100 episodes. Four seasons. Many dozens of conversations with bank leaders and innovators – and we're just getting started!

In this milestone episode, Chris and Dan look back at what they've learned from these conversations, and where they think community bank marketing is headed next.

They also turn the cameras on themselves – and put each other in the hot seat with surprise questions that dig into strategy, personal best practices, and how to navigate what's coming in 2025 and beyond.

In this episode:

• The biggest shifts in bank marketing since the show began in early 2022
• Lessons learned from dozens of interviews with industry experts
• What's working right now in brand, digital, and AI-driven marketing
• Key themes we expect to define the next year of bank marketing
• A special 100th episode Hot Seat session where Dan and Chris challenge each other with unrehearsed questions

Links & Resources

• Bankmarketingshow.com
• Sign up for our newsletter: bankmarketingminute.com
• Contact Chris and Dan: contact@bankmarketingshow.com

AI Agents are quickly becoming the biggest competitive edge for community banks to win and serve small business customers.

Chris and Dan sat down with the co-founders of Daylit, Jared Shulman (CEO) and Jerry Shu (CTO), to break down what AI agents actually are, how they work, and why banks should be thinking about building an AI Agent portfolio to stand out in the highly competitive SMB market.

Daylit (formerly Lendica) is the leading AI Agent for accounts receivable for SMBs, and they share deep insight into how businesses think, how they adopt new tools, and what they will expect from their financial partners in the next few years.

If you've been hearing the buzz about AI agents, and thinking about how they fit into your bank's AI strategy, this is a must-listen.

In this episode:

• What AI Agents really are, and what makes them different from just an LLM
• How AI Agents give SMBs enterprise-level financial intelligence, without the enterprise-level budget
• How community banks can use AI-enabled services to attract, retain, and grow SMB customers
• Why embedded fintechs and non-banks are quietly becoming competitors – and how to differentiate
• Practical ways banks can partner with AI technology vendors, without taking on additional regulatory or credit risk

Links & Resources

• Launch Event! Daylit is releasing the newest version of their AI AR Agent on December 2, 2025 at 6pm ET. Register here: https://luma.com/me4l88i0

· Daylit: daylit.com

· Follow Daylit on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thedaylit/

· Follow Daylit on X: https://x.com/daylit_ai

· Follow Daylit on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lendica

· Book: Zero to One

· Follow Jared on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shulman-jared/

· Follow Jerry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-shu-8502591b/

Connect with Chris & Dan

· Website: bankmarketingshow.com

· Email: contact@bankmarketingshow.com

· Companion Newsletter: bankmarketingminute.com or https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/bank-marketing-minute-7240439067794948098

What happens when a 120-year-old community bank decides to take a bold leap forward? Randy Dorn, President of My Kind of Bank (formerly First National Bank of Henning), joins Chris and Dan to share the story behind their rebrand — from internal debates to a powerful cultural transformation that united staff and energized customers.

Randy reveals how a name change became more than a marketing move — it became a statement of purpose. This episode dives deep into how community banks can modernize without losing their soul, and how to turn a rebrand into a growth engine that drives engagement, loyalty, and pride.

Main Topics Covered:

• Why "doing nothing" is riskier than rebranding

• How My Kind of Bank turned a marketing idea into a brand identity

• The internal culture shift that made the brand stick

• Turning employees into local heroes (and why it works better than celebrity ads)

• Using digital marketing, SEO audits, and referral programs to turn a new brand into measurable growth

• How to approach board conversations about risk, tradition, and change

Resources & Links Mentioned:

• Randy's email: randy.dorn@mykindofbank.com

• My Kind of Bank: mykindofbank.com

• Website: bankmarketingshow.com

• Sign up for our newsletter: bankmarketingminute.com

• Contact Chris and Dan: contact@bankmarketingshow.com

Compliance and marketing don't have to be enemies, especially in the age of AI. In this episode, Charles LeFevre, Director of Compliance Operations at Kadince (and self-proclaimed "Taylor Swift of Compliance"), joins us to break down how these two sides can work together to move faster, stay compliant, and even have a little fun doing it.

You'll hear how AI is reshaping the marketer–compliance relationship, and where there are opportunities for smarter collaboration, fewer bottlenecks, and better outcomes for everyone.

In this episode:

• Why "best practices" can actually kill creativity
• How to build realistic AI usage policies that empower your team
• The right balance between guardrails and innovation when using AI
• How smaller banks can use AI to leap ahead of big institutions
• Charles's three-lines-of-defense model for marketing + compliance collaboration

Links & Resources:

Charles's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/talktochuck/

🌐 bankmarketingshow.com

📰 Sign up for our newsletter: bankmarketingminute.com

📩 Contact Chris and Dan: contact@bankmarketingshow.com

If your 2026 plan looks like 2025's...you may not be adapting to all the technology- and user behavior-driven changes that have happened this year.

In this episode, Chris and Dan chat about all these changes, and lay out a simple checklist to use as your 2026 strategy comes together - including adjusting budgets, getting found with GEO and SEO, and speaking directly to customer problems.

Key topics:

- Why you should audit your digital visibility as the first input to your strategic plan

- How allocating budget should be different than last year

- Building initiatives around specific customer problems/niches

Links and resources:

- Website: bankmarketingshow.com

- Newsletter: bankmarketingminute.com

- Contact Chris and Dan: contact@bankmarketingshow.com

There's lots of hype in the marketplace about how AI is taking over – and while the promise is that AI can help personalize customer experiences at scale, community banks are worried that it will actually make customer service feel more generic and less personal.

This week, Chris and Dan talk with Sharveen Kumar, former NVIDIA-backed founder and ex-marketing leader at Amex, about the opportunity for banks to use AI to gain more personal touch with AI. By using AI in the right ways, it takes the mundane, repeatable tasks off your plate and actually creates more opportunities for you to do what you do best: build customer relationships.

Main Topics Covered

· Personalization is the differentiator: banks have rare, long-term 1:1 relationships—most banks focus on protecting and scaling that edge.

· Start with data, not tools: CRM usage, clean legacy data, and connected sources are the foundation for any AI win.

· Beware shiny objects: many enterprise AI POCs fail; map processes and decide where AI should (and shouldn't) play.

· Where AI actually helps: automate the 30–40% "one-liner" service requests so teams can focus on deeper conversations.

· Practical workflow moves: capture conversation notes, let AI surface opportunities, and free humans for high-value outreach.

· Tiered experiences without losing the human touch: segment service levels thoughtfully, then invest saved time into relationship banking.

Books Mentioned

· On the Road — Jack Kerouac

· Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art — James Nestor

Guest Bio

Sharveen is a former NVIDIA-backed AI startup founder, now pioneering multi-agent solutions for finance and technology enterprises. He previously led marketing at global powerhouses including Singapore Airlines, American Express, LinkedIn, and The Trade Desk. Beyond building companies, Sharveen invests in emerging ventures and mentors the next generation of professionals.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharveenkumarl/

Links & Resources

Website: bankmarketingshow.com

Sign up for our newsletter: bankmarketingminute.com

Contact Chris and Dan: contact@bankmarketingshow.com

EP 93: Use AI to Build a 90-Day Content Calendar (in Real Time)

In this second hands-on demo (see Ep 89: AI Starter Kit for the first one), Dan shares his screen to walk through a real example: how a custom GPT can take just three real customer questions and instantly generate 90 days of social posts, blog topics, and image suggestions—all formatted and ready to use.

If you've been using ChatGPT or another LLM, but haven't started building repeatable processes yet, this episode will get you started. Here, we talk about content creation - but there's so much more you can do with custom GPTs.

***Haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel yet? This is a great episode to watch there!***

What We Cover:

- Why good prompts still matter (even with automation)

- How to build a reusable, branded custom GPT - Generating a full 90-day content calendar from 3 questions

- Downloadable CSVs, stock images, and blog ideas—all prepped for execution

- Tips for keeping your content local, human, and brand-consistent

- Bonus: how to turn this into a repeatable quarterly process

Want access to the exact GPT we used in this episode? Email us at contact@bankmarketingshow.com with subject line "Content Calendar GPT" and we'll send you the link.

Links & Resources:

· Website: bankmarketingshow.com

· Sign up for the companion newsletter: bankmarketingminute.com

· Contact Chris and Dan: contact@bankmarketingshow.com