Between tariffs, inflation and economic uncertainty, small businesses are navigating more than financial challenges. They’re grappling with customer acquisition and retention. For them, visibility, digital presence and marketing execution are critical to growth and survival. As banks seek to deepen their banking relationships with small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), they have an opportunity to help these entities thrive beyond financial services.
Let’s look at a recent case by Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest financial institution with branches globally. It conducted a survey and discovered a surprising insight: For SMB clients, marketing — not financing — was the number one challenge.
Nearly 90% of SMBs reported spending over 18 hours a month trying to manage marketing on their own. Three in four SMBs said social media was their most important acquisition channel, yet most struggled to execute effectively. While these businesses may need credit and loans, their focus is on growth.
In addition to offering banking services, Bank Hapoalim did something different: They partnered with marketing expertise to launch a bold new initiative — providing thousands of SMB customers with autonomous AI marketing agents that handled everything from content creation to campaign optimization. The service offered free for six months and rolled out through a national campaign that included TV commercials, billboards, digital outreach and in-branch materials.
The impact was immediate:
- 1000% higher adoption than projected
- 78% of sign-ups became active users, publishing real marketing content via their AI agents
- Thousands of businesses created marketing plans and launched campaigns in the first week alone
- Hapoalim was recognized as the most innovative brand supporting SMBs during a time of crisis, strengthening customer loyalty and engagement
It turned out to be a strategic pivot that demonstrated what modern banking partnerships can look like — ones that enable real growth beyond balance sheets.
What can other banks learn from this?
First, AI doesn’t have to be a back-office tool. It can be a customer-facing capability that delivers value directly to banking clients. By leveraging autonomous AI agents, banks can offer their customers domain-specific expertise (like marketing, analytics or operations) through innovative partnerships.
Second, solutions like these are easily deployable. This partnership required no deep technical integration, no regulatory overhaul, and no waitlists. It launched in weeks, not years, and delivered measurable ROI for both the bank and its customers.
Finally, it shows that the role of financial institutions is evolving. The global economy remains volatile. In a market where SMBs are overwhelmed, under-resourced and increasingly digital-first, SMB’s most valuable financial partners will be those who go beyond pure banking. It means offering practical, immediate tools to grow.
As the industry experiments with AI — from risk modeling to fraud prevention — there’s a massive opportunity to ask: How can this technology create direct, day-one impact for our clients? For SMBs, that impact is often tied to customer acquisition. Banks helping them solve that challenge is good strategy.
Banks that do this will become more than lenders. They’ll become builders of business.
Naama Manova Twito is CEO of MarkeTeam.ai.
