Informational videos attract the interest of business customers.

• Author: Foster, Dawn M.

DAWN M. FOSTER

Marketing Officer

Centrix Bank,

Bedford, N.H.

Assets: $650 million; seven locations

Despite its relatively modest size, this 10-year-old commercial bank is an active television advertiser, producing two new commercials annually. The ads are broadcast during peak broadcast times on WMUR-TV 9, an ABC affiliate station in Manchester, N.H. "It's the biggest line item in my marketing budget," says Foster. The current TV commercial as well as past ones are posted on the bank's Web site, www.centrixbank.com.

Despite the expense of TV advertising, Foster says the commercials fit in with the bank's marketing objectives. "We try to be in places where no one else is," she says.

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Two years ago, the bank started posting informational videos on its Web site. This was in the early days of the recession, and the bank's president was invited to appear on a local TV Fox News channel to provide commentary on the New Hampshire banking industry. The bank later purchased a license to rebroadcast the show and posted it for 90 days on its newly redesigned Web site. At the same time, the bank was sending out letters to clients trying to ease their concerns about the safety and soundness of the...