Getting Your Credit Union’s CMO and CFO on the Same Page

We all know about right brain versus left brain people and the money people versus the creative people. These age-old battles can even be found at credit unions like yours. But believe it or not, a recent study from Market Measurement for Active International discovered that CFOs and CMOs tend to agree more than they disagree.

According to the study, 80% of CFOs say they often or always agree with CMOs when it comes to making major business decisions. 74% of CMOs say the same thing about CFOs. The area where disagreements arise? Marketing priorities. When agreeing on marketing plans and priorities, only 8% of CMOs and 5% of CFOs feel they’re aligned. 

Does your credit union’s marketing and finance departments play nicely together? While no working relationship is ideal, it might benefit your credit union to see if there’s anything it can do to help this one goes smoothly. But it’s not easy to find a melding of the minds with the quantitative nature of a CFO and the more creative disposition of a CMO. But what’s a credit union to do?

Fortunately, the credit union CMO/CFO relationship is constantly changing – and for the most part the change is for the better. Thanks to quality and plentiful information gained through big data creators like websites and social media, marketers have an easier time proving their efforts have a healthy ROI. While changes like this are in your credit union’s favor, there are still some things you can do to keep a positive CMO/CFO relationship chugging along. And if you don’t have actual CMOs or CFOs at your credit union, these tips could help you marketing and finance teams get along better too.

• Informal meetings – It’s hard to blindly classify someone as an adversary if you know about your kids’ name or what their favorite sports teams are. Get together after work or for lunch once a month to touch base, get to know each other and see each other in a different light.
• One side – No matter how you feel about each other, just remember you’re all on the same side – that of the credit union’s. Everything you all do should be to benefit the credit union as a whole. Once everyone remembers that finance and marketing both want to work for a successful credit union, it can help bring things into focus.
• Metrics – The best way to ensure both sides are on the same page is to work off of the same set of metrics. Make sure you’re both measuring your ROI consistently.
• Third party – Sometimes you need a neutral territory – kind of like Switzerland for your credit union. If your areas are at odds, sometimes bringing in a consultant can help. Whether it’s a marketing consultant or an overall strategic consultant, having an expert come in can shine a new light on your credit union’s concerns and issues. The key element is to make sure everyone is on board to listen to the consultant’s recommendations and working to have everyone agree to implement what the expert suggests. 

Like with a good friendship or marriage, it takes a lot of hard work to bring the best out of each other for the overall benefit of your credit union. If your credit union could use a little outside expertise to help get its strategy back on track, CU Solutions Group has marketing and strategy consultants to help get you there. We also have website and social media analytics to make sure everyone is on the same page to get you there even faster.

Credit Unions. Where Marketing and Technology Meet?

by Amy Neale

It used to be a pretty clear cut line where the information technology (IT) left off and marketing took over. Not so much anymore. Websites, microsites, mobile sites and apps, digital/online marketing, social media, QR codes, search engine optimization (SEO) and online analytics have blurred the lines. For credit unions, services like online banking and online applications have blurred the lines even further.

With so much cross-over, the IT and marketing departments in some organizations – including credit unions – are finding it hard to play nice with each other. A recent study from Accenture Interactive shows that 90% of marketing and IT executives feel that their collaboration is not at the right level.  Common issues between the two departments are: 

• Technology doesn’t truly see the value of marketing  its products or services
• Marketing is facing an explosion of analytical data that it feels unprepared to fully handle
• Both departments strive to keep their autonomy in a business world where this is becoming less and less possible  

Accenture Interactive’s findings support these issues. 36% of CMOs say IT deliverables fall short of expectations while 46% of CIOs feel marketing isn’t providing an adequate level of business requirements. 

The Need for Integration

So, where does this leave your credit union? If it’s big enough to have a significant marketing and technology departments, then you’ll have to encourage them to play nice. This means a seamless integration and alignment between the two – which we realize is easier said than done!

To aid in this strategic partnership, the study suggests you might want to start looking at the CMO as more of a CXO – chief experience officer. This makes them responsible for “the consumer experience and drive consumer-centric measures.” Once you understand what creates a cohesive user experience across all of your credit union’s channels, the CXO is in a better position to create a multichannel strategy. This strategy includes the CIO and makes them jointly responsible for driving business outcomes and builds a stronger relationship between the two departments.

But by accomplishing this alignment, you’ll be that much further ahead than the competition. Regardless of whether you view your competition as banks, other credit unions or both, finding a good way to interweave your marketing and technology will result in both departments being stronger, more streamlined and ready to jump ahead of the credit union pack.