For years, bank marketers have faced a frustrating challenge: They know marketing contributes to growth, yet convincing the rest of the organization can be another matter entirely.
This was the focus of a recent Bank Marketing Center webinar, “Shifting Perceptions About Bank Marketing: From Cost Center to Revenue Engine,” hosted by Bank Marketing Center President Neal Reynolds and featuring Eric Cook, Chief Digital Strategist at Cook Technology Solutions LLC and Founder of The LinkedBanker. A former community banker with more than 30 years of banking and digital marketing experience, Eric understands both sides of the conversation. His message to marketers is straightforward: If you want bank leadership to better appreciate marketing’s contribution, start communicating that contribution in terms bankers understand.
Speak the language of the bank
Marketers routinely measure impressions, clicks, engagement, website traffic, and conversions. Those metrics matter, but they may not resonate with executives focused on profitability, deposits, loans, retention, and cost of funds.
“Think CEO,” Eric advises. “CEOs don’t speak marketing fluff; they speak the language of tangible results and ROI.” That means connecting marketing activity to business outcomes whenever possible. Instead of simply reporting that a campaign generated thousands of impressions or hundreds of clicks, marketers should work toward showing what those activities ultimately produced in new accounts, deposits, loans, or customer relationships.
CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) can be especially useful. Knowing what a new relationship is potentially worth gives marketing a much stronger foundation for discussing acquisition costs and campaign ROI.
Get marketing involved sooner
Another recurring challenge is the perception of marketing as an internal service desk: Someone needs an ad, brochure, social post or promotional item, so they call marketing. Eric urges marketers to change that relationship. “Move from a service desk to a strategic partner,” he says. That starts with gaining access to the bank’s strategic plan and developing stronger relationships with retail, commercial lending, treasury management, and other departments. It also means asking questions before starting a project. What is the business objective? Who is the audience? What action should they take? What is the budget? How will success be measured?
That’s why Eric recommends a marketing intake process. The goal isn’t more paperwork. It’s replacing the “Can you make this pretty?” conversation with one about strategy and measurable results.
Track what happens next
Of course, proving marketing’s value requires data. There are relatively simple tools banks can use, he says, to improve attribution, including campaign-specific landing pages, UTM parameters, and analytics. Better tracking helps connect the dots between a marketing message and what the prospect does next. And those dots lead to ROI.
When tracking isn’t possible because of limitations in a bank’s systems, which with smaller banks this is often the case, community bank marketers shouldn’t ignore the problem. Identifying those gaps can help make the business case for better technology and data integration. AI can play a growing role here as well, helping marketers analyze information, uncover patterns and transform campaign data into insights leadership can use.
Market the marketing
Perhaps one of Eric’s most important recommendations is that marketers need to do a better job of promoting their own work internally. “Take your show on the road,” he says. Share campaign successes. Explain the process behind marketing initiatives. Consider internal lunch-and-learns covering topics such as SEO, analytics, and campaign strategy. Help employees understand not only what marketing does, but why. Because changing the perception of marketing won’t happen simply by doing good work. People need to see the results.
So, what does it mean to shift the perception of a community bank’s marketing from cost center to revenue engine? Marketing must earn its seat at the strategic table by demonstrating how its work supports the bank’s goals. When marketers can connect campaigns to growth, profitability, efficiency, and customer relationships, the conversation changes. Marketing stops looking like an expense and starts looking like the truly critical investment that it is.
Bank Marketing Center
We’re Bank Marketing Center, the leading subscription-based, automated marketing platform built specifically for community banks. Today, we help marketing professionals at more than 300 financial institutions create and distribute timely, engaging communications that build brand trust, strengthen customer relationships, and support revenue growth.
We do that by automating many of the essential marketing functions banks rely on every day; from content creation using professionally designed bank marketing templates to social media scheduling and monitoring, digital asset management, compliance routing, and more.
Just as important, we believe in sharing the knowledge and insights we gain along the way. Whether we’re examining the latest AI tools, offering strategies for attracting and retaining top talent, hosting webinars on operational efficiency, or sharing expert perspectives on the trends shaping the future of banking, our goal remains the same: helping community banks compete, grow, and succeed.
Want to learn more about how we can support your community bank and its marketing efforts? Visit bankmarketingcenter.com to see what we can do for you. You’re also welcome to contact me directly at 678-528-6688 or email me at nreynolds@bankmarketingcenter.com. As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.