ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (COFS): Marketing Mix Analysis [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're digging into the late 2025 strategy for ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc., and honestly, that recent merger with Fentura Financial completely reset their playbook. As someone who's mapped bank strategies for two decades, I can tell you the old model is gone; we're looking at a new entity with about $4.3 billion in assets that's using a sharp Net Interest Margin of 3.73% as its new pricing anchor. Forget the fluff-I've broken down exactly how their Product, Place, Promotion, and Price have shifted post-deal, giving you the precise numbers you need to see their true standing. Keep reading for the full, unvarnished analysis below.

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (COFS) - Marketing Mix: Product

The product element for ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. centers on its comprehensive, integrated financial service delivery across its banking and subsidiary operations. You see a full-service community banking model at the core.

The primary product suite includes:

• Full-service community banking: deposits, consumer lending, and commercial lending.
• Expanded wealth management, trust, and insurance offerings via subsidiaries.
• Advanced Treasury Management Solutions for business customers.

The core loan portfolio demonstrated growth in early 2025. Core loans, which exclude held for sale loans and loans to other financial institutions, grew organically by 10.6% on an annualized basis during the first quarter of 2025. This organic growth amounted to $40.1 million for that quarter.

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. now stands as a larger entity following the March 2025 merger. Total assets for the combined organization were approximately $4.3 billion as of September 30, 2025.

The product diversification is supported by specialized subsidiaries. ChoiceOne owns 109 Technologies, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary organized in 2023 intended to own intellectual property for a fintech product licensed to third-party banks and bank holding companies. Insurance and investment products are offered through ChoiceOne Insurance Agencies, Inc..

The wealth management arm, ChoiceOne Wealth Management, is a financial advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. This segment helps clients manage approximately $780 million in assets across Michigan.

Here's a look at the scale of the primary product lines as of late 2025:

The service offerings within the wealth management product category are detailed below:

• Investing and Financial Planning.
• Lending, including Mortgages and Securities Based Lending.
• Private Banking with white glove service.
• Trust services.

For business clients, the Advanced Treasury Management Solutions include specific features:

• Wide array of payment options including same day ACH.
• Domestic and international wire originations.
• Advanced Mobile Deposit for businesses.
• Customizable payment reports and approvals.

The bank is definitely focused on integrating technology into its product delivery.

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (COFS) - Marketing Mix: Place

You're looking at how ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. gets its services into the hands of its Michigan customers. The Place strategy here is a classic community bank approach, heavily augmented by recent strategic expansion and digital investment. The goal is to maintain local access while scaling reach across the state.

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. operates 56 physical branch offices across West, Central, and Southeast Michigan. This footprint was significantly bolstered by the merger with Fentura Financial, Inc., effective March 1, 2025. That transaction allowed ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. to extend its physical presence into new counties, solidifying its position as the 3rd largest publicly traded bank holding company headquartered in Michigan based on asset size, which stood at approximately $4.3 billion as of late 2025.

The community bank model is central to this distribution strategy. It means you are focused on local, personalized service delivery, ensuring that even with the expanded footprint, decisions remain local. This physical network supports the relationship-driven aspect of their business model, which is especially valued by commercial clients.

Still, the physical presence is balanced by a strong emphasis on digital channels. This dual approach acknowledges that while customers value face-to-face interaction when needed, the convenience of modern technology is paramount for daily transactions. The investment in digital infrastructure was validated when ChoiceOne Bank won the Web Marketing Association (WMA) 2025 Outstanding Bank Website award for digital usability.

Here's a quick look at the digital component supporting this distribution:

• Online and mobile banking platforms are heavily emphasized.
• Website recognized nationally for superior design and navigation.
• Focus on security while maintaining simple, intuitive accessibility.
• Digital tools support the mission to provide superior service quality.

The geographic footprint is concentrated in Michigan, a defintely strategic regional focus. This concentration allows ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. to maintain deep local knowledge and commitment across its service areas, from West Michigan to the Southeast.

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (COFS) - Marketing Mix: Promotion

Promotion encompasses all the activities and tactics ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. employs to communicate about its product to the target audience, aiming to increase awareness, interest, and desire, and ultimately drive purchases. This can include advertising, sales promotions, public relations, direct marketing, and social media engagement. Effective promotion strategies ensure that the right messages are delivered through the most suitable channels to reach the target audience, persuasively conveying the product's benefits and differentiators.

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. dedicates resources to direct promotional spending, with advertising and promotional expense totaling $723 thousand for the first nine months of 2025.

The promotion strategy heavily features community-centric marketing, which aligns with ChoiceOne Bank operating as the local community bank.

• Community-centric marketing includes an ongoing spotlight initiative in November 2025 encouraging community members to connect with and support locally-owned small businesses.
• ChoiceOne Bank sponsors the Athlete of the Week program, an initiative coordinated by Athletic Directors at School Districts within their central market, which has highlighted student-athletes for more than thirty years.

Digital excellence is a key component, validated by external recognition for the bank's online presence.

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. uses various digital channels to drive engagement, maintaining an active presence across major platforms.

• Social media platforms used include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
• The bank uses news releases to promote internal leadership and community involvement.

News releases published around the third quarter of 2025 highlighted internal achievements and leadership recognition, which serves as a form of public relations promotion.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (COFS) - Marketing Mix: Price

You're looking at how ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. (COFS) prices its offerings, which is really about how they manage the spread between what they earn on assets and what they pay for liabilities, plus the specific rates they charge customers. This is all about making their lending products competitively attractive while maintaining a healthy margin, especially after the recent merger activity.

The core pricing power is reflected in the Net Interest Margin (NIM). For the third quarter of 2025, the GAAP NIM significantly rose to 3.73%, a strong jump of 56 basis points year-over-year from 3.17% in Q3 2024. This expansion shows they are successfully pricing their assets higher relative to their funding costs. Also, interest income due to accretion from purchased loans added 36 basis points to that Q3 2025 NIM figure, which is a temporary tailwind from the merger assets. Honestly, managing the cost side is just as critical.

ChoiceOne actively managed its funding costs down. The annualized cost of funds was managed down to 1.77% in Q3 2025, an improvement from 1.87% in the same period last year. However, the cost of deposits, which is a major component, actually increased to 1.57% in Q3 2025, up 4 basis points from 1.53% year-over-year. Management noted this was primarily due to the higher-cost deposits acquired through the Fentura merger. Here's the quick math on how the balance sheet is being utilized:

When you look at the lending side, the pricing for consumer products needs to be sharp to attract borrowers. For instance, auto loans, which include street legal motorcycles, start with interest rates as low as 6.99% APR. This is the headline rate for qualified borrowers, often contingent on automatic payment setup.

The overall lending activity relative to funding capacity, which speaks to how much they are deploying their deposit base, is shown by the loan-to-deposit ratio. As of March 31, 2025, this ratio stood at 80.21%, indicating strong lending activity relative to the deposits they held at that time. This ratio suggests a healthy deployment of their funding base, though post-merger core loan growth paused slightly in Q3 2025.

To give you a clearer picture of the specific consumer loan pricing environment ChoiceOne Financial Services, Inc. is operating in, consider these starting points for their offerings:

• Auto Loan Interest Rate (as low as): 6.99% APR
• New Car Loan Rates (as low as): 4.89% APR (with Auto Pay discount)
• Used Car Loan Rates (as low as): 4.99% APR (with Auto Pay discount)
• Unsecured Consumer Loan (as low as): 11.99% APR

The strategy here is clearly focused on maximizing the spread, as seen by the NIM expansion, while using competitive, low-starting APRs on key consumer products like auto loans to drive volume. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.