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A long local history is often a unique selling proposition for community banks and credit unions. Whereas that national bank branch may have only appeared in your town a few years ago, your local financial institution has been serving the area’s families, individuals, and small businesses for decades. Promoting your 50, 100, 125, or 150+ years of service is always a good marketing approach but celebrating a milestone anniversary is a special opportunity to highlight your bank’s commitment to the community and show off all of the products and services you offer. In this article, you’ll find specific ideas for promoting a bank anniversary in order to increase brand awareness, engage with current customers and reach prospective ones, and boost community pride and employee morale.
This is a logical first step in promoting your bank’s anniversary. Before you do anything else, make sure your website logo and graphics, as well as the copy for site pages and ads, reflect your milestone year. For example, you could create a special anniversary logo to be used all year long. It should look similar to your permanent logo, while highlighting the number of years you’ve been in business.
For example, if you’re celebrating your 150th anniversary, make sure the content on your website and ads reads something like “over 150 years” instead of “nearly 150 years.” These are minor edits, but they make a big difference in presenting a consistent message to your customers and community. Once you’ve finalized an anniversary logo, use it consistently across both digital (website, social media, local listings, ads, email) and print channels (customer statements, signage, brochures, direct mail, business cards.
Community banks have always been a natural partner to local nonprofit organizations. Celebrating your anniversary with a charitable sponsorship is a great way to generate more buzz about your bank’s milestone and increase your social media engagement. It also highlights your longstanding commitment to investing in the towns you serve. Best of all, your chosen charity may be able to execute some of the activities and marketing efforts, so that all of the responsibility doesn’t rest with your bank.
For example, you could create a new initiative with a local organization your bank already supports. Get your current and potential customers involved by offering to make a charitable donation that correlates with your anniversary (such as $100 for 100 years) for every new account opened. Get current customers involved by asking if they want to donate, too.
You might also organize special activities around your anniversary and feature your partner organization at one or all of your events. For example, you could offer financial literacy/personal finance workshops to children and adults. In turn, a representative from your bank could speak at one of the charity’s events.
However you approach your charitable partnership, make sure to advertise your initiative on social media as well as in your branches. You could also create mailers to send to current and prospective customers. Encourage your social media followers to share your charitable donation posts—people love to support a good cause, especially when it’s in their backyard! Of course, your nonprofit should also advertise the partnership on social media and encourage their followers to share the posts and follow your bank.
Five years ago TFNB Your Bank for Life came upon its 125th anniversary, and the bank wanted to celebrate the milestone in a lasting way; one that would make a meaningful impact on the local community. Charity Champions was launched as an initiative to “help those who help others,” extending the organization’s reach beyond traditional banking and donating. Each year, hundreds of nominations come in from their local community and employees vote to crown 6 Charity Champions recipients. Selected winners receive marketing and grant writing resources, publicity at Baylor University football and basketball games, ongoing executive leadership training, development of digital content such as videos, commercials, social posts and much more. Although Charity Champions is its own initiative, it is the essence of who TFNB is as an organization. Employees love participating in the different outreach opportunities that are created, and customers see first hand that the bank puts its money and time right back into the community that has supported them for over a century. How could it get any better than that?
One of the reasons that TFNB Your Bank for Life has stood the test of time is that for the last 130 years we have intentionally stayed true to what community banking is intended to stand for…community.”
Jason Lavender SVP, Director of Strategic Initiatives, TFNB Your Bank for Life
