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Tips for simplifying your process while keeping your members informed and engaged
This article is reprinted with permission from the Kearley & Company blog. Read the original here.
Now more than ever, individuals and families are turning to the internet as a resource for navigating economic uncertainty. That’s why it’s important to focus on your credit union’s online presence as you work to communicate with current and potential members during the COVID-19 era. To help stay at the forefront of the conversation—and to keep your members informed—here are four steps you can use to help simplify your social strategy and still communicate effectively.
1. Start with a Statement on Your Website
By now, you’ve probably sent (many) emails and posted on your credit union’s website about the different things you’re doing to ensure your members’ safety during the pandemic.
Keeping your website current is a great way to maintain up-to-date, open and honest communication that builds trust among your membership. Continue to update your homepage or dedicated pandemic information page and reference it by linking to it in social media posts when necessary.
2. Align Your Messaging
It’s extremely important that your messaging aligns with the current climate. Right now, it’s all about being there for your members in every (safe, socially distanced) way you can be. Messaging should convey trust, reassurance, empathy and, most importantly, hope. We will get through this together.
Avoid taglines or copy that talk about vacations or travel, leisure, gatherings and anything else that might go against social distancing guidelines. If you’re not sure if your current messaging is or isn’t COVID-19-safe, consider reaching out to colleagues at other credit unions or getting the perspective of a marketing consultant.
3. Communicate Convenience
Good financial service is all about convenience. Some members may feel at a loss when they know they can’t access their accounts by walking into the lobby and talking with a teller or loan officer. That’s why it’s so important to communicate the different ways they can access their accounts without leaving their home. Be sure to consistently promote things like online banking, online bill pay, online applications, mobile banking, over-the-phone services and the drive-thru.
4. Meeting Members’ Needs
Members—both current and potential—need solutions. It’s great to reassure them about your presence and convenience but even better to meet their changing needs with products and services tailored to them. Whether they’ve been laid off, lost a loved one, have medical bills to pay or are currently running a small business, they need to know their options and how a credit union is the answer they’ve been looking for.
Define what products and services you offer and how you can market them on social media in a way that meets these needs. This is your biggest opportunity to boost your membership, deepen existing relationships and make a difference in your community.
If you’ve read this far, we have a bonus tip for you:
5. The Credit Union Difference
Members may not realize that many of today’s credit unions were formed in the wake of the Great Depression to provide credit for people of modest means. The Federal Credit Union Act, which authorized federally chartered credit unions in all states, was signed by President Roosevelt in June 1934. Now may be a good time, even if just on social media, to remind members why their credit union exists.
Elisa Rode is president of Kearley & Company, a strategic marketing consulting firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. She has been with the agency for more than 25 years, working her way up from copywriter. During that time, she's served various credit unions and financial institutions of all asset sizes across the country and has won several ADDY, CUNA Golden Mirror, and Lone Star Awards for her work.
Chelsea McCall is account coordinator and junior copywriter for Kearley & Company and is the resident social media guru and PR specialist at the agency. Outside of work, she serves as the Programs Chair for the American Advertising Federation of Fort Worth.
If you’re interested in learning more about how the above strategies can be applied to your credit union, contact us at bigideas@kearley.com or call 817-870-2717.
