Marketing organizations at many financial institutions continue to struggle to participate in—and influence—the strategic decision-making processes in their organizations. This is a recurring theme in our discussions with clients, which is why we often examine it on this blog (see Bank Marketing’s Strategic Impact and Future Ready Bank Marketing).

At Vya, we’ve seen how marketing can contribute to a bank’s strategic success. Marketing bridges a bank’s strategic direction and daily execution, with a keen understanding of what matters to today’s banking customers.

Planning for long-term success while addressing short-term goals isn’t easy for a bank marketing organization. It can feel like a tug-of-war between two opposing forces. A Deloitte Insights post about The Future-Ready CMO put it this way: “Effective marketing leaders often live in two realms—the present and the possible.”

My Vya colleagues and I recently returned from our first BAI Beacon conference (Oct. 9-11 in Orlando), and I have to say, there was a freshness about it that is often lacking at financial services industry events. The format was energizing, the content thought provoking. Here are some of the top ah-ha moments and inventive aspects we experienced.

Is it smart to include marketing at the highest levels of strategic planning? At Vya, we think so. Organizations across a wide range of industries are searching for ways to gain their competitive advantage in the face of rapidly changing market dynamics. More than ever, marketing’s influence and insight can and should play a role in high-level business strategy.

In its 2018 Banking Outlook report, Deloitte’s Center for Financial Services talks about the multiple challenges banks face as they aim to transform into “more strategically focused, technologically modern and operationally agile institutions.” Among the challenges Deloitte identifies are: complex and diverging regulations, legacy systems, disruptive models and technologies, new competitors, and an often-restive customer base with ever-higher expectations.

Relationships have always been at the core of bank marketing success. While face-to-face transactions and handwritten notes have largely given way to mobile deposits, online bill paying, emails and texts, knowing and connecting with your customer on a personal level is as important as ever.

On the path to building lasting customer relationships, bank marketers must distinguish themselves from ever-increasing competition. There’s also the pressure to rise to elevated consumer expectations that are based on the streamlined, personalized experiences perfected by companies like Amazon and Uber.

Whether you’re a bank with local branches or a franchise business with multiple locations, local sponsorships offer a powerful way for your local representatives to build relationships and visibility in the communities they serve. Sponsorships are effective because supporting local sports teams, charitable causes, the arts and other cultural organizations puts your brand in front of the customers and prospects you most want to reach at the local level.

With the recently signed executive order requesting a review of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Trump administration has taken a first step toward potential regulatory relief for banks and financial services companies. Experts and influencers on both sides of regulation are already fiercely debating the merits and failings of the current law and any possible rollback of it. At this point, the result of such a review is uncertain. What is clear is that change is most definitely in the air.

At Vya we are big on brand consistency. Your brand is the platform that delivers your core product or service differentiation to customers. Managing brand consistency is critical, especially in a distributed organization with branches, agents or franchises.

Last week I was in Nashville with Vya’s Kandi O’Connor and Tracy McIntosh attending the ABA Bank Marketing Conference 2016 – a terrific event for bank marketers to zero in on the latest trends in digital marketing, branding and customer engagement.

Speaker Kimberly Capps, COO of Southern Bank, perfectly captured the overall spirit of the event when she shared this quote by Jeff Yabuki: “The only thing moving faster than technology is customer expectations.”