Five ways your marketing annoys people

Credit union marketing professionals are, by nature, passionate about what they do. The art of crafting and delivering strategically targeted messages designed to influence the behavioral and purchase patterns of consumers takes time, practice and skill. On the flip-side, marketing professionals can become enamored of their own work and reluctant to see where it might benefit from refinement and revision.

When we work in a marketing silo it is difficult to see and appreciate our own work from others’ perspectives. As tough a pill as it is for credit union marketers to swallow, not every marketing message and communication attempt is well received by the general public. Let’s face it — sometimes your marketing is downright annoying.

So, what are some ways your marketing can irritate people and, more importantly, how can you fix that problem?

• Your marketing annoys people because they can’t relate to it. If you use generic stock photography of perfect, shiny and happy people on your brochures, website and other collateral materials, odds are people can’t relate to it. And if they can’t relate to it, your marketing loses its effectiveness.Solution? Use pictures of your own members in marketing materials. These are the real people, the people of your community, the faces that are known and relatable. Employing actual pictures of actual members makes your credit union appear more sincere and approachable.
• Your marketing annoys people because it’s too wordy. Every marketer thinks they are a great writer and most of them actually are. The disconnect comes because modern consumers have incredibly short attention spans and simply will not give you their time and focus for more than a few short sentences.Solution? Think in terms of Twitter terminology for most of your marketing materials. Keep your messages short and succinct and of importance to the average consumer. Talk. Like. This. Marketing audits, which take a deep-dive look at all your marketing materials from a third-party’s perspective, are a good way to identify issues like wordiness.
• Your marketing annoys people because you fail to live up to your brand. If you claim to be the happy, friendly credit union that cares about people from the heart yet no one makes eye contact or uses first names or smiles or even acts like they remotely care about the members, you are failing your brand. If you fail the brand, savvy consumers will quickly figure out that you can talk the talk but bomb at walking the walk.Solution? Live up to the promise of your brand. If you say you are (insert whatever word works best for you: fast, friendly, knowledgeable, engaged, etc.) actually be that kind of credit union for your members. In an effort to live up to brand promise, many financial institutions now look at engagement training to replace standard sales and service training.
• Your marketing annoys people because you talk about yourself too much. And by “yourself” I mean your credit union. You probably work at the greatest credit union in the history of the world (most credit union marketers think this). However, the vast majority of consumers operate by the “what’s in it for me” or WIIFM? principle.Solution? Your credit union is definitely the greatest thing since sliced bread — but most consumers don’t care about you nearly as much as what you can do for them. What they do care about are the financial products and services you offer and how those match-up with the needs in their lives. Talk about the stories and values that make your credit union unique, not replaying boring brochure bullet points.
• Your marketing annoys people because it is simply not where they are. Are you still pumping all kinds of money and time into things like the printed newsletter, statement stuffers and lobby posters? If so, odds are you are failing miserably to reach the modern member. For your marketing to be effective, it must reach them where they are. This means digital and mobile channels.Solution? Tailor your marketing to reach members where it’s most convenient for them — and where they spend the most time. This means things like mobile optimized websites (for smart phones and tablets) text-based home banking functions and online chat availability, to name a few. People look at their cell phones an average of 150 times per day, so reach them where their eyes are glued.

This list is just for starters. For all the great work they do, marketers are also sometimes annoying to the very consumers they are trying to reach. Taking a close look at your marketing practices and weeding out the things that could possibly annoy consumers is a great first step towards refining your message and realizing a greater return on your marketing investment.