"Integrating Strategy and Creativity to Build a Brand"

Having grown up and worked in and around New York, Erin McReynolds developed an instinct for finding what’s “cool” and impactful while still being on-brand. Today, Erin brings this unique perspective to Fremont Bank as its Senior Director, Brand & Content. By combining strategic and creative skills, she delivers both big ideas and sustained bottom-line results for the Bank. By uncovering the overlap between the needs of the target audience and the company’s goals, Erin leads her team to design creative, engaging campaigns that hit the mark.

The results of this approach speak for themselves. Since joining the Bank in 2019, Erin’s team has produced the highest-performing ads in the Bank’s history for its primary revenue source. Its app downloads increased by 40% and app usage by 17%. Fremont Bank’s social media following is up more than 50%, and the team has won 13 awards for outstanding design, content, campaign strategy and more.

In 2020, this pioneering leader introduced a new component to Fremont Bank’s positioning, which is inspired by the Bank’s business model itself. When people choose to bank locally with Fremont Bank, their deposit dollars become, in part, loans for local businesses. Those businesses create jobs, buy real estate and retain services. Over time, schools improve, property values increase and the community grows ever more vibrant. Featuring this newly framed value proposition enables Fremont Bank to engage more people with everything the Bank does to support local communities and businesses, including women and minority-owned businesses.

Personalization is one of the biggest trends in marketing in general, and especially for financial services. It involves creating unique customer experiences that speak to each user’s wants and needs. Netflix offers a great example: making recommendations about content a viewer is likely to enjoy based on viewing history. “This way you don’t have to sift through movies or shows you’re not interested in to find something that will be exciting for you,” Erin explains. Another great example in the making? Fremont Bank. “At Fremont Bank, capitalizing on the full spectrum of what personalization can do will take time but we’re well on our way,” she states. Currently, the Bank is redesigning its warehouse of customer data, expanding its stack of marketing automation tools and refining its buyer personas to continue evolving its use of personalization.

Fremont Bank’s future looks bright. It has a strong, memorable brand built on its wide recognition for consistently supporting the communities in its branch footprint. These efforts get more and more media coverage, as do the Bank’s products and senior leaders.

The Bank is rebuilding the flagship branch from the ground up, which will be an iconic landmark. It will also be a fantastic marketing opportunity, brought to life by a brilliant team guided by a brilliant leader.

Beyond her ability to recognize and act on marketing trends, Erin’s effective leadership reflects her unique skillset and experience. Her management style is based on empowering her team to achieve more than they first believed they could. She gives her team members a crucial combination of mentorship, training and access to the tools they need to succeed. Then? She gets out of their way.

If there’s something she can do to help her team find more satisfaction in their work or advance their careers, she does her best to make that happen. “My team continues to grow. We recently produced a directory of our business clients that has created quite a buzz. Seeing the excitement, we’re now designing a series of strategic campaigns around it that will excite prospects, build loyalty and encourage supporting local businesses.”

“My career started moving more fluidly when I stopped focusing on what I thought I wanted and instead followed what I’m good at,” she says. “When I pivoted to marketing I added more value, was more energized and progressed more quickly. People say “follow your passion” or “do what you love,” but that can be really tricky. I think it’s more effective to figure out how to be passionate about the things you’re really good at. What makes people successful in a corporate environment is the ability to deliver results. Where can you deliver the best results? How can you add the most value? That’s where you should build your career.”

Advising young leaders, especially women, she adds, “Ask for what you want. I’ve worked with women who were either afraid to advocate for what they wanted or didn’t know how to do it effectively. This really holds women back from achieving their potential and meeting their professional goals. My advice to others – and something I follow myself – is to figure out what stands in the way of asking, research how to overcome that obstacle and then go for it.” WL