How to tell the story of your credit union and win business

Branding is hard. For years, I’ve asked credit union marketers, “Why should I bank with you over any other financial institution?” At first, many have unattractive answers, but I’ve seen them go on to craft compelling brand messages by following a simple framework.

The Problem

If someone doesn’t see how you can help them survive or thrive, then they don’t care about your credit union. A brilliant marketer named Chuck Staib once taught me, “People buy benefits, and only benefits.” What he meant is that people only care about a product if they understand how it benefits them. In other words, people need to know, “What’s in it for me?”

Unfortunately, most credit unions don’t tell a clear story. As a result, they have a hard time attracting new members and borrowers. Unless a credit union learns how to communicate and deliver its value to consumers, it dwindles until it finally merges out of existence. In 1970, there were nearly 24,000 credit unions; today, fewer than 6,000 remain.

Some people might blame the marketing department if the credit union isn’t growing. Yet, the problem usually starts with the entire management team. Rarely can senior managers tell me what makes their credit union better or different from competitors.

Without consensus at the top, marketers get frustrated and confused because they can’t make up a value proposition from thin air. The rest of the credit union has to be on the same page in order to deliver value to members.

Use Frameworks to Communicate Clearly

As a marketer myself, communication frameworks have helped me create clear messages that win business. For instance, my company, MetriFi (formerly BloomCU), is growing by 50-100 percent per year, and we’ve helped our clients grow, too. Like Katelyn McManamon, a marketer at Penn East FCU, who saw a 6,000% increase in online leads after working with us to launch a new credit union website design.

A good framework, rooted in psychology, takes the guesswork out of brand messaging by giving you a clear model. I’ve used a few frameworks over the years, and I want to share one that I’ll call The Story Framework (and I credit Donald Miller’s book Building a Story Brand for clearly laying out this framework). It shares many elements with other frameworks, but weaves all of the parts into a story.

Continue reading on CUInsight.com …

PS: We’ve created a template you can use to create a snazzy, story infographic like the ones in this article. Download the template, write your story, and grow your credit union.