Credit unions: Take your marketing seriously

It’s time for credit unions to take their marketing seriously. For too long, credit unions have treated marketing as a nonessential business function, devoting too little time, money and personnel to this critical role. Because of this, credit union marketing has historically been lackluster and made individual credit unions, as well as the whole credit union industry, appear old-fashioned and, at times, unprofessional.

Are you taking your marketing seriously? Ask yourself the following questions:

1) Do we have the right people in place?

Just as good marketing works for you, bad marketing works against you. Today’s savvy consumers are inundated with top-notch marketing from every angle. They notice and appreciate clever, catchy headlines and slick, professional designs. And they’ll certainly notice the flyer that your teller created in Word, printed out on fluorescent paper, and stuck to the front door. Every marketing piece you present to the public makes an impression and that flyer is telling everyone who walks by that you are cheap, unprofessional and a little tacky. That’s certainly not the message you want to convey.

Is a teller in charge of your marketing? If you answered yes, consider this: would you put a teller in charge of your accounting? Probably not. Like any other professional role within your organization, marketing requires a trained, experienced individual. Assigning these crucial marketing functions to an employee with limited marketing expertise could end up doing your credit union more harm than good.

2) Do I understand the marketing role?

Credit union CEOs often make the mistake of assuming that a single marketing professional can execute copywriting, graphic design, production and implementation. In truth, graphic design is its own discipline separate from marketing, and requires its own degree. If the extent of your marketer’s design knowledge is one semester of design classes, the quality of your marketing pieces will never be on-par with competitors who have employed experienced, qualified graphic designers, in addition to their marketers.

Because it’s rare for a marketing professional to also have a degree in Graphic Design, many marketers employ the services of outside design firms or freelance graphic designers to design their marketing materials. This may cost a little more than creating them yourself, but the increase in quality and effectiveness will provide a much better result for your credit union and make you money in the long run.

3) Do we care about our brand?

Whether or not you think so, you have a brand. A brand is more than just your logo and colors. A brand is the feeling that people get when they visit your website, read through a brochure, or get help at one of your branches. A good brand is inviting and memorable. It is consistent across every member touch-point and along every marketing channel. A weak or non-existent brand makes your credit union seem disorganized and unappealing and can drive prospective members right into the hands of your competition. You may never know the business you’ve missed out on, simply because your brand is subpar.

4) Are we investing enough time and money?

When budgets are tight, marketing is usually the first place credit unions make cuts. This is counter-productive. Cutting your marketing budget or having an insufficient budget for your size cripples your ability to bring in new business and will hinder your growth. And, in the fierce financial services market, not getting your message out there on a regular basis will mean a loss of market and wallet share to the competition.

Taking your marketing seriously doesn’t have to mean shelling out tons of cash, but it does mean a shift in company focus. Marketing should never be an afterthought or a half-hearted effort. Start viewing it less as a drag on the bottom line and more as an investment in your future prosperity.