12/30/2007

Five overly-optimistic predictions for the CU movement and five doable resolutions for Currency.

By Tim McAlpine

My overly optimistic predictions for the credit union movement in 2008

1. Credit unions will embrace technology and lead the age of conversation
2. Credit unions will differentiate themselves from their competitors
3. Credit unions will create valuable and unique products and services
4. Credit unions will return to the cooperative principles
5. Credit unions will consider other sustainable options before merging

My doable resolutions for Currency in 2008

1. We will lead courageous credit unions through times of change
2. We will champion social media and two-way conversation
3. We will help credit unions who are committed to being different
4. We will expand our network and clientele beyond the Canadian borders
5. We will continue to foster industry connections in the spirit of cooperation

Anything you'd like to add?

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12/27/2007

CU Branding 101: Could your credit union cause a freakout?

By Tim McAlpine

In our CU Branding 101 series, I have expressed my opinion that credit unions are undifferentiated. To add to the confusion, there are actually three levels of undifferentiated consumer-facing credit union brands you as a credit union marketer have to deal with!

1. The category: The credit union movement brand
2. The organization: Your credit union brand
3. The offer: Your product and service brands

Let's look at the impact that each level has on your credit union.

The credit union movement brand

After more than a century there is still a lot of misunderstanding about what a credit union is, what makes a credit union different and why that difference matters.

When we ask the general public to describe what a credit union is, we get responses that range from a shrug to credit unions are like banks, only smaller. A small percentage of folks will indicate one or two of the following: cooperative, member owned, involved in the community, great service, local decision making, friendly people, not-for-profit, too small, employer sponsored, exclusive and less sophisticated than banks.

To those that do understand what a credit union is, the credit union movement brand does have an impact on your credit union brand. The credit union movement brand creates a pre-disposition to be open to or closed to what your credit union has to offer. That is it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Your credit union brand

If most people don't understand what makes a credit union different from a bank, even less people understand what makes your credit union different from another credit union down the street.

In a competitive environment, your credit union not only needs to be perceived as different than the banks, it also has to be different from other credit unions in your marketplace. The little known category differentiators go out the window when folks are asked to identify what the difference is between competing credit unions.

Your product and service brands

And finally, if people don't understand what makes a credit union different from a bank and what makes your credit union different from the credit union down the street, then they really don't understand what makes your credit union's products and services different from everyone else's.

That's because credit union product and services aren't significantly different. This is why the financial services industry has been reduced to a commodity where most decisions are based solely on price.

With so little understanding, at what level should credit unions invest in brand building and marketing?

1. The category. Should we promote the credit union movement brand? No. Let's skip category differentiation. The credit union difference just isn't different enough to throw millions of dollars at. After 100 years, either people get the difference or they don't.
    
   In the US, there is a heated debate going on about whether to mount a national credit union brand awareness campaign. Here is a link to a CUNA Marketing and Business Development white paper on the subject and a great post and comment string on Open Source CU to give you more background.
    
   Judging by provincial and state credit union promotions, credit unions can't decide on one compelling difference to promote consistently. There is no 'Got Milk' campaign waiting to be discovered. And to be frank, promoting nationwide ATM access doesn't exactly excite the masses.
    
   Again, remember that the only thing that branding and marketing at the category level is capable of is create a pre-disposition for against considering a credit union. Almost no sales or membership growth will come out of marketing and branding activity at the category level.
    
2. The organization. Should you promote your credit union brand? Yes, you should discover and articulate your credit union brand internally and live and breathe your brand externally. Every employee and member needs to know what makes your credit union special.
    
   No, you should not mount a brand awareness campaign to promote your difference. Brand-only advertising for a credit union is a waste of money. Again, almost no sales or membership growth will come out of marketing and branding activity at the organization level.
    
3. The offer. Should you promote your products and services? Yes, but only after you have defined a unique brand strategy and everyone in your organization understands what makes your credit union different from every other competing bank and credit union in your marketplace.
    
   This is the time to create unique and desirable products and services that support your brand and that fill a hole in your marketplace. Only through a complete market analysis and brand strategy process can real product innovation emerge.
    
   The offer is where the rubber meets the road. In our experience, the greatest benefits come from promoting a highly differentiated product or service. In doing so, you are promoting the offer and your organization—the two brand levels which matter most to your credit union. Sales and membership growth happen when you invest in marketing and branding activity at the offer level.

A real world example to prove my point

When we ask credit union marketers to list brands that matter, Apple is always included in the list. Think about this. Apple does not promote the category or the organization, Apple promotes its offers: the Mac, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, iTunes, iLife, Mac OSX and Final Cut Pro to name a few. Through product innovation and consumers' experience with Apple's products (the offer), the Apple brand is built and propelled forward. The offer is where the money is made and the brand is built.

Back to the title of the post: Could your credit union cause a freakout?

Below is a video that is part of a new Burger King promotion, "The Whopper Freakout."

1. The category: Fast food
2. The organization: Burger King
3. The offer: The Whopper

Watch this video and then ask yourself, does your credit union have an offer on its menu that members are so passionate about that, if removed, would cause a massive freakout? Does your credit union have the equivalent of a Burger King Whopper?

Boy, that was a long post to prove a simple point. Offer great products and services and the rest will take care of itself.

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12/21/2007

Another year almost done, a new website and what I learned by blogging.

By Tim McAlpine

Truth be told, I was hoping to launch our new website on the anniversary of our blog on December 14, 2007. My master plan was to launch the new site, provide a rationale for the new design and do a bit of a 2007 retrospective. But as it always happens, life and work chew up the available hours and the calendar caught up with me. I posted a short note to mark the occasion and moved on.

Then frequent commentor, Tony Mannor, left a comment that deserves the actual post I was going to do.

"Congrats Amigo, So do you have any insights that you would like to share? What kinds of posts got the most traffic or response in the form of comments? Did you get any personal satisfaction? I gripe sometimes and find it very cathartic. I look forward to another year of reading your stuff. Keep up the good work."

Do you have any insights that you would like to share?

• There is credit union life below the 49th parallel. For the first 16 years of being in business, I focussed solely on the Canadian market. But now that our entire focus is serving only credit unions, we needed to open our eyes and learn more about the US credit union landscape.
   
• There is an amazing online community of credit union bloggers and advocates who are passionate about the credit union industry. Being the only marketing agency focussed exclusively on the credit union industry in Canada has made life a little lonely!
  
  But this year by putting Currency out their on the CU blog-o-sphere, I feel like I have finally connected with my peeps! Professionals who are more interested in doing what's good for the credit union movement and less concerned with winning awards and hiding secrets. It's been so refreshing.
   
  This year, I met the professionals from Trabian, Everything CU, Andermahr & Company, FORUM Solutions, Weber Marketing, The Garland Group, Creative Brand Communications and The Filene Research Institute to name a few.
  
  I also hob-knobbed (in person and online) with CU luminaries, Denise 'Modern Marketing' Wymore and Jim 'Netbanker' Bruene; and true client-side advocates including Matt 'The Credit Union Warrior' Davis, Jeff Hardin, William Azaroff, Lydia Johnson, Trey Reeme, Robbie Wright, Ginny Brady, and Shari Storm.
  
  I connected with many CU journalists including Lisa Hochgraf and Christopher Stevenson from CUES.
   
  And then there is Mr. Ron Shevlin—the brilliant and cranky blogger with a soft spot for credit unions.
   
  All this because I asked my friend and client, Gene 'Tinfoiling' Blishen, "so what's this blogging thing all about?"

What kinds of posts got the most traffic or response in the form of comments?

• Between Nala and I, we wrote 66 posts that garnered 245 comments in the past year. I hoped for 50 posts with 50 comments, so we exceeded my goal!

• Popular blogs included posts on user-generated content, microsites, affinity positioning and youth marketing.
   
• And, of course, my silly YouTube video application.

Did you get any personal satisfaction?

• For sure. Blogging has forced my to pick sides and really figure out what I believe in.
   
• Unlike other forms of writing, like newsletters, white papers and magazine articles, blogging comes easier for me. I don't feel the need to solve the world's problems in one document. On the downside, proofing you own work does result in more than occasional typos!
   
• I really enjoy the two-way conversation. Getting a comment is a thrill. It's like discovering that there is life in space—there is actually someone out there!

Full circle

This brings us to the new website design. As the blog has become more important to us, it was clear that burying it on a third level page wasn't giving it the profile that it deserved. Plus the old design was getting a little long in the tooth.

So there you go. That's the post I wanted to do on our blog's anniversary. Thanks for the nudge Tony!

P.S. If I have missed anyone on our new blogroll, let me know. And if you want to reciprocate with a link on your blogroll, I'd sure appreciate it!

P.P.S. If I met you and missed you in my list above, I apologize. I met a lot of people this year!

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12/19/2007

Merry Christmas from your friends at Currency!

By Tim McAlpine

In the spirit of 2007—the year we embraced all things Web 2.0—we give you our digital Christmas card.

Share the joy by sending this URL to your credit union colleagues. Copy and past this link into your own e-mail or on Twitter and spread our credit union Christmas wishes!

http://tinyurl.com/yq7xnk

We are going to give $1,000 to a worthy cause and we want your help. Please participate in our simple poll to help decide where we should donate the funds. 

 

 
We wish you, your friends, your family, your co-workers, your members and, especially, your credit union a Merry Christmas and a very successful 2008.

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12/14/2007

Happy birthday CU Brand Blog!

By Tim McAlpine

A year ago I thought I would start a blog. Other than reading a few blogs here and there, I had no idea what I was getting myself into!

 

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12/12/2007

Scary big idea 2: Take a chance on a game changer.

By Tim McAlpine

In October, I started a blog category called scary big ideas and proposed the concept of affinity positioning for credit unions. It was well received and sparked great dialogue within the comments. It also inspired a lead article in the December 3rd issue of The CEO Report.

Reporter Aaron Steinberg interviewed me and did a great job expanding on the concepts that I proposed in my blog post. Aaron examined the regulatory issues surrounding the concept and looked at various examples of actual credit unions marketing themselves based on affinity. You'll need a subscription to read it.

I was amazed at how throwing an idea out there took on a life of its own. That has lead me to another scary big idea that I have been thinking a lot about lately:

Why not take a large percentage of your annual marketing budget and invest it in a radical, game-changing initiative that no other competing financial institution is doing?

Challenging the status quo

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you will know that I believe credit unions are severely undifferentiated. The general public (and a number of your staff) have a limited understanding of what makes a credit union different from a bank and they have no understanding of what makes your credit union different from the credit union down the street.

To perpetuate this sea of sameness, financial institutions promote the same products, the same services and the same competitive rates during the same times of the year.

The typical credit union marketing plan looks like this: retirement promotion in Q1, lending promotion in Q2, quiet in the summer and finish up with a deposit promotion in Q4. Throw in some direct mail here and there and the plan is good to go. Oh, don't forget to give away a few iPods while you're at it.

Best practices leads to mediocrity

I also believe that there is a best-practices mentality that has infected the credit union world. Unless a concept is proven with white papers and formal case studies in multiple trade publications or spoken about over and over again on the conference circuit, very few credit union leaders are willing to be the first to try anything untested.

So what's the next game changer?

With every financial institution looking and behaving almost identically, it doesn't take much to change the game. The first step is to really understand your marketplace. Study what your competitors are doing and look for unmet opportunities. Here are some categories to consider:

1. Social media. Definitely a hot topic. Everywhere you turn it's Facebook this, MySpace that, blogging, social networks, Twitter, user-generated content and on and on. The thing is, there is still plenty of time to get involved. By and large, credit unions have been very timid and slow in putting their social media strategy together. You can still enter the social web now and be seen as a pioneer in your marketplace. Think beyond just online conversation. How can your credit union create a unique product or service that can be marketed through the social web or how can your credit union impact societal change through the social web?
    
2. Alternative lending. Look at the headlines that the six US credit unions that have partnered with Zopa are garnering. This new peer-to-peer media darling is just one example of a new lending concept that has caught the public's interest. What else is out there that you can attach your credit union to?
    
3. Mobile banking. Most credit unions are watching this trend pass by. Hiding behind studies that tell you that no one is interested in mobile banking is one way to go, but why not get out ahead of the curve and have your banking system ready for the mobile explosion?
    
4. Generational marketing. "How do we attract Generation Y?" is the question of the day. One way not to attract them is to ignore them and keep going with your status quo promotions. Change the game in your marketplace by doing something unique. How are you investing in your credit union's future members?
     
5. Online personal financial management services (PFM). Another hot topic. Is your credit union's banking system leveragingWesabe and Mint and the other emerging PFMs? I keep waiting for a credit union to stand up and promote these services. I think there is a great opportunity for a member acquisition campaign around this concept. 
    
6. Your brand. When was the last time you updated your brand strategy? What's that? You don't have one? This may be the year to steal from your promotional budget and consider investing in your brand. You could actually take the time to understand your marketplace and position your credit union as an attractive alternative.

These are just a few idea starters. Check out the Filene Institute or simply follow the Net Banker blog and you will see what game changers are on the horizon. Your game changer just needs to be more original and interesting than another 4.0% 18-month cashable term deposit promotion!

It doesn't take much to change the game. All it takes is actually doing something different and interesting.

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12/03/2007

Should we be so quick to discount user-generated advertising?

By Tim McAlpine

Last Friday, my "News flash: user-generated content is dumb" blog post created a lively conversation in the comments. Especially with my headline writer, Ron Shevlin. Ron was quick to point out that he didn't mean that blog comments or user reviews are dumb, he meant that user-generated advertising is dumb.

If I interpret Ron's viewpoint correctly, he was stating that large advertisers are chasing the latest trend hoping to strike gold by blindly jumping on the user-generated bandwagon without careful consideration and proper measurement of these experiments.

Trey Reeme summed it up nicely with his comment:

"Creating a strategic framework for experimentation and then measuring the impact is the key."

Agreed.

The only thing I take issue with is discounting a marketing approach because you personally think it is dumb.

Dumb or not, the lure is undeniable. And here is the latest lure: Cherry Chocolate Rain by Tay Zonday brought to you by Dr. Pepper.

Tay Zonday? Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have heard his original amateur song, Chocolate Rain, posted to YouTube on April 22, 2007? It has been viewed more than 11 million times and has spawned a slew of copycats including my favourite by Chad Vader.

Dumb huh? No doubt. Cherry Chocolate Rain was posted to YouTube on November 28, 2007 and as of this writing, it has been viewed more than 900,000 times, not including the people looking over the primary viewer's shoulders. Has more Dr. Pepper been sold? I don't know, but I'll bet the folks at Cadbury-Schweppes are keeping track.

This particular example brings up another question. When user-generated advertising gets a slick production overhaul, is it still user-generated and does it still resonate? Read the comments below the Cherry Chocolate Rain video on YouTube and you will see the divided opinions! Even the highly stylized Apple advertising is getting in on the action. This particular ad for the new iPod Touch was a professional redo of a user-generated ad from Nick Haley, an 18-year-old Apple fan.

The reality for the credit union marketer is obviously different than the reality of the mega-brand manager, but we shouldn't just cast a marketing approach aside because we might feel it's dumb.

Ron's other comment:

"The UGC campaign that the bank I alluded to is running will generate a lot of submissions. Big deal. What does it buy them? More business? Deeper relationships? If they say yes, I'll say how do you know? And I'll bet the $7 in my pocket they don't have a good reason for that."

Very good point. This particular campaign does seem superficial, potentially boring and it will likely not pull in the new business necessary to cover the media buy.

But, what if we can think beyond the obvious and really collaborate with our credit union membership? I believe credit unions are ideally positioned to leverage their member relationships to create engaging content and, in doing so, deepen member relationships and sell more products and services. Just look at what FORUM Credit Union has done in Indiana with its user-generated advertising campaign. All user-generated advertising doesn't have to be dumb.

The Generation Y Extreme Checking account from Fairfax Credit Union is a real-world example of a user-generated advertising contest going on right now in the credit union space. Is it dumb? Maybe. Will it be effective? We'll see.

My advice: I think user-generated advertising should be considered by credit unions and if it fits your credit union's overall marketing strategy, do it. I agree with Jeffry Pilcher's comment:

"I'm also very curious and very optimistic that the collective yield holds greater possibilities than my singular vision."

Ron's first comment sums up that everything you put out on the Internet is fair game and has the ability to spark conversation.

"I feel compelled to clarify and—to a certain extent—take back my remark. On one hand, my comment was intended in an off-hand manner, but that's no excuse (blogging and commenting is a public sport)."

I will now officially lay off Ron. And Ron, thanks for your blog, it is one of the best and really makes me think and solidify my own perspective! Keep up the great work.

Credit Union Chocolate Rain anyone?

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