Juliet D ’Ambrosio’s Expertise Featured in Independent Banker Article on Marketing Personalization

Chief Experience Officer interviewed on successful marketing for community banks

Tuesday, March 11, 2025 – Marketing matters for community banks – helping to attract new customers and deepen loyalty among existing ones. In fact, marketing is so important that banks under $50 billion in assets spend around 3% of their total budgets on these efforts. But marketing must be personalized to be effective. “At its finest, a personalized marketing campaign is one so calibrated to an individual customer that the customer walks away feeling like their community bank really knows them,” according to a new Independent Banker article on marketing personalization for community banks.   

Meaningful data is key to effective marketing personalization, according to Juliet D’Ambrosio, Chief Experience Officer for Adrenaline, in her interview for “Marketing Personalization Is More Than Adding Names to Emails.” While many community banks have been tracking their own data, the datasets tend to be unwieldy, so they must be organized to be activated. Juliet says community banks are making investments in their own data and technology to “clean up and merge customer data” and “consolidate duplications from email and other customer lists” to create efficient datasets.  

Once data is set, distribution is next. While most financial institutions use a multipronged approach, Juliet reminds bank marketers to not overlook tried-and-true methods, like direct mail. Juliet points out that direct mail is the channel of choice for Adrenaline’s clients, because it’s memorable and durable. “Even though it [may seem] like a retro channel, direct mail has high engagement rates,” she says. “When people get an offer in the mail, they’ll hold onto it longer, and they’ll recall and remember it in more detail. They’re also more likely to engage and act.” In fact, direct mail response rates are 5-9 times higher than emails.  

In terms of watchouts for bank marketers, Juliet and the other experts say that although customers expect personalized marketing, they also expect their personal data to be used responsibly. “Just because banks can take a look at your Amazon data to deliver more personalized offers to you, should they?” Juliet asks. “How much is too much? When do you cross the line?” For her, the answer is based on consent. “Customers of community banks are happy to have their data used to give them more personalized offers, but they want to be asked,” she says. “They want to opt in to that type of relationship and not just be targeted willy nilly.”  

For all of the expert insights, read the full article “Marketing Personalization Is More Than Adding Names to Emails” in the March edition of Independent Banker Magazine. The award-winning magazine is published monthly for members of the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA). Covering trends important to independent financial institutions, Independent Banker is the top source of news for community banking leaders.  

To learn more about successful brand and marketing strategies for financial institutions, or to speak with one of Adrenaline’s brand experience experts, contact us today. 

Adrenaline is an end-to-end brand experience company serving the financial industry. We move brands and businesses ahead by delivering on every aspect of their experience across digital and physical channels, from strategy through implementation. We create brands people love and engage audiences with story-led design and insights-driven marketing; and we design and build transformative brand experiences across branch networks, leading the construction of physical spaces that drive business advantage and make the brand experience real.