With the proliferation of communication channels available today—from traditional print media and broadcast to online and social media—effectively managing a credit union’s communications strategy is a complicated business. While credit unions have always tailored their messages to specific groups of members (auto loans to younger members or estate planning to older members, for example), as recently as 10 years ago, there was a fairly simple distribution strategy including local print media, direct mail and perhaps local broadcast media that was used to reach all members.

Today, that is simply no longer the case. Millennial members consume information in different ways and through different channels than Generation X members do, and Gen Xers, in turn, consume information differently than baby boomers. Not only are there different communication channel preferences among demographic groups, but there are unique preferences in terms of format and even time of day for consumption.

With so many variables in play, how can credit unions communicate most effectively with all of their members?

The good news is that there is a wealth of data available to help guide credit unions’ communications teams as they develop content and distribution strategies. Recently, Target Marketing released its 2017 Media Usage Survey, and within it are some valuable insights into the media consumption tendencies of millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers that could benefit credit unions. Key takeaways include:

 

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