Here at the Kansas Bankers Association, it’s our mission to support our member banks and bankers with leadership, advocacy, and education to benefit the communities and customers they serve. One very important aspect of that support is helping our members through our endorsed vendors.

KBA’s selection of endorsed vendors is dynamic. Once selected, a vendor doesn’t simply enjoy permanent endorsed vendor status. As new suppliers and technologies appear, we know we must continually review these vendors to ensure they are, in fact, the best organizations in their field. We also work to assure our member banks that they will continue to receive the best services in the industry; services they need to grow and succeed.

As your association, we believe it’s important to keep our members abreast of new trends, developments, and opportunities in this fast and ever-evolving industry. We’re taking this opportunity to update you on developments in the area of marketing, brought to you by Neal Reynolds, founder and president of our endorsed partner, BankMarketingCenter.com.

Reynolds: Thanks for giving me the opportunity to address your members. We are committed to bringing Kansas banks the best in marketing messaging, which is so critical, especially in the face of so many challenges. The competition for customers has become incredibly tough and we all recognize the important role that strategic, compelling, and relevant marketing messaging can play in the fight for market share.

KBA: Neal, you mentioned that an organization — Canva — has found its way into some community banks and that this web-based template-building platform is being looked at as a low-cost alternative to BankMarketingCenter.com.

Reynolds: Yes, that’s true. But the real truth is that our services are very different. For starters, yes, a template-driven software application can make the creation of marketing products quick and easy. But as in everything in life, you get what you pay for, right? Can a template-driven design program like Canva apply the highly sophisticated principles of marketing that today’s marcomm messaging demands? Absolutely not. Sure, anyone can create a print ad or digital banner using a pre-built template, but what does Canva actually bring to the table? In the end, it is simply a tool, and as such, is only as effective as the marketing person whose hands it is in.

KBA: So how is what you offer different? Aren’t the ads on your portal templates, too?

Reynolds: No, they’re much more than that, and, in fact, this is the critical difference between what we offer and Canva templates. The difference, in a word, is thinking. We have a team of financial industry marketing professionals, with collective experience of about six decades, who are constantly researching financial industry trends, products, and services. Then, using their experience in the financial services space — community banking, in particular — they develop and add new, customizable creative to our library of content almost every day. And our layouts cover the full range of marketing materials, including direct mail, social media messaging, radio and print advertising, in-branch signage, statement stuffers, flyers, posters, and more. As far as our web-based platform is concerned, it doesn’t simply offer pretty templates for design. We put our clients in complete control of their marketing message development process, from concept to production via an easy-to-use interface. After a user logs into the BankMarketingCenter.com website, they can select an ad that most closely meets their needs and then customize it with their desired images, brand colors, and copy. Like Canva, no design software or experience is needed; it’s a simple drag-and-drop process. But that is where the similarity ends.

KBA: How so?

Reynolds: Our portal can automatically insert their institution’s logo, address, and phone numbers in their ad, including the compliant logos for FDIC and Equal Housing. The portal then facilitates proofing of the ad, automatically routing it along a pre-determined compliance approval path. Another critical advantage of our portal over template apps is that each user has easy access to their order history, enabling them to track all the marketing materials produced. This is a huge benefit to financial institutions if and when, in a compliance review, they’re asked by regulators for access to their marketing materials.

KBA: You also mentioned images and usage.

Reynolds: Yes, and that’s an important one and something else that your banks should know about. Here’s an example of what I’ve actually been seeing: banks are promoting their mobile banking with an image of an iPhone. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, does it? Well, Apple doesn’t see it that way. Apple states this pretty clearly in their Trademark Guidelines: “Only Apple and its authorized resellers and licensees may use the Apple Logo in advertising, promotional, and sales materials.” The problem is, service providers like Canva don’t protect you from this sort of thing and that’s because Canva doesn’t provide its own images. They utilize a third-party image resource. Here’s what that company’s website says about image usage. “While we have made reasonable efforts to correctly categorize, keyword, caption and title the Stock Media, Canva does not warrant the accuracy of such information and Canva also does not warrant the accuracy of any metadata that may be provided with the Stock Media.” Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, does it? BankMarketingCenter.com, on the other hand, offers millions of Getty images and videos and we guarantee their use. The last thing any bank needs is to find themselves in hot water over the illegal use of an image.

KBA: Thanks very much for your time, Neal. We appreciate it.

Reynolds: Thank you for giving me the opportunity. I hope this helps your banks better understand what we can do for them.