Dustin Limburg, 30 Under 30 member, Wright-Patt Credit Union
“The success of any business depends on the target market’s ability to distinguish one product from another” (Lamb, Hair, McDaniel, Marketing Essentials 2003). The brand is a marketer’s most powerful tool to distinguish their organization from the competition. In an industry where the average consumer doesn’t understand that a credit union is NOT a bank, here’s how to wield the brand tool.
With high-dollar advertising agencies and powerful marketing campaigns from the biggest banks, credit unions may find themselves looking for answers. How can an industry built on thrift afford to undergo a brand overhaul and keep its members’ best interests in mind?
Consider that a brand is more than simply advertising. It is the complete experience our members have with our organizations. Branding reaches deep and incorporates everything from advertisements through media channels all the way through to member centers (branches) and the credit union’s website. A member experience should reflect the message and vision of the credit union from start to finish. With this in mind, there are some basic steps that can help take your brand and member experience to a new level.
Focus on Consistency
Every detail, including the breadth of your product portfolio, advertising and outreach messaging, and the images you choose as a target audience for your credit union communicates a message to your members. It is our job to be mindful of how we communicate this message at every opportunity. Make sure your website, member centers, and other forms of communication are sending the right message every time. Make sure your message(s) is consistent from one venue to the next. Consumers take comfort in consistency.
Simple is Better
A difficult message will lose the audience. It is important to “say what you mean, and mean what you say.” Communicate the message and back it up with the service delivery throughout the organization. Be transparent in your approach. Members are very intuitive and they can see through your intentions. Creating transparency from the inside out may require training, sales literature, talking points, or new marketing materials. But, the member experience you create will get people talking. Increased word of mouth, loyalty, and brand equity are strong influences in decision-making.
Find the right message
In my opinion this is the most important piece of the puzzle, and also the most difficult. Finding the right message involves quantifiable and qualitative market research, which includes the use of studies, surveys, and other diligent efforts to create your brand’s focused message. This may not be easy, but determining what your potential members are looking for is a valuable key to attracting them. The right branding efforts with the wrong message will put you no farther ahead than where you started.
Having the right message that resonates with the market will help your organization stand out and drive brand recognition. Consumers will remember that YOU have what they NEED! They will connect to your organization on a high emotional level that will set you apart from every other financial institution eagerly seeking their business.
What are the benefits?
Some of the benefits to a powerful, focused, and memorable brand are increased brand loyalty, heightened awareness, better market perception, and long-term equity. A great brand can help your credit union keep current members, stand out to potential members, give you a stronger market presence, and deliver perceived intrinsic value. Consumers perceive a company with a strong brand as a strong company. In these trying financial times, what could be better than a strong financial institution?!
Brand – a powerful tool to building membership!
Comments
8
Dustin—What do you think is a “right message” for credit unions? I assume there could be several.
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Ben, I think that is the “million-dollar question” and I open this question up to others as well. Although I can’t say with certainty what the “right message” is, I can say that it has to be bigger and deeper than products and services. If we are lost in the sea of banks and credit unions talking about products, we will never stand out from the crowd.
In my opinion, the message should address a primary concern or emotional disconnect for the demographic. For me that message might be financial stability during these trying times. It might be a message that conveys that the credit union will not let me fall behind or that they are here to help me succeed. Those messages are deep rooted in my own goals and fears since I am a recent grad and am considering purchasing a house within the near future… for others, that message may not resonate.
I think the key to finding the right message is market research and lots of it. Credit unions have to do their homework and learn about the market. With long-standing connections to community, these studies may be easier for credit unions than banks. But only through research can an informed and educated message be sent. I think that within every demographic there is a core value or emotional message that ties into their decision-making process. The hard part is finding that message.
So back to your question Ben, I don’t think there is a magic answer that will help credit unions thrive. I think that hard work and a better understanding of the target market leads to stronger branding.
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Dustin,
Having a compelling brand is one part of the equation, but being able to provide a consistent member experience that measures up to the expectations the brand has set in the marketplace and an individuals perception of what that experience is going to be, will make or break the effectiveness of that brand.
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@Dustin- You’re so right. Branding is vital for a business to succeed in our overcrowded, over marketed world. The problems usually arise when one area of the credit union has focused on the brand and image in all they do while other areas of the credit union don’t see how important their role is in maintaining/supporting that brand.
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Dustin – I think you’re absolutely going in the right direction when you reference doing their homework. Knowing who and what you’re targeting is the foundation for all of the successful marketing efforts. I still see too many CUs that just don’t know who their members are, what they’re interested in, etc. Each CU has a group of members that they’re doing a great job with – and in almost all circumstances these members represent multiple demographic groups, etc. Why not ask THEM why they do business with you? That will at least start you down the right path.
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I agree with this thread.
An old ad guy taught me one simple thing – you build your brand from the inside out. We can research all day, but if we don’t talk to our members, over deliver for their needs, stay on top of how their world is changing, develop products to appeal to our target market, then we can have clever tags and cool looking brands all day and not have any real growth to show for it. That’s the norm in the world.
How many times will you eat at restaurant that didn’t deliver on their ad promise? Where the service was slow, the food mediocre, the experience just so-so. Would you recommend them to a friend?
I would argue that the INSIDE is the foundation, and developing that inside component should preceed all marketing efforts. Otherwise you’re just burning $.
The most successful brands build on the inside, only marketing after they’ve got that down (Harley Davidson, for example).
Don’t get me wrong, Mktg is powerful. It can get them in the door. But it won’t keep them.
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Here is a key statement: “a brand is more than simply advertising. It is the complete experience our members have with our organizations.” It truly is the experience.
Too often we hear people refer to brand as “a logo.” Perhaps that is our early western history seeping into our thoughts, equating a brand with what is burned into a cow’s backside. That certainly creates an emotion, especially for the cow.
Brand is emotion, it is perception from the user’s position, and it is delicate. Starbucks built an experience, which became their brand. Then growth goals got in the way. Now they are back reexamining their brand. Coke built an experience, “the world, in perfect harmony.” When they desired to make it “NEW,” they created disharmony. Now they are back with greater harmonics. Apple built an experience, which created their brand. Although nearly loosing it, they are back, creating a greater experience, and learning that science changes and so does society and the core of the desired user experience.
Want to find out what keeps members loyal and returning? Want to know what they are experiencing? Go out and join them.
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@ Chris, Richard Grady says it right. As for building from the inside out…YES! I agree completely. Build on strengths, ask the members, and dive into the experience. When marketing and promises get them in the door, it is what is inside that keeps them! Great point Winter.
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