Integrated Campaigns That Keep Independence Bank Connected to Montana Audiences

For more than a decade, Kinetic Marketing & Creative has helped Independence Bank bring targeted campaigns to market with messaging grounded in local relationships, industry knowledge and Montana values. What began as focused agriculture marketing has grown into a broader integrated advertising strategy spanning commercial lending, real estate, brand awareness, operations messaging and specialized KOA lending.

Today, Kinetic supports Independence Bank with creative built for multiple audiences and channels, all tied together by one brand promise: Independence Bank is local, relationship-driven and built to serve the people and businesses that keep Montana moving.

The Challenge

As Independence Bank continued to serve a wider range of customer needs, its advertising had to do more than promote individual products. It needed to speak directly to very different audiences — from established business owners to community banking customers — while still reinforcing one cohesive brand.

The creative had to span paid search, social media, digital placements, billboard concepts, branch materials, website banners and video, staying recognizable as Independence Bank at every touchpoint across various Montana markets.

The Approach

Kinetic’s strategy centered on building audience-specific campaigns around Independence Bank’s strongest differentiators: local decision-making, trusted relationships, community investment and lending expertise rooted in real-world experience.

Rather than treating each campaign as a stand-alone effort, Kinetic developed connected creative systems. Each campaign was tailored to its specific objective, but all positioned Independence Bank as the independent, local choice.

Campaign Execution Across Key Audiences

Commercial lending: Banking on relationships

For Independence Bank’s commercial lending campaign, Kinetic used a mix of high-intent search and high-engagement social creative. Messaging like “Local Lenders Making Local Decisions” resonated with business owners, positioning the bank as a partner rather than just a financing source. By actively optimizing the budget mid-flight, Kinetic leaned into local brand trust to maximize lead volume.

Supporting creative execution reinforced ideas such as relationship-first service, trusted commercial lenders, local market insight and financing for growth. The campaign extended across paid search, static social posts, carousel ads, social animations and branch rotators, giving Independence Bank a flexible set of assets that could work across channels while staying strategically aligned.

Operations and brand awareness: Rooted in community

Independence Bank’s operations campaign expanded the message beyond a single product line and focused on its identity as a community bank. With creative themes such as “Banking the Hi-Line Way” and “Strong Communities, Strong Banking,” the campaign tied the bank directly to the people and places it serves.

Social creative emphasized neighborly service, Montana values and reinvestment in local communities. Retargeting ads and carousel messages highlighted community-focused lending, local decision-making and the idea that Independence Bank knows its customers beyond a credit score. Search and performance max placements focused on building awareness in new markets and capturing high-intent searches for Independence Bank’s service offerings across the Montana Hi-Line. 

That same messaging carried into billboard concepts and other visual brand assets. Regional language and place-based imagery helped reinforce Independence Bank’s presence in communities such as Great Falls, Glasgow, Havre and Helena, strengthening the connection between brand and geography.

The Results

The following data demonstrates Kinetic’s ability to outperform industry benchmarks through highly targeted, multi-channel execution.

Operations Campaign: 

Metric	Paid Social	Paid Search	Finance Benchmark
CTR (Click-Through Rate)	1.96%	7.20%	0.85% (Social) 2.91% (Search)
CPC (Cost Per Click)	$0.34	$0.39	$1.95 (Social) 2.51% (Search)
Impressions	695,116	101,405

Performance Max drove 145 calls and 114 store visits in expansion markets with a 13% conversion rate.

Commercial Lending Campaign: 

Focus: Driving high-value loan inquiries and applications.

• Social Efficiency: The campaign achieved a 20.94% CTR (vs. 0.56% benchmark) and generated 201 leads at an efficient $12.18 cost per lead.
• Search Precision: Captured high-intent traffic with a 3.77% CTR on keywords like “Montana business loans,” maintaining a dominant position against national competitors.

The Outcome

In Q1 2026, Kinetic proved that an agile, data-driven strategy drives measurable growth. While digital channels delivered the data, the integration of print, branch rotators and website banners provided the high-trust touchpoints essential for brand loyalty.

By bridging the gap between digital precision and traditional community presence, Kinetic ensures Independence Bank shows up with relevance and consistency across the markets they serve.