A tough job gets easier!

• Author: Albro, Walt

Technology is changing the way marketers work. Community banks no longer need to outsource the design of multimedia ad campaigns; instead, they use online portals to create materials.

About two years ago, the marketing department at Anderson Brothers Bank (assets: $500 million), Mullins, S.C., faced a challenge. The bank's 20 branches operate semi-independently and regularly need to quickly design and produce one-off advertisements. Like many community banks, Anderson Brothers created simple ads in-house using Microsoft Publisher. But the bank's two-person marketing department was having difficulty keeping up with the heavy volume.

"We were getting bogged down," explains Susan Grant, deposit, marketing compliance officer.

After searching for an alternative, Grant eventually signed up with a bank marketing service that provides online access to templates and stock photos for creating individual ads as well as whole campaigns. The type of ads that can be created includes print, direct mail, email campaigns, statement stuffers, brochures, poster, flyers, digital signs and more.

The ease-of-use, customization and quality of the materials enabled Anderson Brother to do a variety of marketing without the expense of outsourcing. "It not only saves money but also enables us to create brochures, statement stuffers and other marketing materials that in the past we never had the time to develop in-house," notes Grant.

Widely separated locations

Founded in 1933, Anderson Brothers is a family-owned bank that serves five counties in the state's coastal region. The branches are spaced between 10 and 20 miles apart, and each of the market regions is different. Some markets are rural, while others are metropolitan.

The bank uses a blend of personal service, community service and state-of-the-art technology (such as mobile banking) to differentiate itself. Each branch is heavily involved in sponsoring community activities and events, and, therefore, each branch has slightly varying advertising needs. A branch that sponsors a local baseball team, for example, might want to produce at least one ad promoting this unique community-related sponsorship.

Online Print Fulfillment: Once Introduced, There's No Going Back

Marketers use a lot of printed materials: brochures, flyers, folders and kits plus letterhead, envelopes, etc. Because of this fact, the printing, storing and distribution of printed materials have always been time-consuming, especially at community banks.

But today, the situation is changing. New technologies such as print-on-demand and online print fulfillment are helping to ease the strain.

MountainOne Bank (assets: $820 million), Pittsfield, Mass., is an example of bank that has introduced both print-on-demand for in-house printing of flyers and online fulfillment for working with outside printing...