44 SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2017 Attracting Deposits The marketing value of branches MARKETING & SALES The value of maintaining physical branch locations has been a hotly contested topic for years, as more and more customers move their banking activities online and even to their phones. Banks have been responding to market demand by focusing investments on online and mobile banking applications that enable everything from basic balance checking to check deposits and payments. Yet despite the shift toward digital banking, branches are still considered a vital source for attracting deposits to banks, particularly retail deposits, which remain the primary funding source for most community banks. In fact a large majority of respondents (63.2 percent) to Promontory Interfinancial Network’s Q3 2016 Bank Executive Business Outlook Survey indicated that they see in-branch sales as an essential channel for attracting retail deposits – double that of any other marketing channel. Branches play a more secondary role for other types of deposits, though they are still considered valuable for corporate deposits. Forty-two percent of respondents identified branches as being “very” or “somewhat” important for attracting corporate deposits, behind only direct sales outreach. The response was nearly identical by bank size, with both larger and smaller community banks seeing value in branches. Adding Bricks to Clicks While traditional branches have remained vital to community banks, the same cannot be said of traditional media marketing. Outside of branch marketing, community banks are showing a distinct preference for digital marketing channels over traditional media (print, broadcast, direct) for attracting retail deposits. Erich Buckenmaier Regional Director Promontory Interfinancial Network ebuckenmaier@ promnetwork.com Promontory Interfinancial Network is an associate member of the Indiana Bankers Association. Article author
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