EDITOR’S NOTE: In July 2017, Megan Olson was named president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of South Dakota. For the preceding 13 years, Olson was president and CEO of the Watertown, S.D., Chamber of Commerce. BankBeat’s Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Nasseff Hilgert spoke to Olson about her new role. 
Q. How did your work with the Watertown Chamber of Commerce prepare you for your role at ICBSD?
Megan Olson: At the Chamber, I was hired as vice president, but six months in, they made me president. It was a hit-the-ground-running type of situation. I knew going in, being young and replacing a person who had a 20-year tenure, that I had to prove myself. I had to work twice as hard, put in long hours and set my expectations high.
I like to help people identify the things they are passionate about. It’s about connecting people and allowing them to plug in, helping folks find their seat at the table. I think that’s been a theme throughout my professional career.
In an association like this, you have to find the connections. These aren’t my organizations; I’m just the caretaker for a short time. This approach serves me well. Ultimately, the people I’m working for are the experts. They are the ones who live it every day. I’m the one who gets to help them plug in or tap into the network.
Q. What are the specific challenges facing independent bankers in South Dakota?
M.O.: Right now it’s the ag economy. Community bankers are keeping a close eye on ag because it’s a huge part of how we sustain. There’s a lot of uncertainty. We’re in a down market and people on the farm are having to make tough decisions. Ultimately that affects our community banks. Bankers and farmers are having conversations about the long-term sustainability of some operations and how it affects our way of life.
The other theme continues to be over-regulation. We’re blessed because our congressional delegation understands what it’s like to do business in rural South Dakota. But there’s a huge disconnect between how these regulations are written and how they are implemented on Main Street in rural communities. So that is a bucket of water we’ll continue to carry.
Q. You’ve launched a rebranding strategy. Talk about your objectives.
M.O.: We have launched a new branding strategy and new communications platforms. When I came into the position the groundwork had been laid. Greg McCurry did a fantastic job; he was very good at the communication piece. But, I felt like it was time for a brand refresh. It’s important to have a customer-centric face.
People are realizing that community banks have been around, in some cases, for 100 years, but we wanted them to realize our banks are also new and innovative and strive to be cutting-edge. So the goal was to relay that idea.
Our new logo with the swish is a nod to our affiliation with the national organization. But also we wanted to focus on a refresh with the colors.
One of the things that comes out of my background in community development is knowing to ask about outreach. I asked our members: “How are you communicating with customers? How are you marketing to them?” Occasionally, those questions were met with a blank stare. More often, I heard, “We know marketing is important, but we have five people in the entire organization and it just fell to the bottom of the list.” So this was an opportunity for the association to fill that void for our community banks by developing marketing materials that could be plug-and-play for them. We’re coming out with quarterly campaigns that are timed with what’s going on in the state or the region. It’s an opportunity to drop in the bank logo and use the materials on different platforms. We have everything from print ads to social media banners, posts for their Facebook pages to tweets. We have radio spots to play during Community Banking month in April. One of our campaigns is called Support Main Street, Not Wall Street.
Q. Is the #BankLocalSD campaign still ongoing?
M.O.: We’re at an interesting point where millennials are starting to pay attention to what is produced locally or organically, supporting local artisans. It’s a trend that’s been around for awhile but it’s catching on in South Dakota. The timing for the #BankLocalSD campaign is right and we’ll continue to promote it.
One of our other themes is: We Know Your Neighbors Because We Are Your Neighbors. We have a public relations director for the association who has a professional marketing firm so she knows these components and is putting an extensive amount of research into these themes. They resonate very well.
Q. When you aren’t working, what do you do for relaxation?
M.O.: To be honest, in the last six months there hasn’t been a whole lot of time for relaxation. When you do a job for 13 years and all of sudden you switch jobs, you have to retrain your brain. I just bought a historic home in Watertown so I’m doing a lot of refurbishing. I love to travel. I love to garden. I love to cook. Those are my passions. n