NEFMA Spring Conference

Today, the competition for a potential customer’s awareness is especially challenging for a marketing leader and team. With constant changes in the landscape to a finite budget and limited resources, a marketing team faces reduced performance and rising costs across media and resources on a daily basis. The traditional channels no longer work, and the dawn of new channels make it increasingly difficult to compete. At the same time, marketing is charged with increasing market share and driving growth. The expectations for marketing from leadership can be high. Gone are the days of marketing being just a cost center. The expectation is shifting rapidly to a performance-based revenue center. But without a strong foundation in the brand and alignment inside and out, an evolution to performance-based marketing and focus on revenue will not yield results. So how can marketing begin to make the shift to a center for revenue growth? It won’t come from strategy, creative or spend alone—it comes from alignment. When employees understand, believe in, and consistently deliver on brand, and the customer experience is aligned, growth becomes part of the culture and not just a goal.

This session will explore how a strong, clearly articulated brand will unite a culture inside and out around a shared vision of growth. You will see how engaging your leadership team, especially your Board/President/CEO, are all essential to making that vision stick. What are the steps and language to gain buy-in to a proposed rebrand?We will review how memorable and integrated messaging can make all the difference. In this session, you will learn step‑by‑step how one bank capitalized on a timely rebrand and turned it into a superpower for growth in less than a year by igniting employee passion and strengthening customer loyalty—achieving its best year ever.Attendees will gain practical insights on turning brand from a marketing function into a leadership-driven and employee/customer-activated growth engine.

Come learn how a small and nimble team made brand a priority and breathed new life into a 170+ year old bank—without losing its essence or history.