6 minutes
If you’ve read any marketing-type newsletters or blogs over the last couple years, chances are you digested quite a bit of “content marketing” fodder. It’s the new marketing, many have said. Maybe, maybe not – but it can be quite effective, indeed.
Telling your credit union’s story is genuine, authentic and can be very powerful. Your members enjoy helpful, peer-type stories that directly relate to them and their circumstances. This is where knowing your audience comes in handy. But when it comes to finances, money issues are virtually universal, as many of us need all the help we can get – me included! And I love my credit union for being there as a financial resource.
OK, now that we know how important storytelling for your CU is, you want to tell your CU’s tale to the masses for them to engage, relate, and act. But what most of those marketing newsletters and blogs aren’t telling you are the five essential parts to your organization’s story that help you connect with your audience.
These five parts are:
- Passion
- Protagonist
- Antagonist
- Revelation
- Transformation
I originally saw this post on Gini Dietrich’s Spin Sucks blog, which is one of our nation’s top PR blogs. I thought I would spin her post with a credit union angle because it’s really good stuff.
1. Passion
As Gini puts it: “Passion is the first step in telling your organization’s story in an engaging and valuable way.”
So what do your members care about? Getting out of debt, buying a home, saving for retirement, paying for kids’ college, investing, etc.? That is what you need to discover – so go ahead and ask. And when you find out, answer their concerns, issues and inquiries.
Having a passion to help your members with their finances touches almost every part of their lives. That’s huge – and also positions your credit union as that primary financial resource they can turn to time and time again because your members will know you care about them.
So the passion lies in your desire to serve. From there you can tell a pretty powerful story that connects with your members.
2. Protagonist
As Gini puts it: “This one is easy. The protagonist is you, your company, your product or your service.”
Building off your passion, the protagonist is somebody in which you can believe. Your members, for example, see your credit union as a helpful resource for their financial stability. They appreciate this assistance and will generally see you in a positive light. And that allows you to ride the white horse and wear the white hat, looking out for them.
To remain their knight in shining armor, consistently be proactive on the financial front with new products and services, financial consulting, positive and helpful media exposure, community outreach efforts, and financial education seminars/webinars, etc.
Tweaking an innovative exercise from Gini, try this: To figure out your organization’s protagonist position, ask a handful of people in various roles to share five adjectives they would use to describe the company and two aspects of the organization that are unique or valuable. Even go as far as asking customers (in this case, your members).
She says to look for themes or strong responses and combine them into a clearly defined description of your protagonist’s attributes.
Once you discover these attributes, that’s another piece of the story puzzle firmly in place.
3. Antagonist
As Gini puts it: “Now you need someone—or something—or people to hate … the antagonist. What is the enemy of your success? Think about it as an issue or challenge you solve. What keeps your customers awake at night?”
Right off the bat, I am thinking banks as credit unions’ Darth Vader. But that’s too easy. Yes, banks are the primary competition to credit unions, but there are other players now, such as payday lenders, payments providers, virtual FIs like Moven and Simple, and many more. What is your message or story to top them?
Taking it a level deeper, Gini asks, “What keeps your customers awake at night?” What keeps your members awake? What are they wrestling with financially on a daily basis that you, the protagonist, can help with?
Again, is it debt issues, retirement planning, investment inquiries, lending hurdles, etc.? Discover your members’ needs and you can get a leg up on Darth Vader because you will be that proactive protagonist consistently helping members attain their financial goals and defeat their antagonistic issues.
Discover yours and your members’ enemy so you have the antagonist for your organization’s story. That’s very powerful.
4. The Revelation
As Gini puts it: “Part of what makes fiction so compelling are twists or turns you weren’t expecting. We enjoy the surprise and delight, even if the revelation is sad, because we like to feel like we’re being let in on a secret. Likewise, your organization’s story should share something unexpected with customers and prospects.”
What’s the revelation at your credit union? Is it new technology (mobile, video, payments, etc.), a cool new branch that leverages the latest self-services, a new mortgage lending product or streamlined auto lending process, investing in a new community project that jibes with your CU’s mission, a new regulation that actually helps your credit union (removing MBL barriers), a new field of membership?
A revelation could be many things that allow you to better serve your members in a surprising way that will boost your position as a leader. It’s another integral story piece.
5. The Transformation
As Gini puts it: “The final part to your organization’s story is the transformation, or the thing (or things) that is different about the way you do business. What is your value proposition? What can customers get only from you?”
Preaching to the choir here, but credit unions are renowned for superior service. Still, I think they rely too much on this differentiator. By no means, don’t stop providing excellent assistance but, instead, how about we reposition it as a memorable member experience? Service is definitely part of an experience; so is the technology, the branch, the website, lending processes, consultation, etc. It’s all part of your story.
Nobody does your business better than you. That, according to Gini, “is your secret sauce” – the icing on your cake.
You are in the business of transforming your members’ lives, whether it’s providing them with cool new technology services, financial advice, better rates to get that new car or home, or anything financial to be that primary resource. Transformation is an integral part of your story, as it shows results, which prompt people to act.
So the next time you hear about incorporating storytelling into your marketing efforts, remember these five elements that complete your message to connect with your members. Like any good movie, these story elements play a major role in keeping you in the theater seat. So why wouldn’t you use these in your storytelling efforts to keep your members engaged?
Mike Lawson, principal and founder of the PR/marketing firm DML Communications and the online CUbroadcast show, has two decades of journalism, public relations and marketing experience. His unique and robust knowledge allows him to meet the varied needs of editors, end-users and clients. Lawson's expertise enables him to enhance his clients' market exposure through media relations, social media tools, advertising efforts, target marketing strategies and more. He also speaks on PR, marketing and media issues to audiences nationwide.
