Inside Marketing: Committed to community

At Elevations Credit Union, we’ve been very fortunate to enjoy many years of success serving our members since we began as U of C Federal Credit Union on the campus of the University of Colorado Boulder back in 1953. We’ve grown from 12 members and less than $100 in assets to an institution with more than 130,000 members that manages more than $2 billion in assets and is the No. 1 credit union mortgage lender in Colorado. We also hold almost 40 percent household market share, are among the best known and largest financial institutions in Boulder County (vying with the likes of Wells Fargo and Chase), and are consistently voted “Best Bank” in the communities we serve.

However, when we began to expand to new markets to the north, in Fort Collins and Larimer County, we knew building brand awareness and preference was going to be key—we had to gain credibility as we built branches and hired staff, which would in turn help bring in new members and grow market share.

We developed a strategy called “Commitment to Fort Collins,” with the premise of telling the Elevations CU story in a very detailed and transparent way through awareness media and PR. We also equipped our business development, branch and mortgage staff in the area with the tools to tell that story.

 

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