Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. It’s not a fad. It’s not a flash in the pan.

I think it will continue to evolve and bring even more value. But I also think we’ve jumped the shark a bit. Every marketing conference agenda I see is chock-full of AI talks. It’s like it’s all we care about.

And why not? The prospect of a machine doing our jobs for us—or at the very least, helping us find efficiencies—is pretty compelling, right?

Hopefully, we’ll continue to find ways to use AI to enhance our daily work life. What’s better when you’re trying to compose a tough email than to ask an AI bot to give you a start? A few days ago, I asked ChatGPT for meal ideas, and it gave me a weekly menu with nutritional info for each meal!

There are amazing benefits to having most of the human thought that’s been captured cataloged and organized in one place, and driven by a conversational interface. But what’s the balance? 

I think author Joanna Maciejewska (@AuthorJMac) captured it best when she tweeted: “You know what the biggest problem with pushing all-things-AI is? Wrong direction. I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.”

But we’re in the ad world, not the art world. And not all of us are graphic designers and copywriters, but all of us have tremendous pressure to make great ads, year after year. 

I want to state plainly: I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with using AI to produce ads. But I do think it’s dangerous.

Every trend changes. And most of the time, they reverse. Bootcut jeans are in vogue; then we go to skinny jeans (and now back to boot-cut). Low rise? Nope. Now, it’s high-waisted mom jeans. In art, we go from realism to abstract. Culturally, we go from the free-wheeling 60s and 70s to the buttoned-down yuppy 80s, and then into the fun 90s. And don’t get me started on the French tuck. Things don’t just change; they have an almost Newtonian (equal and opposite) reaction.

Yes. I know I said AI is here to stay. So are blue jeans. And both are going to keep changing.

Bold Predictions

It’s always dangerous territory to make predictions. This will be out there to bite me in the butt if I’m wrong. But here goes anyway: I think we’re going to see a huge pendulum swing back to REAL in the next 18-24 months.

The evidence that trends seems to reverse is one component of this prediction. Another is how dangerous AI is becoming. The photo below was widely circulated on Facebook after the devastation of Hurricane Helene in September 2024. 

The first danger is how many people didn’t realize the image was AI-generated. The second danger is when it was pointed out, people kept posting the image with captions like, “I don’t care that this is AI. It shows the plight of people in the Carolinas. No negative comments.” I believe it is incredibly dangerous when people can’t tell reality from fiction. It is even more dangerous when we don’t care. Here’s the deal: As humans, we gravitated to that image because it captured how we wanted to feel about the situation, but without an ounce of realism. It’s too pretty. It’s too clean. It didn’t at all capture the tragedy—which was much messier and not in the least bit cute. 

Beyond that, the first major regulation* of AI hit in August of 2024 with the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act. If the past has shown us anything, we can bet on the US adopting EU standards, and regulations continuing to grow. There is an incredibly low likelihood that AI images will be banned, but a future in which they have to be disclosed is not out of the question. A future with a “Created with AI” badge on images seems quite possible.

As a species, it stands to reason that we’ll grow weary of the extra mental energy it takes to discern fact from fiction. We’re cautious of artificial coloring and flavoring. Artificial intelligence will eventually join that list. 

What’s Next?

As much as holistic eating and farm-to-table was a reaction to generations of processed food, I think we’ll see a return to real. The oversaturation of AI in our bank marketing conferences is worrisome. Those who only attend AI breakouts will find themselves lacking if my predictions are true.

I believe society will put a higher premium on real experiences, real stories, and real images. This squares with a community banking mindset, anyway. One of the benefits of choosing a smaller institution is the human aspect—real people helping with real solutions. So, the risk of balancing a photography class with honing prompt writing skills isn’t risky at all. There will always be a premium on actual creativity. The commodity of operating an AI interface will eventually become saturated. Human skills will become even more important. AI can do a lot of seemingly magical things, but at the end of the day, it’s just a collection of what humanity has done up until that point. It’s the same information you can get from a regular Google search—just via an interface that seems more like you’re chatting with a person. It’s more novelty than revolution.

AI can give you information, but it can’t give you insights. That’s still firmly in the realm of humans.

*We acknowledge the October 30, 2023, US Presidential Executive order, but do not regard it as major regulation.

Aaaaooooooogaaaa! That’s the clarion call of “disrupt or die!” The horn has been blasted loudly and repeatedly from the mountaintops—mainly by those who get paid for their opinions and guidance moreso than those of us who have to do the work.

There is no wonder we hear we must change our banks from the folks who get paid to tell us to change our banks.

"Disruption is Dead" with lightning bolts behind it

Implementation specialists

Change agents

Innovation consultants

I’m tired of them. And I’m tired of the talk about disruption.

It’s time to talk about discernment.

Let’s clearly acknowledge banks do, in fact, need to embrace change and become active participants in innovation. However, there is a time, place, and pace for everything.

I feel like, now, we’re in a crowded theater, someone yelled “fire,” and we’re in a mad, haphazard dash toward the exits—crushing one another on the way to an uncertain future.

Your job is not disruption. Your job is discernment.

No matter your role at the bank, your job is to determine what needs to change and when.

Disruption is Vogue

“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.” ― Tom Goodwin, Digital Darwinism: Survival of the Fittest in the Age of Business Disruption.

This quote has been shared and misattributed countless times on LinkedIn and poorly-wrought conference PowerPoints. We’ve deified these companies who came along and created upheaval. Even Tom Goodwin has asked us to refocus how we frame these companies—especially considering how varied their paths unwound since the publishing of his book just a short time ago in 2018.

Watching Uber and Airbnb come to life is as exciting as watching an elite athlete put on the performance of a lifetime. It’s compelling to watch magic—someone achieving the impossible. That’s why the Michael Jordan documentary, The Last Dance, put up record viewership numbers. It showed peak Michael Jordan. And there’s only one MJ.

It’s exciting to watch disruption happen, but none of us expect to go out on the court and be like Mike.

Banks Need Change

Along with the excitement of disruption, banks need change. Somewhere along the way, though, we mistook a need for innovation for a need to disrupt.

We watched companies like Chime, Venmo, and SoFi march up to the gates of banking and bang loudly. Or at least that’s how it looked. They actually did something totally different. Yet banks rushed (a little too late) to capture the leftover market with products that don’t live up to the predecessor.

Banks are victims of the pendulum swing all the time. We wait and catch it on the high arc.

We feel like we’re late. We listen to the “sky is falling” consultants—who are also late to ring the bell. And we spend tons of money for marginal results.

Look at Venmo. They popped onto the world stage, and folks flocked to their service. We watched and watched and finally heard:

“Hey, this is a threat to banking!”

“Hey, you need to offer your own P2P. Don’t let others hold your cash!”

“Hey, you’re going to look uncool if you don’t have this!”

But there’s a problem. Venmo had already innovated. They captured the early adopters. They captured the second wave, which was influenced by the first wave. Who was left? Those that Venmo—the Michael Jordan of P2Ps—couldn’t attract. But consultants convinced us we should try our hand at capturing them anyway.

And we wound up with campaigns like “convince Dad to send his college-age daughter some cash” or “split the wine bill with your octogenarian friends.”

There wasn’t much audience left. They already made their decisions to go with technology or to be happy with folding money and checks.

The Incumbent Factor

We tend to look at the darlings of disruption from the wrong angle. We only look at their innovation in their given field. We don’t look at what was wrong in the first place.

Was Uber successful because it was innovative?

Or because cabs suck?

Both. But I don’t think we would care about the former if the latter was not only true but aggressively true.

I’m profoundly unsuccessful at hailing cabs on the street in New York City. I hate the queue at LaGuardia, where you march down the stanchions to get into the next cab. And, to me, the experience only gets worse when you get inside the cab. You’re surrendering your livelihood to a short-tempered person erratically piloting a yellow, foul-smelling sarcophagus on wheels.

My first experience with Uber in NYC was the exact opposite. I exited a plane, summoned a driver as I was walking through the terminal, and was told where to meet my car. He was waiting for me with a smiling face and a clean vehicle.

The experience couldn’t have been more different. But, at face value, Uber was really just “whelming.” A decent person with a decent car with a decent drive. Sure, the technology was cool, but when we think about it, it’s not THAT groundbreaking. It repurposed and repackaged the steps you’d go through to ask a buddy for a ride. But, when this experience is cast against the horrors of riding in a cab, Uber becomes overwhelmingly transcendent.

lightning bolts

Disruption has less to do with how good you are and more to do with how bad the incumbent is.

It is well-known incumbents are hard to beat. Good incumbents are even more difficult.

Also, at some point, we were convinced banks are the challenger. You are not the challenger. You are the incumbent.

This perspective is important. It doesn’t mean you don’t need to innovate. It also doesn’t mean you’re always defending your position. But largely, we’ve forgotten we’re in the power position. It’s easier to sell you consulting when you feel weaker than you are.

As with Uber, disruption isn’t always about innovation. Most times, it’s about solving what is wrong.

So what is wrong in the industry that you and your bank can solve?

It’s actually probably not “the industry.” The place you can affect the most change is likely in the communities you serve.

Instead of listening to Chicken Little pundits who make money from “Sky is Falling” rhetoric, look closer to home. 

Recently, I was speaking with a client at a restaurant. I’ve had a version of this conversation several times.

At this point, a random couple walks up. Somehow, they’d discerned the bank and listened in on the conversation. They owned a business and had commercial and personal accounts with the bank.

Yes, banks have worn out the “our people” message. And it is difficult to frame creatively, but the simple act of being available might be as disruptive in your bank’s service area as any new technology. It’s just not as sexy. And it might not be as expensive.

Discernment Simplified

Look at innovation through the lens of customer’s problems instead of coming trends from a cracked crystal ball. Sometimes this will require innovation. Sometimes this will require focus on what you already do well. But don’t let anyone outside set your pace.

I learned a simple axiom that added to my ability to discern change in my business. You have three options when it comes to innovation. 

1. You can be early

2. You can be late

3. You can be right on time

Being early costs a bit more money and comes with more risk, but your potential for reward is higher. Being late costs less money and is less risky, but you lose opportunities. Being right on time is impossible. Once you stop considering this fallacy, decisions become a whole lot easier.

No time to read? Listen to an audio version of this blog below. Once you’ve finished, check out the bonus discussion here.

10 Questions to Ask Before You Start the Search

Marketing a bank is harder than ever. New techniques and technologies abound. The never-ending cycles of approvals to adopt change are extended as IT and compliance departments balance advancement against risk. On top of that, most banks are actually performing pretty well—which sounds great…until you’re challenged to do better next year.

agency wanted sign on door

Beyond that, there’s a statistic that looms large. Five years ago, there were 5,818 banks in the U.S. At the end of 2018, there were only 4,687. That’s a 20 percent shrink. And it’s not like the competition went away. Before, you were battling against peers. Now that many banks have consolidated or been scooped up by megabanks, you’re battling giants.

As banks realize the need to grow in marketing sophistication, many are reaching out to agencies for the first time. I want to help you find one—and it doesn’t even have to be mine.

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: “But you own an ad agency!” I sure do. But I’ve learned a big lesson over the years in this business: good relationships are worth their weight in gold. I’ve learned a few other things in that time, and I want to share some of them with you. There are no “truth bombs” here. Most of it is common sense. These are questions you should ask yourself before starting the agency search, or at least should consider before making the final selection. You’ll not only want to ask yourself, but also ask the agency(ies) that will do your work.

I’ll start with a bonus “thing.” Forget the stereotypes you’ve heard about agencies. Creatives are lazy…Agencies will talk down to you…It’s all like Mad Men. (I’ve had several mentors confirm the realism of that show, but those days have passed.) Some of these stereotypes are true of some agencies, but they are not the norm, and they are certainly not the standard. Many banks enter the agency search trying to find the “least bad” agency and are surprised when they still wind up with a bad agency. Look for the best, and accept nothing less.

Ok. One more bonus thing and then we’ll start. It’s really not about hiring the best agency, but the best fit. It would be a tragedy to hire an agency with terrible creative talents, but it’s worse (by many orders of magnitude) to hire an agency that’s a bad fit. Only consider agencies with creative/technical products that resonate with you, then hire the one you like best. Work with a group you like working with, and the work will be much, much easier and much, much better.

This is why you can trust my advice as an agency owner. Even if I spent the rest of this article trying to subliminally convince you that we’re the best bank marketing firm out there (even though we are), I couldn’t determine if we are a fit. And I’m much more concerned with fit. You should be, too. Trust me.

So how do you find the best fit for your bank?

Ask yourself these questions:

speech bubbles

1. Do you want to delegate or collaborate?

There are two general categories for agency relationships. In one, a bank seeks an agency to which they can hand over all work, responsibility, and results. In the other, a bank seeks an agency with whom they can work together to determine the best approach on all work and divide responsibilities for the best results.

One of these works and one doesn’t.

If you want to hire an agency that just does the work for you, I can bet on your disappointment and I’ll win nine out of ten times. An agency is not a rescue, but it is an aid.

Collaboration doesn’t mean equal effort; it just means you’re present. It means you’re working with the agency. You have to be the lifeline into your bank, providing insights that outsiders can’t intuit on their own. Some of these are emotional. Some of these are technical (“we’re about to open a new branch, and we can give you two extra weeks to work on creative by letting you know early”).

A death knell of a bad relationship is when I want to say to a client: “I can’t care more about the success of your business than you do.” If you hire an agency, it’s probably because you need to delegate. But delegation combined with collaboration is much more successful than delegation without any interest in the process. If you have no interest in marketing, it’s going to be hard for the agency to sustain excitement just over the amount of money they’re billing you.

Keep in mind that as the client, you are the boss. Are you ready to lead the marketing efforts or are you looking for a swift handoff?

hand reading document

2. Can you clearly communicate your needs?

It might seem obvious, but if I have to say it, you must assume I’ve faced it. Before beginning your search for an agency, you must begin with some internal needs assessment. Per the first item, you have to be more specific than wanting “marketing help.”

Can you articulate (specifically) what you want your agency to do? Perhaps it is general strategic help. Or maybe it’s more focused:

Whatever your needs, you need to be able to define them internally before reaching out. A large portion of a new agency relationship is building rapport, calibrating vocabulary (making sure you understand one another’s technical jargon) and getting on the same page. It’s not just that you need to be able to communicate your needs to your agency—you need to understand them yourself.

It’s not just about preparation. It’s about clarity and direction. Any new agency will have to onboard to understand the strategy, personality, etc. of your organization. You’ll waste valuable time and money if your agency is charging to not only figure out how to do the work but also what work to do.

Internal clarity is also important. Do your key stakeholders understand why you need an agency and what you need from that agency? Your agency will have trouble nailing down what they need to do if they’re getting conflicting messages from the marketing director, CEO and executive vice president of retail. And you will grow to resent the agency for not understanding.

If you truly don’t know where to start, you might want to engage a company with an “opportunity audit.” Create this as a separate assignment in which you’re asking an agency (or consultancy) to see where you can find the most success with your advertising dollars. This can be guidance around product promotion, advertising technique, audience identification or a combination of these (plus many more factors).

Microscope

3. How will you know it works?

Not only do you need to know what you need your agency to do, but you also need to understand how to measure the performance of the efforts. That might be timelines, results or other factors (and combinations thereof). Clearly communicating your goals and how those goals are measured is as vital as knowing what you want.

Timeline – Ask your agency how long it takes to complete the types of projects you’ll be requesting and be sure to communicate your absolute due dates early and often.

Results – Marketers who say they can promise specific results—whether it’s click-through rates or actual deposits—are lying. It’s a subjective art. But knowing the targets your campaign needs to hit can help your agency develop a more effective strategy. There are always quantitative indicators of success. While marketing is full of nuance and circumstance, we can certainly see the markers of performance.

Budget – Every agency bills differently and every bank pays differently, but know that every request you make will likely have a dollar amount attached to it. Agree to these term up front and be sure to communicate them frequently.

Many factors that will measure success are kept within the crypts of your bank’s data systems. While Google Analytics and click-throughs can indicate performance, most of us will really be judged by account openings (and those accounts actually being funded), loan growth and share-of-wallet product adoption. You must be a conduit between your bank and the agency to truly track performance.

magnifying glass inspecting building

4. Do you need bank-focused knowledge or localized service?

You likely have two options for agencies: a local agency in your marketplace or a bank-specific agency.

Each has its pros—and cons.

Obviously, bank-focused agencies claim expertise in the same field and bring value from relevant experience, but you might not be able to meet in person as much as you’d like. You must be comfortable using technology to communicate with faraway agencies. Also, be sure to vet their knowledge. I said “claim” on purpose because I’ve seen some bank marketing firms that might know banking or might know marketing, but don’t know both. There are a handful of peers I would recommend at any point and time, but beware bad actors.

Local agencies will provide greater in-person access to a team, but most lack relevant financial industry experience. But don’t count these guys out. I didn’t always know bank marketing, and neither did you. It’s quite possible a non-bank firm will bring new insights. They also have a better understanding of local culture. However, you may find yourself explaining banking principles more than you’d like—saying, “Good idea, but we can’t do that due to Regulation XYZ.” Or you might both miss it. Be sure to have a good compliance backstop if you go local.

Remember that you’ll have to provide what the agency is missing. You might have to relate local culture in one case or explain banking products in another. Only you can decide which route you want to take, but make sure this is a matter that has been discussed and decided upon internally.

people checkmarks

5. Do you need one comprehensive solution or a mix of specialists?

Some agencies have a diverse set of services under one roof, and others focus on one area—such as video production or digital advertising.

Do you want to work with an agency that will handle all of your needs, or do you want to be more hands-on, managing individual projects with multiple groups of creatives?

Working with multiple agencies likely means you will have more control over the individual projects. For instance you could find a great fit for general day-to-day needs and add a specialist for a set of animated explainer videos. However, it means you’ll be carrying a much larger workload. You’ll also have to work harder to make sure your brand is consistent from project to project.

Working with an agency that offers all marketing services under one roof means you’ll likely be assigned a project manager to handle some of that workload (if you’re the kind of person who can relinquish it), but also to make sure the designers, photographers, writers and developers are all familiar with your brand standards.

The ability to choose one or many agencies might seem granular, but few consider the amount of choice they have in agency selection.

megaphone microphone

6. Are you willing to overcommunicate?

Some agencies may be able to complete your sentences, but they can’t read your mind.

Communication breakdowns are likely the most pervasive of all agency problems. Per the first question on this list (notice how many of these questions relate to that one item?), you must be the communicator from your bank to the agency. And you must be willing to overcommunicate.

This isn’t an agency owner passing the buck. No agency wants to tell you that they’re dealing with multiple clients, but it’s the truth (unless you want one hell of a bill). At the same time, they’re working in a creative environment, and you’re working in a bank—just because you’re on the same page with an idea doesn’t mean you will both execute it the same.

On top of all of this, your agency will likely have to do some of the most critical work for your bank at the very beginning of the relationship. This means they’re doing incredibly important work before they fully understand the totality of your business. There’s no other way to do it. If you wait until it’s all comfortable, it will always be too late.

If you’re going through the effort of hiring, working with, and paying an agency to work with your bank, make sure you can give them the benefit of the doubt. An agency’s best metric of success is the success of its clients. It’s improbable they will intentionally undermine you.

Maybe you hate your agency’s project management system or aren’t satisfied with the inconsistent response time. There’s a chance they can accommodate change, but if they’re worth their salt, they’ll at least listen to you. Regardless, both of you should work toward a solution. Your feedback is invaluable in that process.

Let your agency know what you like and what you don’t like about the relationship. Open, solution-seeking communication will go a long way toward overall success.

transforming happy to sad

7. Can you facilitate with transparency?

Keep your agency apprised of the goings-on at your bank. If your bank is expanding into a new market or discontinuing a product, your agency needs to know. They’re charged with helping you develop your marketing strategy, and they can’t do that with only a piece of the information. You’ve likely asked them to sign an NDA (and we already established that you shouldn’t work with an agency you can’t trust anyway) so fill them in on what’s coming up. It will only benefit your bank’s marketing in the long run.

Don’t try to protect your agency’s feelings by keeping your frustrations (or praise) to yourself. Any creative adept at working in collaboration can handle criticism. If your CEO hates an ad, you’re not helping anyone by keeping that to yourself. Your agency will just keep making ads your CEO hates unless they know what not to do. This will do nothing for your relationship with executive management and will only cause further damage.

If you’re the type of person who feels stuck between sides that seem to be at odds, I feel for you. I don’t have any simple advice for you. Even if it’s tough, you’ll have to power through or find someone else on your team to deliver the clear feedback to your agency.

The best agencies keep a running document of the things your bank has historically approved, rejected, liked, hated, benefited from, etc. If you say, “Everyone loves it,” when everyone doesn’t, everyone is going to be frustrated when they bring something similar back for the next project. You might not intentionally mislead, but lack of true clarity can be just as damaging in the long run. Keep in mind—good creatives have been put through the wringer on critiques. Just be sure to be the bridge that helps find solutions by making constructive, valid suggestions for changes to work to meet the needs of your institution.

piggy bank picture framed on wall

8. Will you share your budget?

Some marketing directors push back when asked to share their budget. It’s understandable, but remember that you have all the power—you’re still the one allocating spending and signing checks. You should be signing off on every project before kickoff, so the agency can’t run rampant with your budget.

If your agency has a full picture of the playing field, it helps them to build a realistic plan. Just because your agency knows your budget, it doesn’t mean they can (or intend to) spend it. You still have to approve projects.

And like I’ve said a few times already, you shouldn’t work with an agency you don’t trust with this level of transparency.

A good agency partner can provide as much value in planning as in execution—if you let them.

puzzle pieces coming together

9. Have you considered the politics?

Do you have internal creatives? Writers? Designers? Social media people? Be upfront with your agency about those roles and responsibilities. You will find out quickly if your agency can play well with others. The best agencies will relish the opportunity to arm your in-house creatives (and will appreciate the help in execution).

Make certain everyone is on the same page and has rapport. It’s your relationship to manage. Also, ensure all team members (from your bank and the agency) know each other, understand their own roles, and each other’s responsibilities.

And never leave difficult people in the dark. Too many people avoid involving a negative Nelly. But imagine how negative Nelly will be when she finds out she’s been left out completely. Getting people involved doesn’t mean you have to follow their input to the letter. Listen to difficult people like you would anyone else—get their input and then take the good and leave the bad.

Have as many difficult conversations about roles and responsibilities as you can in the beginning, and the process will run much more smoothly. After all, you don’t want to find out someone you disagree with has been calling your agency without your knowledge and ordering contradictory work. That’s frustrating and expensive.

scales balancing

10. Can you hire an agency that meets similar standards?

In the end, if you can’t hold your agency to similar standards you’re holding your internal stakeholders to, you need to consider finding another agency. There are so many ways that agency/client relationships fail. Any seed of contempt can grow into a wedge if you don’t have clarity, understanding, and open communication. You’re both pushing the same boulder up a mountain, but you’re working together remotely (whether that’s a block away or 1,000 miles across the country). It’s tough work.

On the other hand, finding an agency you can communicate openly, disagree honestly, and collaborate freely with is the stuff of magic. The work you see on our site is built by spending as much time building healthy, elevating relationships as we spend on the creative output. As you look for the best agency for your bank, I hope you find the best fit.

Subscribe to the Bank Marketing Blogcast and never miss an episode.

How much money do you think your household spends on subscriptions each month?

The average American spends $237.33 each month on subscriptions services (according to a recent Waterstone study)—from streaming video and wellness apps to food delivery and cloud storage. 

I think it’s safe to say we are now a subscription based economy. 

But for some reason, most banks are under the impression those same clients are unwilling to pay a few extra dollars for the common checking account. Lest you forget, it’s an almost magical product that offers 24/7 access to their money, $250,000 in insurance, and online and mobile banking—and it’s only offered by banks.

Why? We destroyed the value?

How? By giving it away for free. 

StrategyCorps offers banks a new way to evaluate and package checking accounts with value-add subscriptions. One of the company’s partners, Dave DeFazio, put it best when he told me, “If we’re talking about not having value, free doesn’t have any value.”

“If we’re talking about not having value, free doesn’t have any value.”

Dave DeFazio

So how do banks offer value?

Banks were asking a similar question after the passage of the National Bank Act in 1933. The act banned banks from offering interest on standard demand deposit (checking) accounts. 

This put banks in a precarious position. How could they attract new customers? They did it by giving their clients hip gifts—toasters, wall clocks, and other valuable small appliances. You have a toaster now, but at the time it was a bit of a duplicative extravagance. Everyone wanted one, but didn’t necessarily need it—sort of like an InstaPot today. 

When banks couldn’t find a traditional way to show their clients value, they found less conventional means. 

In the 70s, banks found ways to (sort of) circumvent the regulations with NOW (negotiable order of withdrawal) accounts, and in the 1980s, small banks began to advertise the gifts as an incentive to open free checking accounts so they could compete with larger banks. They stopped making the gift a part of the checking account’s value, and used it as an up-front lure. By the 1990s, the larger banks joined on the free checking bandwagon and the government even passed the Truth in Savings Act which, among other things, regulated free checking accounts. 

Everyone was cutting expenses to compete and the checking account officially lost its value.

In 2011, the passage of Dodd Frank reworked Regulation Q of the National Bank Act, allowing banks to offer interest on checking accounts.

We didn’t have to give away toasters anymore. 

But banks did what banks do: chased their tails (the status quo). Instead of evolving the product, we just gave out a new version of the toaster.

We didn’t listen to our customers and instead listened to fulfillment companies who told us to offer free checking with knockoff bluetooth headphones and cheap kitchen appliances. 

We need to bring value back to the checking account. 

It’s time to make a toaster transition. 

I’d be willing to bet your bosses have probably told you (at least twice) to push deposit products in the last quarter. 

And conventional thinking (at least in the financial world) is that the easiest way to drive deposits is to attract new checking account clients. And that same thinking says the easiest way to get new checking clients is to give the accounts away. But as we’ve said before, free offers no value.

Well, it’s time to change our conventional thinking. Because the conventional thinking is wrong.

What if I told you the clients who value their checking accounts enough to pay for them value their primary banking relationships more than clients with free accounts? In fact community bank clients with fee checking are three times more likely to have other accounts and products with that same bank (according to a 2018 study from StrategyCorps and Cornerstone Advisors).

Surprised?

The marketplace that once responded to “value pricing” is now more interested in “value added,” but we’re having trouble transitioning from toaster type thinking.

Conversely, 90 percent of community bank clients with a free checking account had no other products with that bank (according to the same 2018 study). Free checking clients don’t value their banking relationship.

So if toasters and wall clocks and knock-off bluetooth headphones are no longer valuable, what is?

The new value paradigm lies in subscription culture. And, I think StrategyCorps’s is providing the best value-add subscription checking product on the market with BaZing

BaZing

Renasant Bank recently partnered with StrategyCorps to create a checking account that features a number of eye-catching value-adds. The account is powered by StrategyCorps’ BaZing product, which bundles benefits—like roadside assistance and cell phone insurance,  identity protection, accidental death coverage, a health savings card, and a discount app with more than 400,000 local and nationwide deals —with Renasant’s checking account, all for a subscription fee that ends up being less than most of the benefits would be on their own. Renasant Rewards Extra powered by BaZing was born.

“With BaZing, we find the providers of things that people are already paying for,” Defazio said. “We get good deals because of our buying power and then bundle those products and services and give them to banks for a better-than-market price.”

DeFazio said he is seeing fee-based, benefit-driven checking accounts become more and more popular as the marketplace gets younger.

So maybe you’re thinking, “How do I know what my clients find valuable?” You can start by simply surveying some of your clients. And if that doesn’t work, DeFazio and the team at StrategyCorps have already done a lot of the research for you—whether it means reading their whitepaper or partnering with them to offer a robust benefits account. 

Not Convinced? 

Free is costing you, and your clients.

Considering everything it takes to operate a checking account, banks spend anywhere from $200 to $500 annually to maintain each account. The problem, DeFazio says, is that, at a typical bank, 30–40 percent of client relationships aren’t profitable. 

Not only are these clients costing the bank money, but your bank is also likely costing them. According to the 2018 study, more than a quarter of free checking clients paid ATM fees in the previous year. Nearly as many paid overdraft fees—and the list of fees go on and on, from NSF and debit card replacement charges to overdraft protection and stop payment fees.

Not only are clients who pay for accounts more likely to have more services with their bank, but they’re more likely to refer family and friends. Half of community bank clients who pay for a checking account referred family and friends to their bank, according to the 2018 study. That means your fee-based clients are more profitable, less likely to leave, and more likely to refer your bank to others.

“The buying public are good researchers and know a good bargain when they see one,” DeFazio said. “They also know that free checking comes with fees.” 

You get what you give, right? If you give someone a one-time gift—a toaster for instance—you get toast. But, if you give someone ongoing, subscription-based value, you can expect an ongoing, valuable relationship in return.

How We Support the Best Bank in the South

Money.com named Renasant Bank as one of the eight best banks in the country this week—specifically, the best bank in the South. This only confirms something we’ve known for a decade because we work alongside the bank daily.

So how do we support the best? By being the best. That’s not bragging. We know we’re not solely responsible for Renasant’s explosive growth. But it is a response to an unstated challenge. Iron sharpens iron, as they say, and Mabus Agency had to be better every day to keep pace with Renasant Bank.

We like to think our commitment to daily improvement and work marketing the bank has helped with its growth and notoriety. In fact, here are the six most important ways we’ve supported Renasant—the best bank in the South.

Solidify Brand

Banks were in a tough spot when Mabus Agency began its relationship with Renasant Bank in 2008. At that time, “bank” was unfairly deemed a bad word—generally due to the misconduct of a few bad practitioners. The average consumer was scared, and distrust of financial institutions was at an all-time high.

Renasant Bank spent more than a century building a reputation as an honest bank that operated safely and in the customer’s best interest. That mandate had not changed in 2008, but the actions of other banks forced Renasant to take another look at its tagline “More Than a Bank.”

A phrase that embodied the bank’s commitment to offering comprehensive service had become inadvertently associated with the practices of banks that had expanded services to an unhealthy degree.

So Renasant Bank decided the time was right to make a move. It enlisted the brand experts at Mabus Agency to help find a new path.

After Mabus Agency recognized the bank’s helpful staff and culture of community service as its key benefit, Renasant rolled out “Move to Greater Service” as a pivot away from its previous tag. This straightforward message was easy to understand while utilizing a unique call to action. The new tag was shortened to “Greater Service” as customers and employees alike adopted the rallying cry.

That move to greater service allowed us to see something we’d initially overlooked. The service offered by Renasant’s associates came from a place of greater understanding. As the brand grew in footprint and market share, Mabus Agency recommended doubling down on the service-oriented image with a more permanent tagline, “Understanding You.”

Strategy, Strategy, Strategy

Many banks make the mistake of tackling marketing a la carte. This branch needs to buy a yearbook ad, while that magazine claims all the other banks are buying ads in it. This type of marketing is reactionary. It’ll never get you ahead because you’ll always be reacting to someone else.

At Renasant Bank, every marketing decision is driven by a central strategy. Before approving any new ad request or new marketing campaign, we ask the question, “How can this fit into our overall strategy?”

This doesn’t mean we say no to one-off program ads or Chamber of Commerce magazines. With a central strategy in place, there’s no longer such a thing as a one-off ad because every ad drives the brand’s narrative.

Communicate the Benefit

Bank marketing so often rests on nothing more than puns (How many “Bank on us!” ads have you seen?), tired sayings, or rate announcements. And sure, a truly great rate can carry an ad from time to time—Renasant advertised a checking account rate that was higher than the majority of others within its footprint this year—but the key is showing clients how your product or service makes their life better.

When we develop new campaigns for Renasant, we start with the benefit and actually ask the question out loud. “How is this product actually going to make a client’s life easier?” To the Renasant team’s credit, they develop their products with the same thought in mind.

With the greatest benefit identified, we build a campaign around communicating that benefit as clearly as possible.

Not all advertising has to be clever. It just has to be clear. 

Teach the Customer

The average clients don’t understand their role in a banking relationship. And they shouldn’t have to. It’s not their job to learn how to be your clients, it’s your job to teach them to be better at navigating the world of finance.

We helped Renasant Bank launch a content platform, Renasant Nation, to share a combination of helpful and entertaining content. Clients can watch “Building Us,” a show about a family renovating its home, or learn how to use a HELOC to get the money they need for their own renovations.

The “Crafted” series features entrepreneurs with innovative businesses all throughout the Southeast. Helpful explainer videos accompany the series, showing viewers how to take out a business loan or make the most of their cash-flow management tools.

Helping clients become better with their money not only builds loyalty, it levels the quality of your client base.

Be Different

Banking is a parity industry. No one wants to admit that products are similar from bank to bank, but the truth is that regulations don’t allow for much variation. But nothing is stopping banks from looking or acting differently.

Starting with its name, Renasant Bank is certainly different than any other bank. It isn’t the First Community Bank of anything. It owns its name and, in turn, its identity.

And when it comes to creative execution, Renasant’s leadership lets us run pretty wild with ideas. It isn’t scared to chase an idea to its conclusion before deciding one way or the other. Sometimes we get to the end and know it won’t make it past compliance. Other times we walk away with a wildly successful campaign idea.

We license weird songs that we know will stick in people’s heads for days. We continually evolve Renasant’s image while remaining true to its core brand and strategy.

Renasant Bank isn’t scared to be different, because its marketing team and leadership know being different is the only way to stand apart from the competition.

Speak Boldly and Back It Up

Along with an eagerness to stand out, Renasant’s leaders aren’t scared to plant a flag or stake a claim.

The bank’s entire culture is built around ensuring positive client experiences and making an impact within the communities it serves. So when it came time to expand the company’s brand in 2015, we said we wanted to make a bold claim: “We understand.”

In short, we wanted our messaging to mean something—to demonstrate a human understanding of client needs while promoting the array of products and services Renasant offers.

This tagline seems simple on the surface, but it actually creates a pretty high bar for each Renasant associate. Luckily, it’s a bar the associates were accustomed to surpassing.

Does Your Bank Have What It Takes to Be the Best?

Does your bank offer exceptional service to clients, but struggles with the best way to communicate your message? Do you have a killer team of associates in place, but don’t see new traffic come through your door to meet them? Let us meet with your marketing team and show you how we can support and grow your bank.

Marketing a bank is harder than ever. New techniques and technologies abound. The never-ending cycles of approvals to adopt change are extended as IT and compliance departments balance advancement against risk. On top of that, most banks are actually performing pretty well—which sounds great…until you’re challenged to do better next year.

As banks realize the need to grow in marketing sophistication, many are reaching out to agencies for the first time. I want to help you find one—and it doesn’t even have to be mine.

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: “But you own an ad agency!” I sure do. But I’ve learned a big lesson over the years in this business: good relationships are worth their weight in gold. I’ve learned a few other things in that time, and I want to share some of them with you. 

It’s really not about hiring the best agency, but the best fit. It would be a tragedy to hire an agency with terrible creative talents, but it’s worse (by many orders of magnitude) to hire an agency that’s a bad fit. 

This is why you can trust my advice as an agency owner. Even if I spent the rest of this article trying to subliminally convince you that we’re the best bank marketing firm out there (even though we are), I couldn’t determine if we are a fit. And I’m much more concerned with fit. You should be, too. Trust me.

So how do you find the best fit for your bank?

Mabus Agency President Josh Mabus discusses the keys to hiring the right agency with some of the creatives on our staff.

Read or listen to Josh’s full article, “So You’re Thinking About Hiring and Agency,” here.

Subscribe to the Bank Marketing Blogcast and never miss an episode.

We have a saying at Mabus Agency: “If it’s hard to do, it will never get done.”

We call it the rule of wheNEVER. And if I’m honest, I’m not the first person to discover this phenomenon. A lot of people just call it human nature.

person sitting beside a trash can

We named this phenomenon as a way to remind ourselves to make things as easy as possible for the end user when developing a new marketing strategy or materials.

We preach the importance of updating a website, developing new content, maintaining brand standards, and promoting campaigns across platforms, but if we don’t give the client the right tools, advice, plan and accountability, their marketing will never get done.

The rule of wheNEVER applies to almost anything in life, but we talk about it most often with websites because websites are living, breathing marketing platforms that often sit on the shelf next to our bikes and hiking packs.

It’s easy to think no one notices when you update your company site, but Google notices. What is even scarier, Google notices even more when you don’t.

If I search for a tree service, and there are two tree services in my area, one that has posted three new pieces of information containing the words “tree service” or “stump removal” in the last three months and one that hasn’t updated since it launched a year earlier, Google is going to provide me with the more relevant result.

We build great, easy-to-use websites, but that’s usually the second biggest reason anyone hires us. The number one reason people hire us is their own inability to write code. Knowing that, we have to develop a dashboard that allows the customer to edit the website without having to learn code.

It would be pretty cruel to tell a customer their website’s success depends on their ability to keep it updated and then hand them a big pile of code.

But here’s the thing, even if we do give someone a website they can easily edit and update, a lot of times the content stays the same for months on end. Why is that? Technical advancements don’t mean a whole lot if you don’t have time to learn or use them.

I’m a writer, and my website goes through some pretty embarrassing dry spells. Why should I expect a carpenter or mechanic to write for his website every day? It’s out of the way. It’s not a part of the normal routine. Most of the time, it’s not very fun.

Here are some tricks we’ve found for getting the hard things done, especially when it comes to your website.

Set a deadline.

Projects without deadlines almost never get done. Projects with arbitrary deadlines have a slightly higher completion rate, but once those arbitrary deadlines gain momentum, they are more often expected by your following and a lot easier to hit each month or week.

Set reasonable expectations.

I had some friends set a goal to blog every day. They were writers who used their blog to practice, but were also busy and only posted something once or twice a month before. The idea was ambitious and after a few weeks, they stopped posting altogether.

Here is why. They set a goal, but the expectation was too ambitious. Failure was guaranteed from the start. If you aren’t adding new content to your website right now, don’t start adding content every day. Set a goal of once a month. That’s easy because you only have to add twelve things in a year. If once a month is too easy, go for every other week.

This includes your promotional and social efforts as well. If you’re doing no promotions, figure out what you can take on consistently. Don’t promote a new Twitter handle just to get tired and quit using it.

Just like with everything else in business grow sustainably.

Make it a team effort.

Loop others into your content generation for inspiration and accountability.

It gets even easier when you ask someone else at the company to take two posts and Jerry in finance to take a third. If you have twelve slightly competent content generators in your office, you can each produce one thing a year and have a website that is consistently updating.

Connect with the team members who are already working toward your project goals and piggyback off each other’s ideas.

The secret to making it easy: don’t make it hard.

More often than not, our clients tell us they have nothing to write about. That’s ok, you don’t have to write a giant essay on your profession; you just need to keep adding relevant, searchable words to your website, and hopefully help or entertain someone in the process. If you step back from your blank page and blinking cursor, it’s easy to find relevant content.

Do you have an employee who just passed a certification test? There’s a great post, and it will lead to another post about how important education in your industry is. That post will lead to another about how many talented folks you work with (and a humble brag about all your certifications).

Maybe you had an office Christmas party and just want to share a photo with a good caption. Your content can be 100 words or 1,000 words. It can be a photo or a video. It can be a link to something else you like.

One of the biggest helpers is a big calendar hanging next to your desk. Remind yourself.

Almost everything in life is hard, so when it comes to keeping your website fresh and up to date, make it easy on yourself.

Just know that “When? Tomorrow.” is better than “When? Never.”

Imagine for a moment you’re on the cake mix aisle at a grocery store. There are probably 100 different cake brands and flavors that will instantly make you a qualified baker. What does each box have in common?

Most boxed cake mixes require a couple of eggs and some milk or oil to bake a successful, tasty cake.

Believe it or not, there was a time when those boxes required nothing but a cup of water to accomplish such a magical culinary feat.

From 1947 until 1953, the sales of boxed cake mixes that included powdered eggs boomed — all the while the companies producing them debated whether the powdered egg was the best route. They were worried powdered eggs led to an inferior end product, but they feared requiring the addition of fresh eggs removed any claim of convenience.

Cake mix sales slowed during the late 1950s. General Mills hired psychologist Ernest Dichter to interview women to determine the sales drop. Dr. Dichter’s study found that ladies felt using a simple cake mix was too easy — there wasn’t enough work involved, leaving them feeling guilty instead of proud of the cake they made.

Cake mix companies decided adding an egg would end their debate over quality while giving the women of the 1950s and 1960s a better interaction with their product. By requiring a little extra work from the purchaser, they were giving the customer permission to call themselves a baker, increasing the quality of their product and making the result something to be proud about, not ashamed of.

Pillsbury advertisements depicted the box, a bowl and some eggs with the headline, “After this, you’re on your own,” which told the customer they were still doing the hard work of baking a cake.

With the original, all-inclusive cake mix, companies were selling a convenient product. As with most convenience-based products, it had a decent run, but it also had a short shelf life.

When the companies took the time to listen to the customers, they began selling a convenient experience. Not only were these new mixes more involved, but they produced a superior product to their powdered-egg predecessors — a difference undoubtedly noticed not only by the baker but by the people eating the cake as well. The new mix achieved all of this while remaining convenient.

Not long after the addition of fresh eggs, cake decoration became the new metric by which cakes were judged. Now, the homemade cake was simply the canvas and homemakers of the 1960s considered the act of cake decorating a rewarding experience.

This gave cake mix companies another opportunity to create pleasant experiences through frosting mixes. Betty Crocker and Pillsbury weren’t frosting companies, but this new line of “homemade frostings” were value-add products for their flagship cake mixes.

If you read my column regularly, you’ve probably noticed I talk about brand experiences often, and I can’t talk about it enough.

We often overlook the experience associated with our own brand and wonder why brands like Yeti or Under Armor or the fancy boutique up the street do so well.

Most brands with overwhelming success are aware of the experience associated with their products and, in turn, continually tailor their experience to better fit their customer base.

Often, like with cake mix, tailored customer experiences can seem counter-intuitive at first.

The online transportation company Uber offers a more recent example of tailored customer experiences. The company began allowing its drivers to rate its passengers, as opposed to the traditional model, where only service providers receive ratings. Many said the practice was insane or discriminatory. With the gift of hindsight, we can see the rating practice has done nothing but ensure the company maintains its quality level of service by having only the best drivers and customers.

By weeding out problematic customers — or at the least letting the customer base know they are being rated — drivers are happier and the customers who appreciate the service are receiving increased access.

What memories come to mind when you read the words, “brand experience?” Maybe you visited a great shop on vacation one summer, and you’re excited to visit each time you’re back in that city. Maybe you waited 45 minutes for some food that didn’t taste fresh, and now you’re skeptical about giving the restaurant a second chance.

What experience does your brand offer customers?

Are you more personable than your competitors? Are you more convenient, but at the cost of using powdered eggs?

Even if you think you don’t have a brand experience, you do — it just may not be what you want it to be. Talk to your customers. Talk to customers you wish you had. Find out what experience you offer. If it’s good, lean into it. If your experience isn’t what you think it should be, look internally and find a way to change it.

Maybe it’s time for your brand to make the jump to fresh eggs.

Do you ever wonder why the tire company known best for its mascot — a big man made of white tires — is also the most trusted name in fine dining and classical-French restaurant reviews.

Maybe you thought the tire company and restaurant review publication just happened to share the name, Michelin. Actually, one created the other. The Michelin Guide as it exists now, 100 years after its inception, is the result of a marketing campaign going so perfectly it became sentient.

Chickens and egg

For those unfamiliar with the Michelin guide, it’s a series of annual guide books that awards ratings and reviews to restaurants and tourist destinations. The guide is best known for its Michelin Stars, which are given to restaurants and have been known to affect the success of a fine-dining establishment. One star means a restaurant is very good in its category, two means it is well worth a detour and a third star means the food itself is worth a road trip.

That third star spells out the genius of the Michelin Guide. This tire company was promoting great food in France in the early 1900s when cars were very uncommon, but more than anything it was promoting car travel. At the very heart of it, this high-end restaurant guide was promoting the use of tires.

Think about how genius that marketing plan is. A tire promoted the idea of traveling for food so well that people looked to it for food recommendations, and also tried to get them to the restaurants.

Michelin did what many marketers forget to do: they got around their consumers’ defenses.

That’s one of, if not the biggest obstacle in marketing — getting around people’s defenses.

We see hundreds of brand messages every day at the very least (though some estimates say thousands). No matter how sincere the message or how much we think consumers care about our brand, as marketers we are ultimately trying to sell something.

As consumers, we become rather adept at blocking these brand messages out, whether mentally or by using handy new tools like DVR, online ad-blockers and MP3 playlists.

Marketers try to use humor, entertainment and useful information to circumvent our new built-in ad-blockers. But more often than not, they end up further alienating their brand message, or delivering a punch line that has nothing to do with the brand message.

Michelin got around our defenses by producing something of great value and still remaining dead on target with brand strategy. They tell people about great restaurants and places to travel. They are advertising travel — something the general public perceives as good and even fun — in a way that sells tires.

Keep in mind; this is a time before the Internet or Food Network. You might have not known what’s happening in the next city — much less 50 miles or more away. Michelin provided real value to potential customers while keeping their mission in mind: sell more tires.

It’s easy to approach marketing through a standard advertising mix: print ads, television, radio, etc. The problem is that everyone else can do the same thing. It’s worth spending just a little extra brainpower and preparation to circumvent the defenses of the customer, and we can do it in a way that they will gladly welcome. You do this by providing something of value.

Michelin dedicated its brand image to finding the highest quality of food and restaurants in France — and eventually the entire world. Interested foodies responded by traveling far and buying new tires.

Lowe’s has used its social media brand to show people quick and easy tips for completing projects and maintaining their homes instead of spending all their energy on advertising products. Customers respond by purchasing their project supplies at Lowe’s.

I’ve found a lot of marketers believe consumers care about their brand simply because it exists. That’s not true. Operate under the assumption that no one cares or thinks about your brand, and find a way to make it valuable. Making your brand a value-add keeps you top of mind.

Imagine it: your company puts out a magazine that everyone in the industry uses to stay up to date on industry trends. You don’t even have to advertise because your brand is plastered all over the publication. The moment a customer, competitor or industry peer engages your publication, you’ve just gotten past their defenses.

We have to think like the Michelin brothers did more than 100 years ago.

What value-add can we give our customers?

What niche can our brand fill?

What can we make that is worth driving toward?