By Theresa Witham
I watch a lot of competitive cooking shows. On them, the chefs frequently talk about elevating a dish—for example, taking mac and cheese and elevating it to a gourmet level. I personally enjoyed the nacho challenge on a recent show. Who would think that nachos could be elevated? They seem pretty darn perfect already. But I have to admit the successful chefs were able to recreate nachos into something even more interesting.
At the CUES School of Strategic Marketing I and II, held recently in Seattle, there was a lot of talk about elevating marketing.
Like nachos, credit union marketing is already pretty awesome. See this year’s CUES Golden Mirror Awards winners for proof of that. But just because something is already awesome, doesn’t mean it can’t, or shouldn’t, get better.
The CUES GMA competition is different from other marketing awards because results are an important part of the judging. To win, the entries have to show that the campaigns accomplished the CU’s goals and were a good return on investment. That they were more than just pretty brochures, crisp ad copy or a clever TV commercial.
And that’s what we talked about at CUES School of Strategic Marketing. Speakers, led by Mark Weber of CUES Supplier member Weber Marketing Group, Seattle, and attendees talked about what marketing needs to do in order to be a strategic player in the credit union. (Last year, I wrote about how strategic marketers should be spending their time.)
It’s about knowing what is going to make your credit union a success, about know what your CU’s strategic goals are and building all your marketing and branding around that. It’s about knowing which markets to focus on. What products and services are profitable? What makes those products more profitable? What unprofitable product is a loss leader? It might lose money up front, but it leads members into a profitable product or service or behavior. It’s about designing campaigns that focus on the lead vs. loss part of that product. It’s about using the data you have in your systems in smart ways. And sharing that data with the entire credit union staff. It’s about knowing what your best opportunities are to drive revenue. It’s about knowing what not to market.
“One of the biggest disconnects we have is marketing things that cost us money,” said Mike Bartoo, regional manager of CUES Supplier member Marquis Software in Tampa, Fla.
At the beginning of day 1 of the first school, each attendee was asked what their biggest marketing challenge is (described in this post). Two CEOs in attendance said making marketing a strategic leader for the organization was critical.
This desire was echoed by most (probably all!) the marketers in attendance. They want a seat at that strategic table.
The speakers stressed: It will be up to you, marketers, to elevate yourselves, to forge your path to the strategic level.
“We want you to reinvent marketing for your organization,” said Weber.
“We are here today to talk about making marketing invaluable,” added Mike Watson principal of Wazuku Advisory Services, Vancouver, British Columbia. “What happens when you are invaluable? They will not have a strategic planning session without you at the table.”
Theresa Witham is a CUES editor.
