Credit Union Marketing Corner
Branding is essential for any business, but it’s especially important for credit unions. After all, you’re competing with some of the biggest financial institutions in the world. So, how do you create a brand that will help you stand out and attract new members? Let’s go over some branding basics for your credit union.
Start with Your Field of Membership
Your field of membership (FOM) is a unique selling proposition for your credit union. It’s what makes you different from other financial institutions. So, when you’re developing your brand, start by thinking about your FOM and what it means to your members.
What are your members’ needs and values? What are their pain points? What are they looking for in a financial institution? Once you understand your members, you can start to craft a brand that resonates with them.
Focus on Your Strengths
What are your credit union’s strengths? What do you do better than other financial institutions? When you’re developing your brand, focus on your strengths and highlight them in your marketing materials.
For example, if your credit union is known for its low fees and excellent customer service, be sure to emphasize those things in your branding.
Be Innovative
Credit unions have a long history of innovation. After all, they were the first to offer no-fee checking accounts and ATM access. When you’re developing your brand, think about how you can continue to be innovative and offer your members the best possible products and services.
For example, you could offer mobile banking features that make it easy for members to manage their finances on the go. Or, you could develop financial education programs to help members reach their financial goals.
Develop a Strong Brand Identity
Once you know what your brand stands for, you need to develop a strong brand identity. This includes creating a logo, color scheme, fonts, and overall look and feel for your brand. Your brand identity should be consistent across all of your marketing materials, from your website to your social media pages to your in-branch signage.
With that done, you can form the building blocks of your credit union identity. This involves:
- Identifying your strengths and beliefs: your FOM will provide you with a piece of particular knowledge and shared identity with your community, which can be used as a strength and belief. Read more about how to create services for your FOM with our blog on Member Marketing.
- Promote customer service and knowledge: show your expertise in the economy and how that brings strong knowledge to potential members and borrowers.
- Highlight your strongest lending service: provide solutions and examples of how your services were helpful to friends, family, and local neighbors.
- Craft and share an innovative future for your credit union and its members. This creates strong support and a feeling of action with consumers and members who desire to be part of an innovative institution.
- Some basic steps to follow and check off your branding to-do list include:
- Logo, color schemes, fonts, and pictures: All these things are important to consider in terms of psychology and first impression. Consider your FOM and what draws their eye – simplistic designs. Or more art-central and colorful?
- Brand message – Clear, simple, and direct representation of your skill sets, benefits, and general goal as an institution. This more inclusive mission statement can be a base for what your team and business aim to achieve.
- Integrate your team mentality – Bring in your team and observe how they work, as well as note their core values. What does your team intend to accomplish? What and why are they doing it?
- Voice of your company – How you speak online and offline is very important to establish. Pick out some verbiage that really encapsulates the brand and your message.
- Tagline and mission statement – Your tagline is an even more concise and condensed version of your brand message and mission statement. No longer than one or two sentences, and printed and repeated everywhere. Use some trial and error, or focus groups with teams and members.
- Make templates for consistency – make templates and examples of posts, voicemails, and member interactions; most of what your new brand will be a pivotal part of. Share this with your team as a way to keep consistency, and deliver on your mission promise to your members.
Tell Your Story
One of the best ways to connect with your members is to tell your story. What is the history of your credit union? What are your values? What makes you different from other financial institutions? Share your story on your website, in your social media posts, and in your marketing materials. The more people know about your credit union, the more likely they are to become members. Creating a strong brand for your credit union takes time and effort, but it’s worth it in the long run. A strong brand will help you attract new members, retain existing members, and grow your business.
For more great marketing tips and advice, be sure to check out our credit union blog. We have a wide variety of articles on topics such as branding, social media marketing, and content marketing.
