It is our pleasure to share a guest post with you today from Mark Arnold, Senior Vice President of Neighborhood Credit Union in Dallas, Texas, and a leading credit union marketing and strategy consultant. Enjoy!
People receive on average 3,000 advertising messages a day. Everywhere you turn, advertisers are promoting their brand. There are even brand messages on pregnant stomachs and bald foreheads. But branding is not about slapping a slogan somewhere and hoping someone sees it.
How do you communicate your credit union’s message in today’s environment? You build a lasting brand.
As Scott Talgo of Harley Davidson says, “A brand that captures your mind gains behavior; a brand that captures your heart gains commitment.”
The best way to capture your members’ heart is through a brand triangle. The entire branding process revolves around three key groups: credit union leadership (management/board), credit union employees and credit union members.
The credit union’s leadership must manage the brand, the credit union’s employees must live the brand and the credit union’s members must experience the brand. So let’s break down each of those key groups:
(1) Leaders
Board, “C” level executives and senior professionals must have visionary leadership, not short-term focus. In other words, they won’t necessarily make marketing budget cuts when times are lean; they understand that those cuts hurt the brand.
Many brand experts say, “brand is everything.” Every credit union should have a brand plan, a strategic document that outlines the organization’s vision/mission/message, its targets, training, elements, etc.
(2) Employees
Strong brands focus on employee retention. In fact, employee retention is a part of their brand. You can’t have strong brand without strong staff.
How your staff serves your members affects your brand. If you are branding yourself as the “friendliest credit union in town” and your operator answers the phone rudely you’ve blown it. When it comes to your employees keep these two thoughts in mind: your weakest link destroys your brand and the biggest threat to your brand comes from within. Any successful credit union branding strategy always involves training the staff on what branding is about.
(3) Members
Your brand is only as strong as the sum of your relationships with your members. Ultimately, you want to get your members to be loyal to your brand. According to a recent survey (done by ABA), 75% of credit union members are “very satisfied” with their credit union. Yet in a separate survey done by CUNA, they noted that 53% of members have the majority of their savings dollars at a bank. Your members are cheating with Charles Scwabb, they are cavorting with Citibank and they are riding the wagon with Wells Fargo!
You have to fight for member loyalty. True brand loyalty is not your members coming back to you for every car loan, but rather coming back to you for that car loan even when presented with a lower interest rate somewhere else. People stay loyal to brands even when they can get the product cheaper somewhere else. If your members have a positive experience with your credit union, that will result in brand loyalty.
ACTION ADVICE: Ask four distinct groups to answer the question, “What is our credit union about?” These include your board of directors, your senior executive staff, your front line employees and a selection of your members. Conduct brand training for all your staff. Tell stories in your marketing about your members’ experiences with the credit union (tell a story, don’t push a product).
About Mark Arnold
Mark Arnold is senior vice president of Neighborhood Credit Union (Dallas, TX) and a credit union consultant. He conducts strategic planning sessions and marketing consulting for credit unions across the country. You can contact Mark at 214-748-9393, ext. 1113 or marnold@myncu.com. His web address is www.markarnold.org. You can also follow him on his blog and via Twitter.
