By Sarah Snell Cooke
For more than two decades I’ve been attending credit union conferences. Nearly every single one has a session advocating for credit unions to do a better job of sharing their stories. A handful do very well; most don’t.
Credit union data tells a story
According to CUNA, credit unions’ market share grew about 2.2 percentage points to 7.8% between 1992 and 2020. Chris Lorence, who’s heading up the Open Your Eyes campaign, wrote last year that consumer “consideration” for credit unions increased from 14% to 22% between Q2 2019 to Q2 2021. When credit unions are doing such incredible work, how is it possible fewer than a quarter of consumers are even considering a credit union?
Moreover, our members don’t believe in credit unions. A large minority (41%) of Americans have an account with a credit union, yet a mere 18% of members consider their credit union their primary financial institution! That’s a lot of data that should make you feel something – angry, frustrated, ashamed, hopeless and a hundred other descriptors. It tells a story.
Credit unions generally have lower rates on loans, but that’s not enticing members to use their credit unions more nor attracting more potential members to credit unions. Credit unions typically have fewer and lower fees, but that’s also not a compelling story. Online and mobile banking have been a great equalizer for those that don’t have many branches, yet ATM networks and shared branches haven’t done the trick. What more can credit unions do to make members feel like they belong, and potential members want to belong to a credit union?
Share your Unique Value Proposition
Credit unions love to share how they started with $100 from 20 factory workers putting their money in a shoe box. History must be respected, but that story is on damn near every credit union website, so it doesn’t make your credit union unique.
What’s missing? Current stories of how you’re helping members today. Right now.
Hint: it’s not your rates.
Your story is one that aligns with your unique mission that you live and breathe every day. Your credit union’s story is how you consolidated a member’s debt that saved them from bankruptcy or divorce – or even saved their life. Telling your credit union’s story is your credit union’s responsibility. Each credit union, individually and collaboratively, must raise their voices.
Storytelling cannot be relegated to the marketing department. It is everyone’s job. When a member is excited about the credit union’s fabulous service or has a personal story to share, the frontline team needs to understand how invaluable those members’ stories are and collect them to share.
I’ve heard countless stories of credit unions working to provide a leg up to recently incarcerated people, helping them to get jobs and transportation to those jobs, giving them financing when no one else would. Credit unions go above and beyond members’ financial needs every day to help them succeed in life. We’re doing great work one-on-one with members, but it can’t matter at scale and help credit unions grow unless we share those stories.
When Credit Unions Don’t Share
Do you realize what happens when you don’t share those stories? I was recently doing some research for a client on about three-dozen credit unions’ volunteer work and contributions in their communities. Six we knew were doing work to support their communities, but there was nothing on their websites nor their social media. Finally, I visited the omnipotent Google. The only thing that came up were robberies of their branches. It did not make me feel like I wanted to join those credit unions. It made me want to run the other way.
Bottom line: If you don’t share your story, someone else – even Google – will fill in the blanks.
Effective Storytelling
Here’s how to stop that:
Content Marketing
Your credit union’s website is an obvious starting point for storytelling. The entire site, from images to language, should represent your story. Share your story in video and pictures on social media. “A picture paints a thousand words” is a cliché because it’s true.
Experiential Marketing
Bring people together for a shared experience. No guys in ties handing out giant checks. If you want to really make people feel a part of your credit union, bring them in for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and share quick stories of you or your kids growing up in the area. Invite a member to speak on how the credit union has changed their life or a community leader to explain what this branch means to the rural area. Not only do you create a feeling that the credit union truly is working to help in the community, but…
Public Relations
…You can draw media interest. Don’t bother local beat reporters or business journals with men fake digging in their $2,000 suits with golden shovels. Do something unique that demonstrates care for the community or share expertise on the local economy or technology that will grab media attention and build credibility. Bring in community partners who can help you share your story and help you gain greater exposure to their networks.
Truth-Telling Time
The hard truth is effective story telling takes time and resources. The harder truth is that credit unions with less than $100 million in assets are declining in members and loans. Only credit unions in excess of $500 million in assets experienced member growth.
Do we sit idly by doing the same old, same old until the credit union community ceases to exist? Do we sit on 13%+ member capital and let their hard-earned dollars dwindle away while complaining we can’t grow? Or do we put that capital to wise use to better share our stories?!
The current modus operandi cannot sustain the industry. Relying on the trade associations only gets you so far. Boutique credit unions need the resources and support of larger credit unions and business partners. Larger credit unions need the volume of credit unions to ensure an independent regulator into the future, so credit union-specific oversight is not merged away with our boutique credit unions (and therefore all credit unions). Business partners need credit unions to serve.
Let’s each step up our story-telling game for collective impact.
Sarah Snell Cooke is principal at Cooke Consulting Solutions.