A small investment of time and research can pay off with big PR dividends

You have no budget for marketing and public relations, but you know that some of the best exposure you can gain for your credit union is to through mainstream media, including business publications. Well, there’s good news. While there is a definite trend towards blurred lines between “suggested advertising” and straight public-relations driven placement, there are still opportunities out there. And oftentimes, they don’t cost you any more than the time it takes to craft a great pitch idea that helps a reporter who is looking for good stories to better position their publication or media outlet.

If you’re working in the credit union space, there’s a pretty good chance that you are a subject-matter expert (SME). What is that, you ask? It is a person with a large degree of knowledge or expertise in a certain area – or subject.

Where is this headed? Well, as an SME, you can easily position yourself for publicity just by paying attention to the calendar – both the physical one and editorial calendars. Editorial calendars are used by publications to highlight certain topics at specific times of the month, year, or otherwise.

So, if you are an SME in finance, here are a few ideas for getting yourself out there and gaining publicity for your business, and thus, possibly driving traffic to your credit union’s website which could then result in new members and/or loan applications.

Also, specific times of the year lend themselves to a financial focus – tax time, end of the year, the holidays. What this means is you can “pitch” yourself to media to discuss certain topics that they are naturally interested in, just based on the time of the year.

For example, this is a link to the editorial calendar for Money magazine.

A peek around the site and you’ll quickly know what stories you could potentially contribute to as an SME. Of course, not everyone can get into Money, but typically, local newspapers, business publications and magazines also have their calendars posted on their websites. You can also pitch to television reporters and editors based on your expertise and the cycle of the calendar.

With Christmas is coming up in just a few months, now is the time to talk about budgeting for the holidays without breaking the bank. See how easy it is?

With a small investment of your time, you could gain valuable publicity for your credit union.

Patti Hazlett

Patti Hazlett

As Director, Public Affairs, Patti provides strategic communications support for the advocacy priorities of GoWest Credit Union Association and its member credit unions. She also helps support relationships with trade ... Web: https://gowestassociation.org Details