The Mid-Year Marketing Reset

We’re halfway through 2025, and for many credit union marketing teams, it’s gut-check time. Plans developed in Q3 last year may need reconsideration by now. Not to mention changes in the market. If you’re sensing that your marketing plan could use a reset, you’re not alone.

The good news is: it’s not too late to make a strategic pivot and ensure your 2025 goals are still in reach. Here are five fast, focused shifts that can generate results in the second half of the year without blowing up your budget or burning out your team.

1. Reprioritize Toward Revenue-Critical Audiences
Mid-year is the time to double down on the audiences that drive revenue. Are you targeting high-opportunity member segments who have deposits sitting at other institutions? Are you actively nurturing indirect loan holders or new members who haven’t deepened their relationships?

Lean into segmentation tools, first-party data, and intent signals to sharpen your focus. Your time and dollars should go where the growth potential is highest.

2. Simplify Campaign Execution 
If your calendar is clogged with one-off campaigns, now may be time to create more structure for the remainder of this year—and set yourself up for 2026. Organizing your branding and product campaigns into an “umbrella” theme will simplify creative execution, and increase recall over multiple messages. Consistency beats complexity.

The TruStone “It’s True” campaign is a great example of how a consistent campaign framework and style vibe can be flexible across deposit and loan products, evergreen offerings and timely promotions. An umbrella campaign also spans tactics from video and radio spots, to digital and social ads, and beyond. When rates change, as they always do, there’s no need to start from scratch with a new campaign since creative assets are built to be updated.

3. Increase Personalization 
Studies show that email subject lines with personalized names increase open rates by 29% and generate a 41% higher unique click rate. We know it works, so finding ways to amp up personalization could give your marketing the boost it needs—and the opportunities go far beyond first names in subject lines.

Embold Credit Union leaned into personalization with lifestyle segment-focused member journeys for its annual HELOC campaign. In previous years, promoting HELOCs in the same period generated 20-25 loans. Their new hyper-targeted and personalized approach created a 7X increase, with 162 loans and $35 million in new balances. And, those who opened campaign emails also opened 486 new deposit accounts (for $3.4 million) and 589 new loan accounts (over $12 million) during the same period.

From evergreen onboarding email automation tailored by generation of the new member, to product campaigns like Embold’s, increasing personalization ensures that experiences are relevant and performance is optimized.

4. Use Data to Kill (or Accelerate) Underperforming Tactics
Stop guessing. Dig into performance metrics and be ruthless about what gets cut. Is that lifestyle blog really driving conversions? Are those auto loan emails actually getting opened? At the same time, double down on what is working. Your analytics should be driving faster decisions, not just reporting on last quarter.

According to Tina Estes, the Vice President of Marketing & Community Development at Ventura County Credit Union, "One of my favorite things about the Strum platform is that the campaigns that we have done, we're actually able to track. We're able to see what members have opened and what halo accounts they've had from that particular campaign."

But many credit union marketers don’t have access to these kinds of insights because of outdated data, a lack of integration between systems, and fragmented solutions. If that’s your situation, the priority for the back half of 2025 could instead be a data platform that works for you.

5. Get Your Marketing and Brand in the Same Room
If your brand and performance marketing efforts feel disconnected, members can tell. Make sure your team is aligned on voice, visuals, and values—across every touchpoint, from promotions to onboarding to in-branch signage.

The right partner can be key to facilitating these conversations, helping marketing and brand leaders build integrated strategies that don’t sacrifice performance or soul. When your creative and strategy are working together

Don’t Panic. Pivot.

This isn’t about scrapping your strategy—it’s about refining your aim. The second half of the year offers the perfect opportunity to refocus on what matters most: member growth, message clarity, and margin-building moves.

Ben Stangland, President of Strum and Strum Platform, is a financial data strategist and growth advisor helping banks and credit unions unlock smarter growth. For over 20 years, he has guided executive teams to harness data analytics, market intelligence, and business strategies that drive performance. As President and COO of Strum and Strum Platform, Ben leads advanced analytics, AI, and business intelligence initiatives, empowering institutions to deepen relationships, grow deposits, and compete with confidence in a changing market.