The Power of Word of Mouth
We're Published!
Western Bankers Association chose Golden Valley Bank to be featured in a national magazine. The topic for the magazine was about branding a bank and our article was all about our 10th Anniversary Campaign. We are thrilled to be highlighted in their publication. Read the full article below.
The Power of Word of Mouth
As community bankers we all know that there is nothing more powerful than the referral of a trusted friend, advisor, business owner or community member. The public communication of a positive experience is the best advertising money can buy! That can be taken to the next level by aligning your bank’s brand with the positive experiences delivered by local businesses that have strong reputations as being fiercely independent with unique and noteworthy products and services.
Celebrating Independence!
That’s exactly what we are doing at Golden Valley Bank as we celebrate our 10th Anniversary in 2016. We are not only celebrating our own independence, but the independence our Bank’s Founders and customers show every day as they build their successful businesses that drive our local economy.
We went to our Board of Directors and got the approval to increase our marketing budget to one-tenth of one percent of our assets – about 50% more than the previous year. Now we were really under pressure to deliver! First we searched for our most unique business customers with stellar reputations. We found a local metal worker who quietly produced much of the iconic and recognizable functional art in the community; a Millennial letterpress operator using 100 year old equipment to produce very high quality greeting cards distributed nationally, and a 65 year old glass blower creating memorable works of art sold around the world.
We enlisted one of the best videographers in the area to create short, three to four minute videos of each of these business owners telling their own compelling stories as they ply their unique crafts creating something for our Bank. The metal worker created an amazing four foot re-creation of our bank logo in shimmering steel. The printer created a beautiful high quality thank you card with a hand drawn picture of our Bank’s building. We are about to start production on our glass blower’s video and we can’t wait to see what he is going to come up with! The videos all end with our customers revealing their creations that clearly represent our Bank.
The full length videos are posted on our website and are featured in social media. We give a copy to our featured customers who in turn proudly put them on their websites and post them to their social media sites.
The longer videos are then compressed into one minute and 30 second television commercials and the audio made into one minute radio spots. Still photos taken during production are turned into billboards, lobby posters, ATM banners and are featured in blog posts and email blasts. Our new shimmering steel logo hangs in our Bank lobby and we are sending out our new thank you cards at every opportunity, further reinforcing our campaign as our message cascades throughout our community.
Let the Fireworks Begin!
For many of us, celebrating independence means . . . fireworks! And what’s better than fireworks after a baseball game in a baseball crazed community? As we prepared our campaign it was announced that a new wood bat college summer league was starting up in northern California and Oregon and our community was going to get a team headed by a local hero who is in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame! As it just so happens, the team made a pitch to us about being a sponsor and gave us a menu of items to consider. What jumped out was sponsoring three fireworks displays – the season’s opening day, the 4th of July and the final game of the year – perfect for us! We stepped up and became one of the team’s first sponsors, aligning our brand with theirs.
As this part of the campaign started to fall into place we decided to enhance our logo for our anniversary year by having fireworks shooting out of our icon. Very unique and eye catching while maintaining the overall integrity of the logo and really emphasizing our “celebration” theme.
We can all tout our “absolutely outstanding customer service” until we’re blue in the face (and we all do, right?). But when our customers do it for us . . . now that’s effectively communicating our brand! The goal of an effective referral campaign is not just any referral (although we’ll take them all!), but having the right businesses make those referrals making them that much more effective.
The videos can be found at www.goldenvalley.blog or through our main website www.goldenvalley.bank.
Golden Valley Bank
Natasha Beehner
Marketing Officer
(530) 781-1883
nbeehner@goldenvalleybank.com