deposit ratio than their counterpart.
According to the study, small banks (banks $1 billion-$10 billion) typically spend 2.9% of their noninterest expense budgets on marketing, whereas mid-size banks ($10 billion-$100 billion) spend slightly less; 2.7% of their noninterest expense budget and 6 basis points of assets.
Just as important as the amount of money spent, of course, is how and where that money is spent. After all, “you need to spend it wisely when you have it,” say the authors. “As marketers face pressure to demonstrate a return, they must shift their focus from traditional marketing spending on communications and brand awareness to revenue generation, such as deposit promotions or marketing campaigns to attract new customers.”
Why? It’s a data-driven world. Bank marketers no longer rely on untargeted branding. Instead, they demand demonstrable results from their marketing efforts. That shift has steered community banks away from broad awareness campaigns toward more performance-focused initiatives. And it’s all about data.
Thanks to evolving technologies, bank marketers now have robust data and insights into KPIs and lead generation; metrics that help them optimize campaigns on the fly. For this reason, bank marketing budgets increasingly favor measurable, lower-funnel tactics that tie directly to revenue. To capitalize on these insights, banks are running specialized offers—like high-yield savings promotions, boosted referral bonuses, or limited-time credit/debit card perks—to not only attract customers but also track campaign success through precise data such as engagement, click-throughs, conversions, and account openings.
“When asked to rank various marketing channels for their greatest return, bank marketers continued the trend of highlighting digital marketing, which has been the case for the past two years’ surveys. Digital marketing can be more cost efficient and easier to measure, which can be beneficial for banks of all sizes,”1 as shown in the chart below.
This is where digital marketing tools like Bank Marketing Center’s Social+ come into play. Designed specifically for community banks, Social+ enhances the marketer’s ability to create, schedule, and publish content across multiple platforms; from templated ads to performance-optimized messaging. With built-in analytics, teams can track which posts are driving engagement and which offers are converting, making it easier to fine-tune campaigns in real time. Marketers can track budget spent, conversions, and ROI across channels and by doing so, meet the increasing demands for accountability.
In short, the shift toward ROI-focused marketing isn’t just a trend. It’s now a necessity. With platforms like Social+, community banks can run strategic, measurable campaigns that not only build brand, but also drive real, profitable growth.
That’s not to say that bank marketers should completely abandon branding. In fact, to do so can have significant downsides in the form of:
- Loss of trust in the brand
- Decreased brand distinctiveness
- Reduced customer loyalty
- Weakened market position
- Increased reliance on paid media
Such is the marketing spend tightrope that bank marketers must walk. As the authors of The Financial Brand article conclude, “in 2025, bank marketers will be asked to demonstrate the return on all marketing investments, even traditional and brand-focused ones.” This is no doubt true, as bank marketers seek to build their brand and their bank’s bottom line while justifying every dollar spent.
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.
1ABA Journal. “Bank marketing budget and staffing considerations for 2025.” January 16, 2025.