8 Bank Marketing Priorities-in order. The need to balance the short-term and the long-term, when it comes to community bank marketing planning and budgeting, is not new. But the advent of new technologies-inbound, automated email, lead nurturing, PPC, SEO, digital, retargeting-has aggravated the issue. We no longer look at the market and say, "what can we do?" We now look at all the opportunities and say, "what should we do?" For bank marketers, there is a real need for help in setting priorities. What comes first? What comes next? What comes next year? What comes next lifetime? While every situation…

"What does the data say?" I was in a discussion the other day with a digital media guru, who kept saying things like, "well, the data says...," and "we have to listen to what the data says...." Here's a clue for you. Data doesn't say anything. Data doesn't speak. You can listen all day long for the data to tell you what to do...for the data to make your decision for you...for the data to design your strategy for you...for the data to sell your product for you...for the data to make the coffee and change the baby. It's not…