On-site: CUNA MBD’12 – From Their Mind… Into There Wallet. Why Us?

by: Mark Dudley, Marketing Contributor, CUinsight.com

Weber Marketing’s own Randy Schultz kicked off the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Conference sessions on Friday morning in New Orleans with an open forum discussion on marketing to SEG’s and how to grow membership from a marketing perspective. Whether you call them SEG’s or Business Partners all credit unions rely on relationships with local businesses regardless of whether you are community charter or not. When marketing to your SEG’s Schultz says it’s important to keep in the mind the following:

1. Customize marketing tools to your SEG’s but don’t forget about your brand. It’s important to meet the needs of each specific SEG, but you can still stay true to your brand and who you are. It’s important to find that happy medium.
2. Create goals and objectives for your SEG marketing and measure it. While ROI might not be the best way to measure the investment into your SEG’s, ROO (Return on Objective) will help you measure your visits and keep you moving in the right direction. Business Development is a lifestyle and a core belief system, not a sales strategy. Good SEG relationships won’t happen overnight, so measure based on goals and objectives, not dollars spent.
3. When creating a SEG strategy 2 things are important: 1) Develop a strategy based on measureable goals 2) Remember it’s all about the experience. When you create an experience for the SEG’s, you create relationships. Successful business development is about building relationships.
4. Human Resource managers are busy. Make yourself convenient and provide enough extra value to make them look forward to your call. Look into technology that allows sign ups and loans to be done quickly and easily on site. When you find ways to make the HR department happy and reduce their paperwork, you become their hero.
5. When undertaking business development, look for SEG’s that match your credit union values. Working with every local business isn’t the best model for you. Find businesses and organizations that have similar values and see the value in what you can provide to their business and its’ employees. In the end, it will make your job much easier and you’ll be able to create long lasting relationships. The Cooperative movement is catching on, find businesses that get it.

Schultz ended the session with a great group discussion on how credit unions around the nation were creating relationships and providing an experience to create strong SEG relationships. Whether credit unions were providing food on site for SEG visits or participating in Random Acts of Kindness, attendees left the room with ways to make their SEG relationships stronger for the future.

Mark Dudley is a marketing contributor for CUinsight.com and assists YMC’s clients with marketing strategies and business development. Mark is a native of Cayce, South Carolina and currently resides in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  Mark joined the Your Marketing Co. after 4 years of experience in business development in the Industrial Equipment industry. Mark also has extensive knowledge in branding and marketing through his time in the professional sports world.  Before moving to Spartanburg, Mark was a history teacher and baseball coach, and is a 2002 graduate of Presbyterian College where he earned a BS in Social Studies and played baseball. Mark enjoys spending time working out, traveling, and playing golf and is married to Mary, who teaches kindergarten in the Spartanburg School System.  www.yourmarketingco.com