September 16, 2010
Credit Union Management magazine’s “Inside Marketing” column runs the third Thursday of every month.
I read an interesting blog earlier this year titled, “It’s the Simplicity, Stupid.” It was written by a famous cartoonist who sends out a cartoon five mornings a week to a massive subscriber list. He’s been mentioned in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Financial Times, and a couple of best-selling marketing books – one of them being Groundswell. He’s also been mentioned in thousands of blogs worldwide. No wonder he has a massive subscriber list; he’s had some fantastic exposure.
But he attributes his success not to PR, not to advertising, not to public appearances, but to his subscribers passing on his name to others – better known as word of mouth. No other form of marketing comes close to friends and colleagues passing the word onto other friends and colleagues. It’s a marketer’s dream. Of course, the one thing the cartoonist didn’t mention was providing his audience with good content that entertains them – even if it is a simple, yet, thought-provoking cartoon.
To me, that’s the key: providing your audience with quality content they can use--whether it’s entertaining or practical or both.
The second step in this “simple” formula is providing an easy delivery channel. Credit unions, if you can provide your members with consistent, quality, advice-laden content and deliver it in a simple package--and make it easy for your audience to share with their friends – success is inevitable.
For example, the cartoonist who wrote this particular blog makes it easy for his subscribers to share his cartoon e-newsletter. He uses a simple link at the bottom that reads, “Hello from Hugh. Please share this link with your friends.”
If their friends get the link and click on it, the landing page has a personal message from him:
“Hello!
One of your friends sent you the link to this page, and so here you are. Welcome!
My name is Hugh. I’m a cartoonist. I have a newsletter, “Hugh’s Daily Cartoon,” which I send out five mornings a week. A wee chuckle in your inbox, to start your day off on the right foot (so to speak). I hope you will subscribe.”
That’s it.
It’s nothing fancy, nothing complicated. It’s just a short and sincere message from him, along with a few funny cartoons as examples of what they will receive every day.
Remember: A recommendation from a friend is the most powerful form of marketing.
So here are three simple questions to ask yourself to spread the word about your credit union:
- Are your members telling their friends about you?
- Have you made it as easy and seamless as possible for your members to tell their friends?
- Are you providing your members with practical content from which they can immediately benefit – and pass on?
I think I’ve said this a thousand times this year already: Credit unions need to position themselves as financial leaders. We, your membership, crave this information. So if you’re not providing this information to your members in an easy delivery channel that’s also easy to share, what’s holding you back?
There’s an old adage in sports – especially basketball and soccer, where the ball is constantly being passed: “Let the ball do the work for you.” If you have seen a fast break in the NBA run to perfection, it’s effortless. Same with a beautiful pass from a midfielder to a sprinting forward to score a goal in soccer. It’s easy. It’s simple. And the ball does all the work.
Same thing with your members. Let them do the work for you. Let them be the ball. (Pardon my Caddyshack reference.) Consistently provide them with great content that’s easy to share with their friends, and the rest will take care of itself.
You’re probably asking yourself, what’s great content that our members can share with their friends? Great “sharable” content has to be timely and helpful. For example:
- When tax season rolls around, start talking about how your credit union can help members with their taxes. Your members may pass on the word to their neighbors, friends and co-workers.
- Every spring, provide your members with cost-effective tips on summer vacations.
- In the fall, talk to your members about how they can save costs on their heating bills this winter. And in the spring, talk to them about how they can prepare to save on A/C costs in the summer.
- When the new cars come out every fall, offer helpful auto lending advice.
- Just before the holidays are upon us, offer survival budgeting advice for gift giving.
- Offer life stages advice:
- newborns – how to set up college savings account;
- new job – benefits of setting up a savings account;
- marriage – offer financial planning for a house and/or retirement; and
- promotion at work – how to set up a CD to help those extra funds grow.
These are just a few random ideas for practical, timely content to offer your members to spread via word of mouth. As a bonus, you may get some media publicity out of this advice – which will expand your reach even more.
So if you’re looking for the perfect marketing machine for your credit union, look no further than your members. Provide them with the helpful, timely information they consistently need in an easy delivery channel that’s just as easy to share. Create ambassadors and they will do the job for you. If it can work for a cartoonist, it can work for your credit union.
Mike Lawson, principal of the PR/marketing firm DML Communications, has two decades of journalism, public relations and marketing experience. His unique and robust knowledge allows him to meet the varied needs of editors, end-users and clients. Lawson's expertise enables him to enhance his clients' market exposure through media relations, social media tools, advertising efforts, target marketing strategies and more. He also speaks on PR, marketing and media issues to audiences nationwide. For more info, visit www.dmlcommunications.com.
