Credit Unions, Podcasts, Local Music, Increasing Web Traffic, Sticky Content

I’ve been thinking more about how to get youth interested in credit union web sites. One great way for credit unions to attract web traffic is to offer music downloads from local bands. This tactic can help credit unions to leverage their “hyper- local” advantage over national banks. It is a win-win-win scenario in that the credit union gets more web traffic, local bands get more exposure and credit union members get to hear new music for free!

Current credit union podcasts that I am aware of focus primarily on education. You can visit these links for examples:
http://www.omnicommunitycu.org/rc_podcast.php
https://www.ornlfcu.com/feed/1/

I think education is a great application of podcast technology, but the idea of using music to capture member attention is intriguing to me.

This idea isn’t new of course. For example, Starbucks made headlines by providing a free song download every week (see lower right hand action item at this site): http://www.hearmusic.com/

Umpqua Bank has an “Umpqua Life” section at their website https://www.umpquabank.com/ , and they have an entire section called “Discover Local Music Project” where members of the communities Umpqua Bank serves can sample songs by local artists: http://www.tangibledata.com/umpqua/index.cfm?

The name of the game is sticky content and getting people to stick around at your web site once they find it.

As a podcast listener/user, I think it would be great to see credit unions creatively use podcasting to educate and captivate younger members.

Lately I've been downloading podcasts like crazy. Back in the spring I donated my car and decided to take the “green pill” for a while. Riding my bike to work has been great and I enjoy the challenges of shopping, gigging, and socializing without a car. However, my car time was my time for catching up on radio shows! For example, here in Minneapolis there is a great radio program called Musicheads http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/the_current/ that I listen to so I can stay in touch with the latest music hitting the airwaves. This morning while listening to yesterday’s edition of Musicheads on my iPod I thought about these ideas and thought I’d post them here.

If your credit union is using some of these tactics (supporting local musicians, providing educational podcasts, providing free music downloads), I’d love to hear about it and how it is working for you so far.

An Integrated Approach to Service Line Marketing

This summer on the way to the Minnesota State Fair, I saw a URL on the side of a bus which read, “www.thewarriormovie.com”. I noticed the movie was produced by a local health system and as a health care marketer I was intrigued.

When I got home I watched the trailer. That was in September or August and I had to wait until Thursday October 23rd to see the movie.

The health system actually released three movies last month which are basically patient testimonials for key service lines.

10 minute versions of the videos are available at the online locations listed below. Early in 2009 these patient stories will be aired during a half hour special on Twin Cities Public Television.

Earlier this summer, I signed up for e-alerts to notify me when the movies were released. I thought the e-alerts were a great reinforcement tool. To be honest, if they hadn’t sent me the e-mails I may have never gotten around to watching them.

The movies are placed on various online outlets such as YouTube and Vimeo. I don’t know much traffic the movies have received in the past 22 days, but I am curious about the mileage they get out of these movies.

I imagine that the health system will position the movies at many Web sites including their own. Perhaps they will repurpose the videos in their patient waiting rooms and release them to local news stations?

I applaud the health system for integrating online marketing, event marketing and awareness marketing to roll out these testimonials.

Here are the links:

Courage Girl
The Courage Girl website: http://www.couragegirlmovie.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEMWcGxw6mA
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/1978139

The Warrior
The Warrior website: http://www.thewarriormovie.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArzqTCgtCwQ
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/1978415

Ceil's Story
The Ceil's Story website: http://www.ceilsstory.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjHdwRE0Nq4
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/1992359

Internet Based Credit Union! Another Reason For Financial Institutions to Beef Up Their Web Pressence

I read in several notable publications that NCUA will be presenting a new charter for Realtors Federal Credit Union today. This will be an Internet based credit union for an estimated 1.2 million members of the National Association of Realtors.

According to The Credit Union Journal, today, the Realtors group is announcing the new credit union to its membership at its annual meeting in Orlando, FL to about 23,000 attendees!

You can go to the National Association of Realtors website to learn more about the credit union using this link http://www.realtor.org/about_nar/creditunion_index

As a financial and health care marketer, these are exciting times for me. The rapidly changing market place calls for consistent innovation, creativity and adaptability. Realtors Federal Credit Union will be one to watch in 2009, which I am calling "The Year of the Credit Union".

2009 Will Be The Year of The Credit Union to Gobble Up Market Share

One of my clients is heading into a budgeting meeting next week. They are looking to slice 6 million from the overall budget. As usual, marketing dollars are first in line for the chopping block. I sent my client this e-mail in hopes to protect budgeting dollars:

Client,

Thanks for sharing about your budget meetings. I hope you are able to secure as many marketing dollars as possible next week.

I think the magazine is a great tool to implement in 2009 for your top depositors and members who have mortgages with you.

Three primary points for your budget committee to consider:

1. The majority of your top depositors have multiple accounts at other institutions. You can leverage the magazine to steer more deposits your way, especially in light of new insurance levels.

2. Offset Attrition: Given a 2% per month attrition rate, at any given time 8% of an existing household’s deposits are in transition. The magazine is a great way to keep the benefits of your credit union in front of your members.

3. Your magazine will generate referrals. Because there is a heightened mistrust in the banks in your market, 2009 is going to be a pivotal year to gobble up market share for your credit union. According to Cook Research, publications still have a high pass along readership level; 21% of surveyed readers of publications from financial institutions have shown an article from their publication to someone else.

Attached is a paper with other reasons to hold steady or devote even more dollars to your marketing efforts.

Also, this link will take you to an article that provides the average marketing budget for U.S. credit unions according to annualized 2008 market data: http://www.creditunions.com/article.aspx?articleid=2844

I hope this is helpful,

JD Valerio