Recently, I was asked to share my thoughts by a Credit Union Journal reporter about the problems at Wells Fargo with their cross-selling goals fiasco. The questions were about the opportunity for credit unions to attract prospective members from the negative media coverage. Having worked with credit unions for many years, here is what I said about positioning themselves as an option.

Whenever there is a concern over banking, trust or financial security; credit unions can gain momentum if they tell their compelling story. Because the Wells Fargo personnel took advantage of their customers to meet goals, credit unions can highlight stories about how they help members achieve financial success.

In essence, it is about having a better story that creates a compelling emotional reaction. Some credit unions have embraced this, but there are many that cannot really define the difference their financial services make in the lives of their members.

To get prospects and members excited to make a move in their banking is to cut through the clutter to the most important issue to the individual. Regarding money, it is about financial success that protects the individual and family. That can be a banner for the credit union’s staff to carry!

Here are my three steps:

1. Create (and live) a clear and compelling mission that states what your prospects and members can expect for their own success by using your credit union’s financial services
2. Develop the story to engage members and prospective members emotionally by describing the experience they will have by using your credit union.
3. Use all marketing channels to tell the credit union’s story, showing prospects and members how they can win by being a part of your credit union family.

Because people respond to different marketing channels, from online ads to direct mail, to newsletters to email marketing, every credit union should embrace a marketing strategy of using targeted marketing with demographics to tell your story. The fluidity of having a strategy based on using all channels provides a flow that can come back in the form of referrals.

Want help with writing up your credit union’s story as the foundation for your marketing strategy in 2017?  Or, want help with marketing solutions to jumpstart your credit union’s goals? Contact us at LemmonTree Marketing Group, 7solutions@lemmontree.com.