Posted by Ron Jooss
Much has been written about the need for a national credit union branding campaign, one where all the trades and their constituents get in that proverbial big room and bang out a common theme. For a lot of reasons, it's not likely to happen, at least not in the sense where the movement as a whole is buying advertising time during "American Idol," sponsoring a huge Web site with photos of models who don't looking anything like you or me, and flying posters with a splashy logo signifying our strained but united front in every credit union across the country.
Well, guess what? Just when you thought it wasn't going to happen, it happened anyway. It seems as if every day a national news network, or someone like Suze Orman or Bill Maher is on TV touting credit unions, telling consumers that credit unions are a better deal than big banks, actually advising viewers to move their money to credit unions! We couldn't have put together a better campaign if we wanted to (Well, except for the part about the community banks.)
Turn the clock back two years. Did you ever imagine you would turn on the news and see Diane Sawyer with a news item telling consumers what a great deal credit union credit cards are? Is your credit union leveraging this good mojo?
Here in the social media world we always talk about dialogue, creating discussions. What a great starting point for credit unions to start conversations within their communities. I see a lot of credit unions tweeting about these news items. Are they blogging about them? Are these national news videos being posted on every credit union's Web site? Are call center MSRs mentioning them to members? What a great theme to build a membership campaign around!
Credit unions have had a rough go of it in the past year, and 2010 will bring another assessment hit from the NCUA. But the gloom and the batten-down-the-hatches mentality that this atmosphere creates makes it too easy to pass these opportunties. Yes, 2010 is going to be another rough year for credit unions, no question. But it can also be a historic year in a very positive sense too, one that credit unions can build on for the future.
