Meet the Client

Let me introduce you to American Heritage Bank. They are a local bank with a strong sense of community and patriotism. They service all locals here in Clovis, NM with excellence and integrity. They organically attract farm and ag plus small business owners. They have a great combination of young and mature staff members that sparks creativity while also grounding it to their singular purpose—taking care of their patrons.

CRAFTING A BRAND THAT’S ALREADY THERE BUT HIDDEN

This is a great story that begins with being involved in my community. Several years ago (2016 or 2017 I believe) I was part of a Leadership Clovis class at the local Chamber of Commerce. Leadership Clovis is a “program is an active learning experience dedicated to building leaders who will assume leadership roles in their companies and the community. The program was developed to enhance the leadership skills of volunteer community leaders and to enrich their understanding of the community. Leadership Clovis envisions a city where citizens take an active role in determining the course of their community’s growth.”

It’s in Leadership Clovis that I met Colby Whitten, an employee at American Heritage Bank, which then led to managing their brand and social media content.

This client branding was a bit unusual for me at first because I was used to starting a brand from scratch, including several assessments, Pinterest exercise for colors and fonts, building a website, and then managing their social media content and Google. AHB (for short) already had a website and a general brand feel that I picked up when I walked into the bank.

I noticed the patriotic feel, the tight knit staff, and even an “old school” feel that was comfortable and reminded me of my grandfather’s time when a handshake was all you needed. As I began speaking with Colby and another gentleman named Jason, I could tell that there was a desire to reach the next generation while maintaining loyalty to the current, which is characteristic of the staff as well. There are employees that have been there since the bank was founded and some a few years.

Their website was being redesigned at the time and later came out true to brand with their signature patriotic small town feel. Even though I didn’t build it (and believe me I didn’t mind due to having no idea how to build a secure banking website), I was quite pleased with it. The next step was to build a strong Facebook community true to who they are as a bank.

THEY KNOW ME BY NAME

After speaking to them (and being hired), I got to work by requesting the contact information for their top 10 fans. I needed to interview them using specific questions that would tell me why their patrons did business with them. Here are the questions:

What were you looking for in a bank?
What three benefits do you receive from them? Ex. Friendliness, speed, convenience, etc?
How do you feel doing business with them?

I had to explain the last question because most don’t realize that the reason they do business and are loyal to that business is because of how they feel doing business with them. My job is to translate that feel into the branding.

Question two is crucial because people don’t buy products or services; they buy benefits. And, finally, question one was an attempt to uncover the initial attraction to AHB. For many, it was generational, which, again, showed me that they have a unique ability to combine the current and the former generation.

Here are the results I got:

They know my name and even my voice when I call
They recognize I’m a unique individual with specific needs
I can walk in and talk to anyone I need to
I can do business with a hometown bank with all the online and mobile perks I need
They are friendly and honest

We took that information and fleshed out their existing brand into a cohesive message.

The most common mistake small business owners and marketers make is not having a cohesive message both online and in-person.

BRILLIANT IDEAS THAT WEREN’T MINE

I love brainstorming with my clients because they have brilliant ideas! In fact, they have better ideas than me, and I do this for a living! With AHB, I learned they are very intentional, careful, and methodical requiring regular meet ups to follow up, touch base, and strategize.

That first year we all decided to spread goodwill throughout the community by highlighting local businesses even if not an AHB customer! This was unheard of and revolutionary! What we did is I would visit a local business that was a staple of the community and interview the business owner on camera. We’d then edit that video and offer a $50 gift card for those who liked the video, which we insisted that we purchase from each business. It was important to AHB not to have these donated. We wanted to invest in all of the local businesses. IT WAS A HIT! No bank in Clovis can ever claim that idea as their own now. :) We also highlighted local charities to promote them.

It is our belief that with these efforts, consistent Facebook ads each month, and radio ads created millions of dollars of increased business. Those ideas came from the staff not me.

The next idea was even more brilliant. We wanted to up our game, and Colby had the idea of creating our own Dirty Jobs based episodes where two bank staff members would go to a local business (that was a customer) and work. After must angst, we finally decided to name it Hardly Workin' with the idea that they were hardly working out or maybe hardly working at all. :D This has been a smash hit but also a lot of work and monetary investment. It takes 1-3 hours per episode of their time away from the bank as well as several hours of video editing, which they pay me to do.

Again, this has set AHB apart because no bank will ever be able to do this without being a copy, which they say is the highest form of compliment. These videos are to highlight the business but also highlight AHB as a bank that cares about their customers more than any other bank in town. I’ve had the best time doing this! I’ve been at a dairy, stripped cotton, a dry cleaners, a tire shop, and more. I’ve met great people. Hard working people. I’ve had experiences I’d have never had if not for AHB.

A GREAT COMBINATION

AHB is the first business I’ve worked with that revealed an extremely successful combination in marketing—combining Facebook ads with radio ads. This came as quite a surprise to me because I thought radio was a dying form of marketing. What I learned is that statistically millennials actually listen to local radio stations probably more than the previous generation!

WHAT’S NEXT?

I’m very excited for next year. We’ve already got great ideas percolating and have plans on continuing our Hardly Workin’ series every quarter. We want to spend more time “inside the bank” to really highlight patrons and staff (at least as much as they will let us).

Instead of trying to rely on all of your own ideas, tap into your client’s creativity and innovation. There’s treasure there that will be distinct to that client and set them apart from all of their competition, which by the way, I never work with my clients’ competitors. That’s a core value for me and sets them at ease because many don’t see how you can champion them to the degree they need when you also must champion their competitors.