Florida Keys Bank Builds Local Color into Its Website

Fishing and football aren't the first things typically associated with digital banking, but at First State Bank of the Florida Keys they're proving to be the cornerstone of both web design and customer relationship building, and a blueprint for how smaller banks can use digital channels to enhance their unique ties to specific communities.

"The streaming football games get hits from around the world, a lot of people who have been here or live here part time are interested," says Don Lanman, a senior vice president at the $800 million-assets bank, which streams local high school football games on its website, along with a lot of other non-bank content such as weather reports and non-financial information on local attractions. "We get a lot of emails from people saying they couldn't watch their grandson play football in person, but they were able to see the games online. We obviously didn't make any money off of that, but we were building a community."

Lanman is responsible for marketing and web design at the bank. FSB works in partnership with Q2ebanking, which manages the site and also participates in the design; the bank also has the ability to update the site's content. The site has worked well for the bank, which is using it to extend financial services to customers both in and outside of the Florida Keys. It's also a template of sorts for the bank's new mobile apps.

Called "bank where you fish," the new Android app, which is also being developed with Q2, will be ready in a couple of months. Like the website and the bank's activities on Facebook and Twitter, it will feature local content that's not directly related to the bank, but is designed to connect people to the culture of the Florida Keys, and, by extension, FSB of the Keys, which is the only bank headquarted in the Florida Keys. The strategy isn't necessarily high tech but it is personable. Lanman says that by connecting people to the Keys though a website or mobile app, it creates a positive feeling that can only help the bank.

The redesigned website gets 2,000 visits per day, which is strong for a bank that has about 17,000 customers, about half of which are online bankers. The institution is also using the site as part of an effort to get "snowbirds," or people who live full-time outside of the Keys, to bank full time with FSB of the Keys. Lanman didn't reveal exact numbers for that initiative, but says it's been working. A "green" initiative tied to the new site has also succeeded in increasing electronic statements.

"The culture in Key West, Marathon, Key Largo, etc. is very parochial. We didn't want a typical bank website. We wanted to create a destination type portal that reflects the local area, and also serves as an interactive platform that provides locals and visitors links to various places and activities in the area," Lanman says.

The site's background is water blue, and it includes weather reports, charitable events, island history and other local attractions. A banner ad for new ATMs features a manatee with money in its mouth. "You could liken it to a travel website, it has that kind of look and feel," Lanman says.

The informal local approach to digital content has worked elsewhere in financial services, particularly for local banks or niche financial service providers. For example, National Grand Bank of Marblehead recently hired T8 Webware to redesign its site (http://www.americanbanker.com/btn/24_11/web-redesign-sea-change-1043664-1.html) to give it a look and feel of the local New England coast, including seasonal photographs, boats and local village scenes.

And New American Mortgage uses social media very informally to connect sales people with its customers, highlighting the lender's work with charities and the often off topic tweets of CEO Casey Crawford. Crawford, a former football player, often tweets about football and has said that only about 20 percent of what goes on social media sites should be business related.