Coming attraction: some financial institutions, such as Fidelity Bank, Edina, Minn., have stopped printing brochures and are, instead, differentiating themselves through the use of marketing and sales videos.

• Author: Albro, Walt
• Position: Interview

THE DAYS OF THE PRINTED BROCHURE MAY BE NUMBERED. Some banks that used to publish bank overviews and customer testimonials in brochures are now posting that information on the website. A few banks have gone further and are creating website videos to replace printed brochures.

An example of a bank that is focusing on website videos as sales and marketing tools is Fidelity Bank (assets: $523 million), a commercial bank in Edina, Minn. The institution targets private business-to-business companies in the Twin Cities that have revenues of less than $50 million. The bank's two major specialties are asset-based lending and mortgage warehouse facility arrangements.

Steve Stoup, senior vice president of marketing and business development recently spoke to ABA Bank Marketing magazine about the institution's cutting-edge video use. Our questions and his responses follow below:

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Before you started using video, what type of marketing and advertising were you doing?

We were running print ads in local business publications and sponsoring some events--including networking events in the Twin Cities' professional community. We ran OUT last print ad in 2010.

Why did you leave print behind?

We had historically used industry-standard case studies to give the market a taste of how our clients feel about us. In late 2011, while planning and budgeting for 2012, we made the decision to incorporate video to enhance the impact of our written case studies, which we placed online. The idea was to replace the standard "leave behind" brochure for prospects. Other goals were to highlight our unique expertise in working with mortgage companies and some of the unique things we do for specific segments of our target clientele.

Why did you think that video might be more effective than print?

The fact is that we try to reach out to young entrepreneurs and business owners in their 30s. Twenty years ago, we would reach these business owners with printed brochures. Today, however, the culture has changed, and younger people are absorbing more content through video. It's simply a matter of keeping up with the times

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A video is more flexible. When you send someone an email with a link to a video website, the recipients can watch the video when and where they want to.

A video conveys more information. You not only see pictures but you also hear sounds. Through inflection...