Don Draper Step Aside

by: Walt Laskos, Principal, The Laskos Group

Back on April 6, the Credit Union Times reported on an initiative conducted by the Filene Institute that brought together a number of experts to share their insights on digital media and its place in today’s society and most important, in credit union marketing. All agreed that credit unions need to do more.

The gathering noted that, “It is not enough to turn traditional collateral and messaging into digital collateral and messaging. Instead, credit unions need to capitalize on the deeper trend of social connections to make sure their marketing reaches the right audience in the first place and has its intended effect when it arrives. Mobile usage, more emphasis on design, and social marketing all came to the fore as trends that every credit union needs to consider, especially as it hunts for new members.”

The conclusion—digital marketing is becoming ever more important, and embracing it is the only acceptable route. (Read more about Filene’s Digital Branding Colloquium at
http://filene.org/publications/detail/Digital_Branding).

For some this news might be earth-shattering. Others, like this author, wonder why it took so long for someone to simply say, “Wake up and smell the coffee.” Did anyone actually believe that the digital revolution was a fad and would eventually fade away as a distant memory, whereby we all would return to our print ads, typewriters, story boards, and lunch martinis?

Now that we’re all on the same page and looking reality square in the eyes, we ought to use this latest wake-up call from the respectable minds at the Filene Institute to fuel an even wider initiative.

I say, let’s bring together the most creative folks in our movement—Don Draper, step aside!

Let’s encourage them to pool their creative genius to design generic applications modeling a variety of ways for credit unions to employ digital marketing, ways which would even allow the smallest of shops to benefit.

Granted, the billion-dollar credit unions already have the muscle to creatively optimize digital technology within their marketing strategies. I’m concerned about those who are small and already overwhelmed, not just with marketing strategies but with all the other requirements they need to manage on a daily basis.

If cooperation is our strength, then let’s all join together and make such an investment in creative thought. Why should each of us separately be banging our heads against the wall to devise creative and innovative digital marketing strategies when we could all benefit from the most creative minds in the movement coming together to generate these solutions on our behalf? What a gift that would be!

And speaking of creative, did you hear about Tropical Financial Credit Union and its latest advertising campaign? According to Ed Roberts at the Credit Union Journal, Tropical Financial has deemed member testimonials to be a powerful way engage their audiences. Using video, which I suspect will be distributed through a variety of channels—social media included—the credit union hopes to record five people sharing their stories about Tropical and the way it helped them achieve their financial goals. The five selected candidates will receive $5,000 each for their stories.

What a great idea! There’s no better testimony than that of actual consumers, and rather than paying talent to fill the role, Tropical has creatively decided to put the money into the pockets of everyday people who have been touched by this financial co-op. Featuring actual local folks is going to be a big hit for them with their social media initiatives.

This certainly is the kind of marketing creativity that can play at any credit union, from Maine to Hawaii. I can’t wait to see the completed ad campaign videos and how they will be used in a digital marketing strategy that has a potential to win a lot of awards.

Tropical’s initiative is one idea we can all take back to use at our own shops. Now, who’s ready to share a second idea with all of us?

Walt Laskos, CUDE, is a relationship-building executive and principal of The Laskos Group in Temecula, California, serving cooperatives and credit unions that seek to improve the quality of their member communications and develop a greater rapport with the news media. For more information, visit www.TheLaskosGroup.com.