In Your Corner magazine began as not much more than a product brochure for California Bank & Trust (CB&T). It was a collection of ads for credit cards, checking accounts, mortgage loans and other financial products. When I arrived at CB&T in August of 2021, one of the challenges was to help elevate the magazine: We knew it had potential as a brand-building vehicle that would truly speak to our clients and prospects. 

I had worked in journalism, so it was natural for me to focus on the audience, in this case both business owners and retail consumers. I suggested we develop a theme for each issue — these included sustainability and innovation. Once we had a theme, we could build an anchor story for each audience segment, as well as 'satellite' stories that would support the larger theme.

With high-interest content that spoke to our consumer audience...

And to owners of small- to medium-sized businesses, we began to generate traction, in the form of requests for feature stories from clients...  

... and recognition from the dotComm Awards, in the form of a Platinum Award for Creativity and Excellence in Owned Media