ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It – 6.26.24

Direct mail lives! Why small CUs have tech woes. How to explain what you do. Why you should control your Google Business profiles. Why you need thick skin for honest feedback. Here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it.

Can you explain what your Marketing Department does?

If you can’t explain it, it’s no wonder everyone else at your credit union doesn’t know what you do. Is it Advertising, Publicity, SEO, or just making pretty graphics? Is it keeping the website running, engaging the community, delighting members, or enforcing what colors are to be used in your branding? Is it mass marketing, direct response, or high-level strategic positioning? As Seth Godin points out, if you want people to understand what you do, you likely need to “Call it what it is. Say what it’s for. Describe what you do.”

Dead tree direct mail isn’t dead

As the good folks over at The Financial Brand point out, digital marketing has not replaced direct mail. In fact, Direct Mail is thriving as one key component of complete CU multimedia marketing campaigns. Digital marketing has hogged the headlines for years, but trust is low and attention is hard to get. Don’t forget to stir in some coordinating direct mail next time you’re cooking up emails, social media, and online ads. Something your members can touch, that sits on the kitchen counter for a few days, can be a gentle reminder of what you are offering.

The core problem

In this article on CU Insight, Becky Reed (digital diva and general CU thought leader extraordinaire) puts her finger on one of the bigger problems keeping so many smaller CUs from succeeding; they’re stuck with badly outdated core software due to costs and contracts, and can’t innovate and flex. Fortunately, Reed also offers several ideas for fixing the problem.

Dos and don’ts of anonymous employee feedback

We’re not specifically in the PR business, but it’s adjacent to marketing, and PR News is an email newsletter worth subscribing to. A recent article about employee feedback, and how to keep it honest, fresh, but not too spicy, had a lot of valuable tips. It also aligned with our experiences running CUCheck anonymous online focus groups for credit unions. You get incredibly valuable intelligence when people are encouraged to speak freely, but make sure you’re ready to handle some spice.

Take ownership of your Google Business profiles

A recent email from Google Business (“Are you open on July 4?”) reminded me to update our profile. (FWIW, we’ll be out of the office grilling and firework-ing.) So I thought it would be worth reminding our credit union friends that if you haven’t done so already, make sure to claim the Google Business profiles for all your locations, keep the info accurate and up to date, add photos and info to help members find you, monitor feedback, and most of all, keep the login info for this, social media, DNS, etc. safe and available to your CU. Your members are looking for you, so make sure they get info they can trust.

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