T.J. Winick, Principal, Essex Strategies 

Banking on Stories: Building Trust Through Authentic Narratives

By showcasing the power of authentic narratives, the session will demonstrate how storytelling can build trust, differentiate brands, and humanize banking institutions in the eyes of customers and the broader community.

Attendees will learn how to define storytelling within a PR context as human-centered narratives that connect with emotions and lived experiences. The types of stories that banks should tell will be presented, including customer impact stories that highlight how the bank has helped individuals, families, or business.

Dan Szabo, Owner, eFraud Prevention

Using Fraud Awareness to Elevate Engagement While Promoting Fraud Safety

Fraud scams are impacting every financial institution, with an ever-expanding range of schemes and tactics creating a massive problem that cannot be ignored. Bank marketing teams have a unique opportunity to take the lead in fraud prevention through strategic messaging and proactive customer and member education. This session explores how integrating fraud awareness education with marketing strategies can strengthen account holder trust, drive engagement, and position your institution as a financial safety leader.

In this session, participants will explore real-life case studies, including the success stories of SAFE Federal Credit Union, Cambridge Savings Bank, and First Reliance Bank, to uncover actionable strategies for seamlessly embedding fraud awareness into marketing efforts. Attendees will learn how to utilize interactive tools such as fraud quizzes, contests, on-demand webinars, and social media campaigns, as well as a comprehensive learning hub for in-person seminars, to foster deeper engagement, build trust, and generate valuable leads...[Read More]

Jennifer Harrington, CEO/Founder, HATCH

CBX: Transforming Customer Brand Experience in Financial Services - 5 Ways Brand Can Drive Exceptional Customer Experience

In today's competitive banking landscape, Customer Experience (CX) is no longer enough. The true power lies in how your brand is embedded within every customer interaction - Customer Brand Experience (CBX) is the new north star. As community banks strive to create deeper connections with customers, it's essential that the customer experience is not just functional, but also aligns with your bank's brand identity, values, and mission.

This session will explore the shift from CX to CBX and provide actionable insights for marketing executives to ensure their brand is driving meaningful, memorable, and personalized customer experiences and engagement. We'll dive into the top strategies that are vital to integrating your brand into every customer touchpoint, showcase in- and out-of-category organizations that are excelling in this area, and discuss how to measure the impact of your brand-driven customer experiences.

Morgan Talbot, Sales Manager, Kadince

How to Use Corporate Social Responsibility to Drive Business Development

Financial institutions have long been cornerstones in local communities and markets. Oftentimes, Marketing Professionals at financial institutions are charged with fostering relationships with local businesses, schools, and nonprofit organizations. This is usually administered through charitable giving, donations, scholarships, event sponsorships, and encouraging employee volunteerism. Community involvement likely remains a key pillar in your institution's public image and outreach efforts. While it is important to serve those in need, what if these initiatives could do more? What if they could become a key driver of business development and revenue growth?

And, what if you could utilize community involvement as a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) to tell your story to senior leadership?

In this session, you’ll uncover how to transform your community engagement and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives into strategic opportunities for business growth...[Read More]

Jack Hubbard, Chief Experience Officer, The Modern Banker

Building a Sustainable Performance Culture and Marketing's Role in Its Success

Sales cultures make customers victims. Performance Cultures are a next level that forward-thinking community banks have adopted, keeping their focus on process over products, becoming learning organizations and making Marketing a performance partner. In this fast-paced session you experience:

• The 5Cs of trust-based selling
• The new RM – The Resource Manager - and how they elevate their game
• Connections to conversations – harnessing the “smarketing” power of LinkedIn
• Logo Day, Santa Banker, 3 Before 8, CEO 7 and Becoming a Turkey
• Six success practices CMOs can take to the bank

Jack Hubbard brings his 52 years as a banker and consultant to the NEFMA table, sharing practical ideas you can implement immediately to help your organization craft an enduring Performance Culture where you needn’t worry about the competition, you ARE the competition.

Sean Bannon, VP of Sales, WordCom

Elevate Your Brand by Forging Authentic Community Connections

In today’s competitive landscape, strong data, insightful analytics, and a sound strategy are undeniably vital to the success of any marketing campaign. They provide the foundation, the roadmap, and the metrics needed to measure progress and optimize outcomes. But, as WordCom’s most successful clients have demonstrated time and again, there’s an additional and often overlooked ingredient that contributes to the highest levels of performance: community involvement.

Deep, authentic engagement with communities truly sets top-performing FIs apart. These brands don’t just operate within the confines of their industry; they actively participate in the lives and concerns of the people they serve...[Read More]

Joe Amato, Vice President of Sales, WordCom

Elevate Your Brand by Forging Authentic Community Connections

In today’s competitive landscape, strong data, insightful analytics, and a sound strategy are undeniably vital to the success of any marketing campaign. They provide the foundation, the roadmap, and the metrics needed to measure progress and optimize outcomes. But, as WordCom’s most successful clients have demonstrated time and again, there’s an additional and often overlooked ingredient that contributes to the highest levels of performance: community involvement.

Deep, authentic engagement with communities truly sets top-performing FIs apart. These brands don’t just operate within the confines of their industry; they actively participate in the lives and concerns of the people they serve...[Read More]

Kristin Sundin Brandt, President, Sundin Marketing

How to Present to Executive Management

With 75% of people reporting they fear public speaking MORE than they fear death, it’s easy to see why so many dread the idea of presenting to their executive management teams. But there are many professional benefits to being able to present effectively including career advancement. During this presentation, Kristin Sundin Brandt will review the many facets that go into preparing for speaking to your executive team, including planning, slide development, speaking style and potential pitfalls.