Community: Geography & Affinity

Reading Jim Murez’s feature about virtual branches helps me to see how much community bankers have in common with publishers. We both have legacy businesses that served customers well through the 20th Century. But as the new millennium advances, new means of sharing news have emerged almost as fast as new means of facilitating payments, saving money or accessing credit..Nearly all publications have developed digital editions. A local daily newspaper in the Twin Cities recently announced the number of digital subscribers has surpassed the number of its print subscribers. Digital has grown as a source of advertising and subscriber revenue; in some cases, publishers have discontinued their print publications altogether.The story seems as if it will be similar for community banks. While banks have had websites for three decades, they are only recently figuring out how to serve customers entirely with digital offerings, particularly via cellphone. The technology is now available to offer essentially all traditional services digitally. Murez provides examples from six banks; some of the key lessons:One: A bank can expand its customer base by serving a distinct audience with its digital offering that is completely separate from its bricks-and-mortar customer group. I think this is where the product delivery arch for community banks is better than it has been for community newspapers and such: newspapers need digital to retain the customers they have, while banks can use digital to expand their customer base.Two: Unlike a bricks-and-mortar branch, digital delivery in financial services has nothing to do with geography. Banks can increase their customer base by identifying an affinity group of people according to philosophy or interest, which might offer prospects in far greater numbers than a 10-mile radius around the bank.And three: Digital delivery is no longer new; you don’t have to convince anyone to try it. Most people these days are asking for it. Plus, there are more vendors offering turnkey options for providing digital service. This is way different from the publishing world where many publishers jury-rigged their websites to create digital publications. Today, there are off-the-shelf web templates for news platforms, but that is a relatively recent development, especially for smaller companies.A local newspaper and a local bank are part of the backbone of many communities. As digital technology redefines community, bankers — like publishers — need to adapt in order to retain their crucial place, whether “community” is defined by geography or affinity.