HR needs marketing and brand love, too.
Obviously your job as a Masterful Marketing Maven and Boffo Brand Boss is to bring in those new members and pump up those loan and deposit numbers. Staffing isn’t anywhere near your wheelhouse, so it’s best to leave all of that up to those Human Resources folks at the other end of the hall – Right?
Well, actually…no.
Attracting and retaining high-quality employees IS part of your job as a marketer. Which means, HR needs marketing and brand love, too. Here’s why you should get nosy, get out of your silo, and get more involved in recruiting and retention:
Brands are all about people
The people at a credit union have a profound impact on your brand. And the reverse is very true as well – your brand has a huge impact on employees. The best people in any field are very thoughtful and deliberate about matching their values to their job.
To put it another way, a brand’s reality is made up of all the everyday decisions and actions of people. It’s not just words on a poster. Cultural and brand alignment is one of the most critical attributes for new employees, and Marketing is a critical part of communicating your brand to existing and new employees.
The Great Resignation is affecting CUs, too.
Post-COVID, a lot of talented folks are re-assessing their work/life balance and thinking harder about what they want to do with their professional lives, and how they’re treated at work, where they work. It goes a lot deeper than pay or work-from-home policies.
In fact, we know that many CUs are already struggling with staffing for key, highly skilled positions including lending, mortgages, and marketing. (Shameless plug: we’ve helped many CUs keep the growth engine running by filling in for various marketing roles, from high-level strategy through websites to digital campaign execution. Please get in touch if you need a hand.)
Taking advantage of the CU recruiting advantage
On the plus side, credit unions are pretty great places to work. Many of our clients have won “Best Workplace” awards. Ethics matter a lot, especially to the millennials and younger folks you need the most, and the credit union ethos is very attractive to a lot of highly talented people.
That’s why recruiting messages and marketing need to be about much more than pay, benefits, and air conditioning. The people you want also care deeply about values and making a difference. And that’s where credit unions have a big advantage, if you can communicate your values quickly and clearly.
Getting the right on-brand message to the right people in the right places and inspiring action — that sure sounds a lot like marketing, doesn’t it?
Even the busiest CU marketers need to make time for HR.
The quality of your employees, along with the brand and culture they build, are absolutely vital factors in your CU’s long-term success.
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