3 minutes
How to make your credit union’s online marketing dollars go further.
How much of your credit union’s marketing budget goes to digital channels?
Consider that nearly 53 percent of a person’s digital life is spent on a mobile device, according to the Nielsen Comparable Metrics Series Report, Q4 2016. Does your marketing budget align with this?
“Evaluate your channels with strategic goals in mind and allocate dollars according to the channels your members predominantly use,” advises Karen McGaughey, VP/client services, principal for CUES Supplier member Weber Marketing Group, Seattle. “For example, if 25 percent of your advertising budget is allocated to print, yet print consumption is closer to 7 percent, you’re missing the boat. Your audience has moved, consuming greater volumes of content digitally on a device. Digital marketing is nimble and quickly adaptable. Use this to your advantage—experiment, measure performance, optimize execution based on success factors and repeat.”
James Robert Lay, founder and CEO of Digital Growth Institute, Houston, recommends organizing your plan and budget in 30-, 60-, and 90-day increments. Like a marathon, condition yourself to adapt and change your plan as needed. He recommends allocating at least 35 percent of your budget to digital and has seen as high as 90 percent.
You can also use your budget to find the right talent.
“This means allocating a portion of your budget for staff who can analyze data and be part of the strategic planning process – those who can execute your digital plan,” advises Jim Pond, a partner at James & Matthew, Boston. These individuals should have a pulse on what current and potential members want and how to earn their business.
Then shift dollars to your digital brand, website development. “Your site is your most profitable branch, a tangible asset,” says Pond. “Use your funds to make the online experience so good that members love doing business with you.”
Alexa Morris, digital marketing manager at $1 billion iQ Credit Union, Vancouver, Wash., says to earmark sufficient funds for content development and SEO: Not for canned material or paid ads, but organic content that positions your CU as a trusted expert in the field.
Stu Fisher, president of Sentient Consulting, San Francisco, and a former credit union executive, has also seen a third budgeting sector emerging, a sector controlled by both marketing and IT. This joint approach examines the process from an IT perspective (technology integration) and from a marketing perspective (technology application and promotion.) “It’s finding balance and enhanced communication between the two departments that lead to better execution,” says Pond.
The Growth-Hackers
Fisher suggests you mimic the start-ups: “They run super lean and focus on the most important things to be done. They know how to shift resources on the fly and solve things from a different perspective. Start-ups also hire the growth hackers, employees who come to work every day looking for challenges, new ways to grow the business and compete.”
“It may sound cliché, but CUs need to move away from ‘dipping their toes in the water’ to immersing themselves in the digital ecosystem,” he adds.
Allocating appropriate resources to digital will help you find success. So will realigning your priorities. “CUs are much more flexible than their competitors and should use this to their advantage, concludes Fisher. “Leveraging new, better and cheaper technologies will enhance a CU’s digital experiences and help serve members better.”
Stephanie Schwenn Sebring established and managed the marketing departments for three CUs before launching her business. As owner of Fab Prose & Professional Writing, she assists CUs, industry suppliers and any company wanting great content and a clear brand voice. Follow her on Twitter @fabprose.
