Recap: CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council’s Webinar – “Consumers are Fee’d Up With Banks: Let’s Help Them Make a Change”

by: Bo McDonald, President of Your Marketing Co. and CUinsight.com Contributor

Attendees to the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council webinar “Consumers are Fee’d Up With Banks: Let’s Help Them Make a Change” were treated to some Great Ideas from, what Kelley Parks referred to as fellow marketing “rock stars.” They may not have been playing for an audience of thousands under the bright lights, but with the ideas presented and results for their credit unions the rock star title is a pretty accurate term.

Amy McGraw, the newly named VP of Marketing at Tropical Financial Federal Credit Union didn’t waste any time getting to work in her new position. Just days after starting her job Bank of America delivered her a very nice “welcome” gift with the announcement of their $5 debit card fee. Amy and her team got to work immediately on a plan. In a matter of seven and a half hours the marketing team at Tropical Financial had brainstormed, planned, and implemented a plan to pay members up to $5 per month for using their debit card, a direct shot at Bank of America and other banks who had announced a monthly fee to use a debit card. The results? A 177% lift in new members, and a 265% lift in new checking accounts, with a variety of interview requests from local and national media outlets including CNBC.

The next presenter, Anne Shivers, CEO of Carolina Collegiate Federal Credit Union outlined the initiative in South Carolina that she headed up to rally the credit unions of the state together for a public relations campaign. The idea? A pledge for credit unions to sign stating that they would abstain from charging for debit cards as long as market conditions allowed. “Within 48 hours we had 33 of the 70 credit unions in South Carolina on board” Shivers said. Over the course of the next few days media from all over the state were requesting interviews with representatives from the participating credit unions to talk about the debit card pledge. The result? Almost $125,000 in PR within the week for the credit unions of South Carolina. Shivers stressed the idea of “strength in numbers” and attributed the success of the campaign to the number of credit unions that participated and worked together in putting forth one unified message.

Lisa Moore from Pioneer West Virginia Federal Credit Union shared how her credit union capitalized on the folly of the “too big to fail” banks. Using a three-step process which included:

• Capitalizing on current headlines by immediately making use of paid media such as radio and newspaper to let members and potential members know that if they were “fee’d up” with their bank, to visit Pioneer WVFCU.
• Depending on the word of mouth of their current members to share their stories with friends and family about why they love their credit union, noting that 60-70% of new members were already coming from member referrals.
• Planning ahead with their 2012 marketing plan to continue sharing the positive news about their credit union using a combination of paid media and guerilla marketing.

But of course, the star of the show also was the one to kick things off first on the webinar. Kristen Christian, the accidental founder of Bank Transfer Day joined the call to share how the idea of Bank Transfer Day started, and how it was larger than she could have ever imagined. After banking with Bank of America for the past thirteen years, once BofA had announced the debit card fees, Kristen saw this as the last straw.

She was ready and willing to give up the modern conveniences provided by her large national bank, for a credit union. She started an “event” page on Facebook and invited 500 of her Facebook friends to join her, sharing with them why she was creating Bank Transfer Day and why their local credit union was the best option for them. Once the word spread, what started as just an idea turned into a twenty-hour a day project that included threats against her life from those who didn’t agree with her. Christian considered Bank Transfer Day as a consumer re-awakening, and urged credit unions to continue the momentum using social media to let members share their sincere stories of why they love their credit union. Christian told credit union executives on the call to let their members sell their credit union membership, and to make “Every Day Bank Transfer Day.”

Attendees to the CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference in March will get to hear Kristen Christian’s stories first hand, as she will be one of the featured speakers.

Bo McDonald is president of Your Marketing Co, A veteran of major market media sales and programming, Bo got his start in radio working for a variety of large radio conglomerates including Clear Channel Radio and Citadel Broadcasting. After several years and requests from clients Bo went out on his own to form his own marketing firm. Today, that marketing firm has evolved into a boutique firm serving only the needs of credit unions in the form of marketing, business development, and product development. Why credit unions? Thanks to his parents who are avid credit union supporters, Bo has been a member of credit unions from a young age.