Disney for credit unions 5: Defy convention

Imagine asking your board to approve a site for a new branch on swampland.  “It’s been on the market for a long time so it’s cheap” you explain. I’m willing to bet they won’t be too warm to the idea.  Walt Disney wouldn’t have been deterred.

Disney knew it was a good buy when he flew over a vast tract near Orlando.  Then using a variety of names, like M.T. Lott (get it—empty lot?), he purchased property in small segments. The acreage totaled the same size as the City of San Francisco.   That all happened before the word got out and increased land values astronomically. To date, four amusement parks sit on just a portion what used to be marshes.  Hundreds of thousands of people visit each year.

Mickey Mouse set the course for animated films in the 1928 short Steamboat Willie.  Many business insiders proclaimed “no one would ever sit still for a feature-length animated film.” Just nine years later, Disney proved them wrong with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.   The magic of the features which have followed continues to bring in a lot of money today.  Two chances which have paid off big.

It’s in our nature to play it safe as a credit union.  Look how it turned out for many of our friends in the for-profit banking world throughout 2007 and 2008. Taking risks and defying convention doesn’t seem like a good idea after-all. I’m not suggesting your credit union invest in snake oil type investments.  However, I think you can take some risk when it comes to internal operations and marketing.

What would you like us to try for your credit union? I’ll give you an example.  One new client had always spent a very generous portion of their marketing budget for radio. Loans were stagnant for years.  The spots didn’t seem to generate any leads.  We siphoned some of the radio budget to use on Pandora.  No other credit union in the market had tried that.

It was unconventional, and somewhat of a risk since it’s a fairly new advertising medium. We asked ourselves “what is the worst that could happen?” Loans wouldn’t grow and it would be a flop. Since traditional radio advertising showed no results, it was a chance we were willing to take.

Fast-forward to November, 11 months after our first ad on Pandora.   Loan growth is up more than 20%, positive income, and there’s a big leap in membership. We can’t pin all of that on Pandora, but our willingness to try something new in several different marketing mediums played a collective part in the success. Every month we can track how many people saw and heard our ad. We also know how many of those people clicked back to our website to learn more about the offer. That’s more than we can say for traditional radio.

If you’re looking for a different result in your marketing for 2015, follow the lead of Disney and defy convention.  Envision something fantastic where there’s empty space.  Expand ideas when someone says it’s not possible.  Look for new ways to achieve your goals. Sure you might be ridiculed by your peers in the industry, but remember the words of Einstein: “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”

Bo McDonald

Bo McDonald

Bo McDonald is president of Your Marketing Co. A marketing firm that started serving credit unions nearly a decade ago, offering a wide range of services including web design, branding, ... Web: yourmarketing.co Details