Put your money here: deposit growth in today's market calls for multifaceted strategies and tactics--all working in harmony to achieve a single objective.

• Author: Albro, Walt
• Position: Core Deposits

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Core deposit growth isn't easy. There is no "magic bullet" to achieve it. Growth is usually a long, slow grind that calls for hard work. Many banks are unprepared: They have no plan or approach for bolstering deposits.

Now that the economy has weakened, the quest for deposit dollars is more crucial--and challenging--than normal.

Despite the difficulties, some banks have done strikingly well in attracting deposit accounts.

ABA Bank Marketing magazine talked with two large community banks that have had success in this area and asked them to explain how they did it. Their stories follow below.

All Aboard 'United Express' for Increased Cross-Sells and Attrition Management

United Community Bank

Blairsville, Ga.

Assets: $8.5 billion

Core deposit growth may have stalled at many banks in this dismal economy, but United Community Bank is moving full-speed ahead.

At the end of May, new core deposits at the bank for 2009 totaled $110 million, averaging nearly $20 million each month. The bank expects to surpass its deposit-growth goal of 5 percent for this year.

"In the middle of a recession we've hit 5 percent (in June) and are on a run rate of 10 percent for the year," says Craig Metz, executive vice president of corporate marketing. "We believe these are stable dollars in real accounts, and this is net account growth."

Along with a well-trained staff dedicated to customer service, Metz credits a shift in strategy for this success.

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"We had not really concentrated on attrition management and cross-sells as we did on acquisition, but we felt acquisition programs, particularly driven by direct marketing, were going to have a difficult time in a down economy," says Metz.

Evolve the culture

Enter the United Express, an in-house program that left the "station" in January of this year. Three months of focus groups with bank employees followed by another three months of technological build-out led to the launch. A locomotive metaphor was chosen to help explain the company's, and the game's, complex rules and goals.

"We're trying to have some fun growing core deposits," says Metz. "Of course there are cultural issues, technology, infrastructure, reporting, management and execution buy-in, but that's what it takes in this environment to grow a bank."

Described as part incentive plan, part deposit-gathering and part game, United Express has helped the company culture evolve from classic customer service to a more...