COMMUNITY BANK MARKETING TRENDS

• According to Customer Experience Solutions, some marketing trends in the community bank sector include the use of chatbots, micro-moments to capture impulse consumers, cross-department collaboration, and digital specialists in the marketing department.
• According to Everfi, community bank marketing plans should include local sponsorships, financial education programs, free financial resources, and customer service-driven marketing, such as word or mouth, referrals, and positive reviews.
• The Financial Brand has compiled a list of over 1,000 community bank and credit union taglines.
•  Some 45% of community banks anticipated increasing their marketing budgets in 2019, while two-thirds of them expect to increase digital marketing spend by as much as 25%.
• The Community Banking Brief encourages banks to target millennial consumers through blogs, videos, and infographics.

DURAND STATE BANK, ILLINOIS

• Durand State Bank increased its marketing budget by 50-70% to focus on digital marketing.

FARMERS BANK, INDIANA

• Farmers Bank dedicates 40-50% of its marketing budget to digital to increase brand awareness.

CENTRAL VALLEY COMMUNITY BANK, CALIFORNIA

• In their 2018 annual report, Central Valley Community Bank reported $758,000 in advertising expenses.
• They received a Fresno Advertising Federation Silver Addy Award for their newspaper advertising.
• The bank consolidated some of its branch offices in response to consumer demand for more mobile and online technologies.

BANK OF THE WEST, CALIFORNIA

•  The Balance named Bank of the West the best small bank in California.
• Bank of the West had 22 nationally-aired television commercials in the last 30 days.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY BANK

•  Santa Cruz Count Bank was ranked 12th in American Banker Magazine's top performing community banks.