Bank marketing investments and bank performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the effects of investments by US banks in advertising and promotion on their performance in the areas of profits and market share. Design/methodology/approach – The model presented in the paper is motivated by the theory of the profit function. We estimate a base model with a fixed‐effects panel including an AR(1) disturbance over the period 2002‐2006. To test for selection bias, we also estimate a Heckman model. Findings – It is found that bank profits and market share increase significantly with increased spending on advertising and promotion. Also, significant evidence is found of increasing returns to scale in this type of marketing expenditure. It is also found that increased expenditures on branching result in higher profits and increased market share, but without scale effects. The results are robust, the inclusion of variables is not suggested by profit function theory and corrected for prospective selection bias. Originality/value – The extant literature does not include research on the effectiveness of bank marketing from the viewpoint of its impact on profit performance. The findings should be of interest to academics in finance and marketing and to banking practitioners.