“Shaina is excellent with strategic planning, content, communication and everything in between. She is a pleasure to work with, and her creativity inspires me to think outside the box. Making our messaging more consistent and taking the customer experience to a new level has had a substantial impact on our overall performance and paid dividends well beyond expectations.”

Industry

Financial Services

Services

• Brand messaging

• Content strategy

• Marketing strategy and execution

• Web and print copywriting

• Email marketing

• Workshop facilitation

Collaborators

Five Sigma Studio, Design and Development

Goals

• Increase loan volume and deposits

• Improve the customer experience to increase satisfaction, retention, and referrals

The challenge: Help a SMALL bank compete with the big BANKS

How does a local bank win and keep customers when competing with big, national brands? With heartfelt, personal service and a dedicated marketing and design team. 

After working together while I was part of a branding and design agency, Gateway Bank reached out years later to reconnect and see how we could collaborate again. They missed having a partner who could help them be consistent and proactive with their marketing efforts to attract new customers, provide a positive experience for existing customers, and grow their business. I brought in the incredible Niki Blaker of Five Sigma Studio, a fellow agency alumnus who also worked with Gateway before, to “get the band back together.”

The process: Start with strategy, then implement, iterate, and scale

Since we were going to be helping with Gateway’s marketing and design on a long-term, ongoing basis, Niki and I began by facilitating a strategic planning workshop with the executive team to understand the bank’s current state, future goals, and steps needed to achieve them. During this session, we revisited Gateway’s branding and messaging to ensure it was still effective, then mapped both their customer and employee journeys so we could pinpoint the best marketing and design opportunities.

The results: Small bank, big wins

Coming out of the initial strategic planning session, Niki and I had a long backlog of initiatives and tasks that we have made progress on every month since then. We repeat this strategic planning and agile “sprint” process every year.

After almost ten years of working together, we continue to serve as Gateway’s outsourced marketing and design team, managing everything from their website and email marketing, to sales collateral and campaigns, to customer communications and educational resources. 

Gateway Bank has been thrilled with the results of our partnership, including:

• 99% increase in loan volume and 83% increase in deposits in six years

• 104% increase in new website users since redesigning Gateway’s website

• 44% increase in LinkedIn followers since taking over social media management

• Ranked in the top 5 search results for all target keywords, such as “community bank in Mesa”

• Created a popular monthly newsletter with open and click rates that are 3-5x the industry average