Making your credit union’s brand promise work

Anything worth doing is hard. This is especially true when it comes to executing a truly sustainable brand promise strategy.

What is a brand promise exactly? It’s the statement you make to consumers that identifies what they should expect for all interactions with your people, products, services and institution.

At its core, a brand promise is about creating the types of exceptional experiences that lead to an emotional connection with consumers, generating life-long loyalty and sparking precious word of mouth.

Getting colleagues to see a different future

Securing the buy-in from senior leadership is the first and most critical part of both building and making a brand promise stick. This may be difficult, especially if you have tenured staff members with both a financial and an emotional stake in the outcome. Still other circumstances, such as mergers and acquisitions, can make building a cohesive, authentic brand promise a tough proposition.

In some organizations, marketing can drive strategic conversations around brand evolution. In others, it may require a passionate realization from the CEO. Other times, it takes an outsider to come in. Regardless of who is driving, brand advocates may have to work incredibly hard and be equally as tenacious in their efforts to get their colleagues to see a different future.

The most effective persuasion technique is to come prepared to the discussions with your tenured leadership. Do your homework, spending the time necessary to research the history of your organization and know how the brand has evolved over time (being sure to give credit where is due). Know before you even begin discussions how developing a brand promise aligns with your credit union’s long-term objectives and strategies. Doing so will not only set a tone of good intentions, it will help you discuss consumer expectations and design the types experiences that build meaningful and long-lasting relationships.

Solid research will help early conversations succeed

Come prepared to demonstrate – with evidence – the disconnect that may exist between your core (mission, values and brand) and the actual experiences your members are having day-to-day as they interact with your credit union. Or, if you are looking to evolve your mission, values and brand, come ready to discuss the things you and other leaders can already see will hold you back from achieving the next iteration of your organization.

To bring home the need for an ongoing and evolutionary brand promise initiative, you might start with these four questions:

  • How are consumers changing and who is our ideal member?
  • Have our products and services become commodities to our ideal member?
  • Does our strategic plan address the evolving marketplace?
  • Is our brand, as it exists today, sustainable given the answers to the above?

Getting answers to these questions will likely require your teams to go directly to your members. That first-person insight will be instrumental to defining what creates an exceptional experience for them. Invite both long-time and new members to come in and have conversations with staff. Send your staff out to the homes and offices of members who match the profile of consumers you want to attract in the future. If resources allow, bring along an audio visual crew to capture the interactions so you can share them with other employees.

Continuing the conversation

Even after you’ve earned the green-light to proceed with your brand-promise initiative, continue to involve your tenured and senior leaders. Thought-provoking pointers you may use to guide those discussions include:

  • How are leaders talking about the credit union?
  • What are consumers saying?
  • Do leadership and consumer perceptions align?
  • What needs to change to ensure that alignment?
  • What must the brand promise become to make that change?

In the end, a credit union’s brand promise is all about the member. Your core values and the tenants that support it will ultimately allow your teams to consistently go above and beyond what is expected. Yet, that can only happen when the people behind it truly believe in it and live it every day.

For more, watch for the soon-to-be-released TMG white paper “Promises, Promises: How to Ensure Your Financial Institution Lives Up to Its Brand” available at themembersgroup.com.

Georgann Smith

Georgann Smith

Georgann Smith is vice president of marketing and brand strategy for TMG. She is responsible for branding, product marketing, advertising/event marketing, public relations and communications for TMG’s business ... Web: www.tmg.global Details