PLANO, Texas–A credit union awareness campaign backed by the Cornerstone CU League has generated nearly 42 million impressions across Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas since launch six months ago.
According to the Cornerstone league, the goal of "Feel the Difference" campaign is to grow the public's awareness of the many benefits of joining a credit union and to differentiate credit unions from other financial services institutions.
“The initiative is also designed to drive traffic to individual credit unions and provide them with tools and resources they can use to impact the public's consideration of and commitment to credit union membership,” the league said.
The effort focuses on four narratives that were developed following extensive research and branding discussions across the Cornerstone region specifically executed to support "Feel the Difference,” the league said.
The narratives are focused on how credit unions advance individual achievement, inspire confidence and trust, remove financial burdens to make lives easier, and champion humanity by doing what is right for the good of members, employees, and communities served.
"Feel the Difference is an empowering initiative for credit unions and consumers alike," said Cornerstone President/CEO Caroline Willard in a statement. "In the first few months since its launch, we have been very encouraged by results that seem indicative of a long-term solution for credit union awareness, relevance, and sustainability."
Two websites related to "Feel the Difference," including a consumer site at http://www.credituniondifference.com at which consumers can search for and gain access to a credit union in their geographic area, have been created. Additionally, Cornerstone member credit unions have access to a "Feel the Difference" toolkit on Cornerstone's website at http://www.cornerstoneleague.coop/ftd_campaign.html where they can review or download strategy documents, customizable messaging, and creative assets to complement or supplement their own marketing materials and efforts.
Cornerstone CUL said it launched its "Feel the Difference" member toolkit in November 2016 and has run paid advertising across the region since March 2017. Startup costs and the first year of paid advertising costs were absorbed by the league.
"From March through August 31, Cornerstone's combined media buy resulted in 41.7 million advertising impressions—paid and added value," said SVP Communications and Outreach Jon Gorman in a statement. "That's a fairly significant number for the dollars we've spent. These impressions are largely targeted at consumers 18-34 and the underserved Hispanic population."
The research found that the more consumers hear about credit unions, the more likely they are to consider a credit union to meet their financial needs. The longer the campaign runs, the more visitors. Repeat visitors are increasing the longer the campaign has run. During the first three months of paid advertising, only 7.74% of the traffic represented returning visitors. During the past three months of paid advertising, 30.6% of the traffic represented returning visitors.
According to the CCUL, the top 10 individual markets around the region show traffic to credituniondifference.com highest in Houston, Dallas, Little Rock, Ark., Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Tulsa, Okla., Fort Smith, Ark., Jonesboro, Ark., El Paso, and Fayetteville, Ark.
One surprise, according to the CCUL, is that 8% of the traffic the site is seeing is coming from outside Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas."
The Cornerstone league said it is also working with CUNA as part of its Credit Union Awareness Initiative.