With digital banks, you can access your account 24/7 without ever going to a branch. Community banks are facing real pressure from these rivals, particularly as they try to attract younger customers who have grown up with smartphones.

But community-based institutions are strong elsewhere in markets where megabanks and fintech newcomers have had a harder time breaking in. The benefit is the kind of real-world physical presence that digital platforms cannot match: one grounded in tangible, trust-building reality.

For a lot of people, banking decisions go beyond numbers on a screen. They would like to deal with someone who knows the local economy, the types of jobs people hold and how making payroll can fluctuate depending on the season for running a small business. It’s the kind of intelligence you’re never going to get from an app. Overextended corporations don’t know your community and how it functions, but friends who work and live in your town do.

That difference becomes even clearer during important moments, like planning for college or retirement. Being on the other side of a table, reviewing printed materials together, creates a sense of clarity and confidence that’s hard to replicate digitally. These take-home guides don’t end up buried in an inbox or trapped behind a login. 

And when we sign documents on paper, they ring final; a tangible signal of genuine commitment, in a way that digital files almost never do.

Community banks compete with digital only for local understanding and personal service. Printed financial guides help bind those connections together. They can use HelloPrint to create user-friendly booklets tailored to their community, instead of giving all customers the same generic online advice.

Smaller banks can create professional print materials with HelloPrint without having to invest in large quantities. They can use them for seasonal promotions or short-term campaigns, making it easy to adapt materials to various needs and occasions.

Traffic in bank branches has declined over the last decade or so as consumers have grown accustomed to making mobile deposits and paying their bills online. Many community banks have changed how they use the space rather than just shutting down branches. What used to be traditional teller lines have been replaced with one-on-one conversations that emphasize guidance and advice as much as routine transactions.

This change is where print comes in handy. A local small business cash-flow workshop, for instance, sounds like a lot more value when the participants are manually working exercises in printed workbooks that they can take home with them. 

Those materials become handy references that business owners return to when they’re making a decision weeks later, keeping the bank’s name and contact information front and center, rather than buried in a digital folder.

For community banks, sending out a printed newsletter or hosting an event with something to take back to the office activates different neural pathways than just another e-mail in the inbox.

There's measurable business impact too. One community bank in Vermont tracked the origin of new accounts for 18 months. Recipients passed the items along to family and friends, starting conversations about how much they enjoyed banking with FirstService. It’s not like you can just hand someone your phone and say “check out this cool bank app” to the same effect.

National banks print millions of copies of the same pamphlet, but community banks produce their own local promotional copy. A Iowa based bank that mainly serves farming communities can write guides for crop loans with information on the soil in local fields and regional commodity prices. 

This is not the kind of hyperlocal approach that would work at a nationwide chain, but it is entirely appropriate for 2,000 agricultural customers spread across three counties.

It’s not just about selling services with a marketing lens. Mortgage customers receive printed timelines detailing every step in the process, from the initial application to closing and complete with contact names and direct phone numbers of who they will be working with. 

These are not standardized forms, but custom documents that demonstrate how the bank does what it does in particular. It might be harder to create, but it underscores the personal service message that lies at the core of what community banks have over their online-only rivals.

Digital banking tools are not going to brick and mortar, nor should they. But community banks wielding both tactics have something fintech start-ups can’t mimic, an understanding of local conditions doled out through facial features and handshakes.

 

With digital banks, you can access your account 24/7 without ever going to a branch. Community banks are facing real pressure from these rivals, particularly as they try to attract younger customers who have grown up with smartphones.

But community-based institutions are strong elsewhere in markets where megabanks and fintech newcomers have had a harder time breaking in. The benefit is the kind of real-world physical presence that digital platforms cannot match: one grounded in tangible, trust-building reality.

For a lot of people, banking decisions go beyond numbers on a screen. They would like to deal with someone who knows the local economy, the types of jobs people hold and how making payroll can fluctuate depending on the season for running a small business. It’s the kind of intelligence you’re never going to get from an app. Overextended corporations don’t know your community and how it functions, but friends who work and live in your town do.

That difference becomes even clearer during important moments, like planning for college or retirement. Being on the other side of a table, reviewing printed materials together, creates a sense of clarity and confidence that’s hard to replicate digitally. These take-home guides don’t end up buried in an inbox or trapped behind a login. 

And when we sign documents on paper, they ring final; a tangible signal of genuine commitment, in a way that digital files almost never do.

Community banks compete with digital only for local understanding and personal service. Printed financial guides help bind those connections together. They can use HelloPrint to create user-friendly booklets tailored to their community, instead of giving all customers the same generic online advice.

Smaller banks can create professional print materials with HelloPrint without having to invest in large quantities. They can use them for seasonal promotions or short-term campaigns, making it easy to adapt materials to various needs and occasions.

Traffic in bank branches has declined over the last decade or so as consumers have grown accustomed to making mobile deposits and paying their bills online. Many community banks have changed how they use the space rather than just shutting down branches. What used to be traditional teller lines have been replaced with one-on-one conversations that emphasize guidance and advice as much as routine transactions.

This change is where print comes in handy. A local small business cash-flow workshop, for instance, sounds like a lot more value when the participants are manually working exercises in printed workbooks that they can take home with them. 

Those materials become handy references that business owners return to when they’re making a decision weeks later, keeping the bank’s name and contact information front and center, rather than buried in a digital folder.

For community banks, sending out a printed newsletter or hosting an event with something to take back to the office activates different neural pathways than just another e-mail in the inbox.

There's measurable business impact too. One community bank in Vermont tracked the origin of new accounts for 18 months. Recipients passed the items along to family and friends, starting conversations about how much they enjoyed banking with FirstService. It’s not like you can just hand someone your phone and say “check out this cool bank app” to the same effect.

National banks print millions of copies of the same pamphlet, but community banks produce their own local promotional copy. A Iowa based bank that mainly serves farming communities can write guides for crop loans with information on the soil in local fields and regional commodity prices. 

This is not the kind of hyperlocal approach that would work at a nationwide chain, but it is entirely appropriate for 2,000 agricultural customers spread across three counties.

It’s not just about selling services with a marketing lens. Mortgage customers receive printed timelines detailing every step in the process, from the initial application to closing and complete with contact names and direct phone numbers of who they will be working with. 

These are not standardized forms, but custom documents that demonstrate how the bank does what it does in particular. It might be harder to create, but it underscores the personal service message that lies at the core of what community banks have over their online-only rivals.

Digital banking tools are not going to brick and mortar, nor should they. But community banks wielding both tactics have something fintech start-ups can’t mimic, an understanding of local conditions doled out through facial features and handshakes.