After sharing our favourite marketing tips for credit unions on our social media pages, we decided to create a comprehensive list of marketing guidance for your credit union in 2019.
It’s often hard to decide what marketing strategy to use, especially when you don’t have much budget to go around. It is however, important to consider that not all marketing requires a lot of money, if any at all. You probably have a framework of marketing collateral that you just don’t realise you have, you just need to build on it the right way.
Our Marketing Manager has put together some tips for you to consider using throughout 2019.
We started off our credit union marketing week by sharing our thoughts on using your website as a key marketing tool. Most credit unions have a website, but many have become outdated and some credit unions have no website at all. As we begin to focus on the year ahead, we really would encourage you to create a website that your members and potential members will trust.
One of the first things that most people do when they consider taking their business, especially their money, anywhere is to search online to find out the reputation of the organisation. When someone considers joining your credit union, it’s likely that they’re going to want to look at your website.
Make sure you have a good, informative website that you can use to promote your products and services as well as share everything that’s happening with your credit union. You never know who is looking!
If your credit union is modernising and looking to attract younger members, then you’re going to want to jump on to social media. On here, you’ll earn the trust of many of your potential members and give yourself a voice. Even if you don’t plan on being on every social media platform, even utilising one or two will give you an advantage.
To market your credit union, you really want to be where your potential members are which is most likely going to be Facebook, Twitter orInstagram. As we mentioned in our marketing tips post, people like to give their business to businesses that they know, like and trust so you need to give them that opportunity to get to know you.
You also want to encourage people of all ages to join your credit union so using both traditional and non-traditional methods of marketing will ensure that you’re reaching all of your audiences.
If you’re looking to attract in some new members and inspire your current membership, a rebrand is a good idea. Credit unions often consider a rebrand if they have merged with other credit unions or if their current collateral is outdated and needs to be freshened up. Whatever the reason, it can be a step in the right direction to gain new members and become more recognisable within the industry.
Depending on the size of your credit union, the time and money it takes to rebrand will differ. It can entail anything from just changing your logo and message to an entire website and colour palette change. This depends entirely on what you think you need and what your plans are for the future. A rebrand is a good way to move your credit union forward, especially if some of your assets are old. Consider this when thinking about what kind of members you are looking to attract and what your audience will respond to.
There are lots of awareness days throughout the year that you can easily fit into your marketing calendar. These campaigns have already done some of the work for you by coming up with a concept, all you have to do is think about how you can fit what your credit union is doing into it. For example, some of the main financial awareness weeks in 2019 are Money SmartWeek (30/03 – 06/04) and My Money Week (10/06 – 16/06). These are great ways to engage your members or potential members by coming up with financial tips for social media or hosting an open-house where people can come in to see what you can offer them.
International Credit Union Day takes place on the 17th ofOctober and this gives a great opportunity for you to drum up some marketing activity on and offline. Take advantage of these days when they come around as the public tend to take notice of these and use them as ways to make changes or seek advice.
As the creators of a mobile app, it goes without saying that we believe that mobile technology is the way forward in engaging with your members. So why is this? We mentioned in our marketing tip posts that 71% of millennials would rather go to the dentist than their bank (Viacom Media). This is because more and more people are looking for ways of doing things online and as your credit union membership evolves, it’s important to reach people wherever they are and that’s on their mobiles.
The majority of the workforce will be millennials by 2020(silvercloudinc.com) so it’s important for credit unions to be creative with technology for their members but also for themselves. By using mobile technology, you have the potential to attract a whole new generation of workers, but you will also be attracting a different generation to work for your credit union.
It can be daunting to do but switching to technology that works for you and your members should be high on your agenda for 2019.
Wherever you are in the UK, you can optimise your location search presence in order to gain some new members to your credit union. This is important as potential members looking for credit unions or ethical banking solutions in your location will look for these terms on a search engine and you will want to be there.
Using tools such as Google My Business will allow you to keep your business up to date for those searching and it will allow people to find you based on your location. This can also be used for further information and reviews.
Pretty much all businesses in every sector are using content marketing. Content marketing is important in getting people to look at your organisation and giving them free and downloadable content is even better. This can come from you or you can even partner with someone to write it for you.
Offering some financial education or tips gives the reader something that they need but also give you the opportunity to talk about what you offer. This type of marketing is definitely something that you should consider as your credit union grows. Sending members content through email can work well, all you need to do is think about what the common things your members come to you for and go from there.
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