Send the Word

by Ron Daly 

Charity begins at home - or in some cases, on your home page. 

As the head of DigitalMailer, I get to see every email that goes out on behalf of our clients. I take a few moments to read things over and get a sense of what CUs are up to all over the country. Right here in Northern Virginia, Belvoir FCU has teamed up with Cell Phones for Soldiers to provide our service men and women with cell phones to call home. 

 

 

This was something I'd heard of before, but the full story of Cell Phones for Soldiers is really quite impressive. 

From Belvoir's marketing email: 

A Second Opinion

by Ron Daly

Monday's article about CUs picking up steam was full of examples of credit unions making the news for their exceptional service and their remarkable best practices. Some folks don't think we've come quite far enough in the past year, and that we still have further to go. 

When you learn about business and marketing, you're always told to think about what's next as opposed to what's now. What's NOW is that CUs are getting a little extra attention because we're the "good guys". What's NEXT is up to the industry.

Take the Skeptic for example. Not just any skeptic, mind you - the CU Skeptic and a guest post by Bill Grizack of BrightLeaf Financial Network. Grizack started off by declaring himself an "outsider", someone who works around and with credit unions but has never worked for one. His article points out which credit unions were making it into the top ten in overall satisfaction (by region) on the JD Power and Associates study in retail banking - zero. From there, Grizack shows credit unions not ranking on bankrate.com and the 2008 Forrester consumer ranking of FIs (NOTE: Monday's data shows Forrester Research results for customer experience - it is not reflective of financial matters so much as how people felt when using a CU). 

Now We're Cookin'!

by Ron Daly 

We've all seen the good press that's been on the major networks about credit unions, it's no surprise that more and more folks are becoming aware of CUs and signing on as members. 

More on Suze Orman and Credit Card Connection

Remember our story about Suze Orman on CNN? She's continuing her support of credit union credit cards along with Ondine Irving and Credit Card Connection. According to Irving's recent update on Card Analysis Solution, Orman has been singing the praises of CU Credit Cards on Larry King, Campbell Brown, Oprah, Wendy Williams and Fox News. On the Credit Card Connection website, Ondine Irving has her "Dean's List" of credit unions that offer cards with fair percentages and member-friendly standards-of-practice. You can qualify, too - simply contact Ondine on her website and ask how you can make the Dean's List.

Some industry insights from Callahan and Assoc.

More and more folks are getting their first mortgage (or a refi) through a credit union. Displaying data from Q3 of 2009, this creditunions.com article shows people in the secondary market getting home loans increased by almost 300%. Maybe this is an indication that folks out there in the real world are hearing all the praises being sung about CUs?  Maybe, as Callahan and Assoc.'s President  Chip Filson says in this piece from Thanksgiving: 

"As the 21st century unfolds, this indeed could be the century for cooperatives to show how competitive organizations can be both productive and managed in the member's best interest."

Let's not forget about the member experience...

There are folks out there that say being good to the member doesn't mean as much as we think it does, and that we shouldn't count "member satisfaction and appreciation" as a selling point in our business model. 

This year's Forrester Research Customer Experience Index would disagree, it seems. 

This year, the winner for best Customer Experience was "a credit union". Not any specific CU, mind you - just credit unions in general. Members liked that their CU met their needs and were enjoyable and easy to work with, as opposed to top banks in the industry that were called out by name. 

Right now, the lime light is on us, as an industry, and the light is very flattering. This doesn't mean, however, you're allowed to rest in your efforts to drive up deposits and loans and increase your membership. 

We've still got a long way to go, in some areas - and we'll examine those in tomorrow's post. 

NARFE Premier says "Get on board!"

by Ron Daly 

[Read all about this story on CUTimes.com or at CUNAMarketingCouncil.org] 

NARFE Premier FCU in Alexandria, VA started using the Automatic Relationship Builder last summer to bring new services and products to members' attention. 

Wanting to branch out into the world of email marketing, NARFE Premier marketing director Jessie Dederer turned to the team at DigitalMailer. Our recommendation? An on-boarding program aimed at new members who may not have been aware of everything NARFE Premier had to offer. 

On-boarding campaigns are aimed at members that have just joined a credit union. The Automatic Relationship Builder takes in new member lists and sets up a series of emails to be sent to those members across a few weeks. A simple welcome email is followed by information about loans, mortgages, HELOCs, credit cards, checking accounts, money market accounts - anything the credit union thinks would be of interest to new members. 

NARFE Premier's own campaign proved to be a great success. Deposit accounts increased 24%, while loan accounts increased 190%. From the CU Times article on NARFE Premier's on-boarding campaign:

"This helped trim our marketing budget by 40%, and we are looking at finishing the year spending 50% less," said Dederer. "It's a win-win for everyone. We save money and are still able to deliver the same message with better results while reaching our members the way they want."

Want to get started with your own, customized on-boarding program? Click here to contact us.

Getting Carded

by Ron Daly 

It used to be that "getting carded" had to do with proving your age. Now, it's realizing your credit card has gone completely screwy. Whether it's jacking up interest rates, shifting due dates or monkeying with the fees, the big lenders are doing their darndest to card you and hoping you'll screw up so you have to pay through the nose to fix it. I've been carded, but then again I'm the kind of guy who can manage my money and maintain my credit rating. Where this kind of thing gets scary is when it comes to the unbanked or underbanked out there who don't have a lot of options when it comes to credit.

It's stories like this that really upset me - ones about subprime lenders that actually have the nerve to charge nearly 80% APR (click here to read the full story). 

Knowing that their customer base is already prone to credit errors and defaults, subprime lender First Premier is gaming the system ahead of new legislation in February that cuts down outrageous fees but, apparently, not an outrageous interest rate. 

Can no one out there reach the folks who might be thinking this card is their only solution? Isn't one of those cardinal rules for CUs that we should be serving the underserved and promoting thrift? There's nothing thrifty about paying a 79.9% interest rate. 

Recently, credit unions have been getting their share of good press with a focus on interest rates and credit cards. CNN Money correspondent Gerri Willis recently covered this same territory in her feature on CUs, highlighting fees and interest rates at the average credit union versus the average bank. The media is getting warm to the idea of doing personal business and managing money at a CU. Start using that good press to bring in new members. 

Tell us about some of the ways you've been helping folks that have been "carded" in the comments section.

Season's Greetings from DigitalMailer's Family of Blogs

Thanks to all our loyal readers for another GREAT year of blogging. We've covered industry news, met some great people and learned a lot about our clients, friends, and fellow bloggers. 

Please take some time in the next few weeks to browse our archives. We'll be out of office/offline until after the new year. We hope everyone out there has a safe and happy holiday and that 2010 is a great year for everyone out there.

Thanks again, and we'll see you in '10! 

Your chance to join the NACUSO Technology Advisory Board

From the CU Soapbox and Robbie Wright of the Life and Times of a CU Employee comes an exciting new contest - read more below!

Most everyone in the credit union industry has heard of NACUSO.  The National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations is the trade association for CUSO’s across the nation and has been doing great work in encouraging collaboration between credit unions.  NACUSO has a number of advisory boards and I happen to sit on their Technology board.  As is the norm with advisory boards, our membership is fairly fluid and we are always looking for new talent and news ways of using technology to further credit unions.

We currently have an opening on the Technology Advisory board and will be looking to fill that position by the end of January.  In the same vein as Young and Free and Forum Solutions‘ search for a speaker for their symposium, we will be hosting an online video contest for our vacant spot.

If you think you have what it takes to encourage credit unions to collaborate,  adopt new technologies, and want to be on the bleeding edge of financial services technologies, bust out that video camera.  The submission deadline is January 15th and we’ll announce the new member on January 29th, 2010.

To submit your video, upload it to a video sharing site such as Vimeo, Viddler, or YouTube (anyone with robust sharing capabilities) and shoot an email with the information .  I’ll post your submission to the NACUSO website.  We’ll throw a poll up on the website beginning in January to let everyone start voting and give us some insight before we make a final decision.  Feel free to leave a comment with any questions or shoot me an email.

Oh, by the way, you might want to know what you are getting yourself into.  At this point, we have a monthly conference call that lasts less than an hour and tend to trade emails back and forth throughout the month.  This may change slightly in the future as new projects come along, but that’s about it.  Ideally, one should be able to attend the NACUSO Annual Convention each year, but it is not mandatory.

We’re looking forward to everyone’s submissions!

CBS touts Credit Unions. Why wouldn't we?

by Ron Daly

You've probably been laboring over your budgets here recently, getting ready for 2010. You've probably been wondering, "What's the best way to express the credit union difference to the unbanked or those unhappy with their bank?" 

Well, the people at CBS are doing a little of your heavy lifting for you. 

This piece, called "Credit Unions Better Than Banks for You?", ran earlier this week on the CBS Early Show. Their financial correspondent, Vera Gibbons, talks about what CUs have to offer (mostly in terms of loan rates) that banks just can't - or won't. 

The story also focuses on misconceptions about CUs. Apparently, there are still people in this country that think CUs only cater to niche groups. The reporters do a good job of dispelling that rumor and letting people know there's a credit union out there for them.

If you read the whole article linked above (or watch the video below  - email readers, use this link to CBS news video site - and sorry about the commercial, CBS has to make their money somehow), you'll get a sense of what your average joe knows about credit union membership. The answer? Not much. What are you doing to let members know they can join a credit union, or more specifically, YOUR credit union? Do they know their deposits are insured? Do they know you offer competitive rates and better service? 

Is this story and video on your website or blog? If I were you, I'd start linking to this.

I tell you what, I'll do you one better. 

I had my creative media director whip up this button this morning. It's a nice, bright blue, should fit comfortably on any homepage or blog. It's in two sizes, one 250 pixels wide, one 150 pixels wide. 

 Small One

 Big One
 

Make it a button on your homepage or blog that links to the video we're talking about here today. Simply download these button images and use them where you please to promote this story.

Here's the link again: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5989790n

Make sure it opens in a new window so your potential members can keep browsing around. 

THERE. You don't have to bother marketing, just get your web manager to throw that where you want it to go. You don't need your own home-grown YouTube video. You just need to point them to this CBS story.

We're doing the work for you here. Tell potential members what you have to offer over the banks today! I'm certain someone will say that's not a good idea, but why? Just do it. Don't waste this opportunity to get people interested in joining YOUR credit union.

(PS - If you're worried about rights issues/creative commons/whatever, don't. This image is a total freebie. Scratch that - this whole STORY is a freebie. Reblog it, repurpose it, reTumbl it, Retweet it, etc. I'll keep an eye on our analytics to see how far our story/images go. Just make people pay attention to this endorsement of CUs.)

CHALLENGE: Put this on your website, and challenge five others to do the same. Maybe we can get some people to pay attention. 

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Where are all the Credit Union saplings?

by Ron Daly

There are two things I never want to do: 

1) Become President of the United States,

2) Start a credit union.

I guess I'm not alone on #2, since only two credit unions were started in 2009 (click here for the story). Only two?!? That seems...well, not too far off, given what we know about the past year. Failures, mergers, and acquisitions in the financial industry have become part of the territory. While banks have failed at a much higher/faster rate than CUs (106 bank failures to ~20 CU failures, according to this story), credit unions still have cause for concern.

Does that mean that the need for credit unions is waning? I don't think so. There are underserved communities that could really benefit from a credit union. Consider forestry - when a tree is cut, dies, or is destroyed by fire, a new sapling must be planted to bring the forest back to life. But where are all the credit union saplings?

Part of the problem is in scale. How do small, newly-formed CUs gain ground when they have to deal with competition from a decades old, multi-million (or billion) dollar credit union or bank? So much goes into bringing services to members that many startups are hamstrung by the "need" to bring everything members want the moment your charter is approved. "Start small", it seems, is no longer an option. 

One possible solution was put forward by Robbie Wright over at "Life and Times of a CU Employee" came up with an interesting white-paper called "Outsourced CU". His suggestion? A CUSO that starts credit unions. They manage facilities, they provide training, they handle marketing, they provide insurance, etc. This basic skeleton of services would be brought in to support the chartered CU and help it find and serve its market. Is now the right time for a service such as this?

I don't know whether this CUSO would prompt more folks to start up CUs, but I will say this: I do know WHAT the future of an industry is when new players don't enter the industry.

Your comments/thoughts are appreciated, as always.

What do you MEAN, all your marketing's spent on calendars?!?

by Ron Daly

Came across this article on the brand new CU Water Cooler blog. It's called "Top Five Myths You Hear Credit Unions Say" by Mark Arnold. It's worth the read, and it made me want to speak out on two of the five "myths". 

(2) We can’t afford to do __________________

Insert your own project, new product, technology, marketing idea or anything else that gets pinched in a tight budget. Let’s be honest: the truth is you probably can afford to do the initiative, you are just choosing not to do it. So don’t blame money: blame your priorities. If you really want to accomplish your goal then you might have to tweak other areas.

I tend to agree with this. True, many CUs have been dealing with diminished budgets and a smaller staff, but that might just be the right time to bring in a creative solution. Such was the case recently with Northwest FCU's member relations department and their collection email series (click here to read about this). DigitalMailer gave a hand, saved them some money and continues to streamline collections calls.

(4) We have to reduce the training and marketing expenses because of the budget 

 Every year is a tough year on the budget. But if you continually cut the training and marketing budgets in the short term, you only harm your organization in the long run. Stephen Covey said it best, “If you have to cut things out you just cut people; you cut training and development; kill the goose that lay the golden egg; for a short term period of time you improve your profits. But then you’ve liquidated the human resources…in the long run you have to live with the consequences of a dead goose.” The truth is you don’t have to cut training and marketing; now is the time to invest in these key areas.

When it comes to marketing, cutting back is always a heartbreak for the folks that make it happen. 

Denise Wymore has been writing about the death of "traditional advertising" on her blog for the past week or so (click here to read her "RIP" series). Lots of folks have had to readjust, pushing and pulling from print, billboard, and even phone book (that post is a funny one) to get into email marketing and other forms of electronic marketing. Creative marketers find ways to MAKE their budgets work - even in a recession. 

One thing that was (and is) a pet peeve of mine is branded calendars. Calendars are expensive to print, exhaustive to get rid of and are useless to most working professionals. When your phone can plug into your computer and share a common calendar that sends you little messages when your to-dos are coming up, a little pocket calendar doesn't mean much to you. There are whole stores that just sell calendars with whatever you want as the month-to-month theme, why bother shoving stock-photos of mountains and grass at people? Giving away calendars is a money dump for your marketing budget - period. Let's put that money to better use. 

Come on, I KNOW you people have your pet peeves about what your marketing budget "has to have" every year. Tell us all about it, and what you'd do with that money if you could spend it how you wanted.