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.

Getting the Most Out of Google AdWords for Credit Unions

Google AdWords. We’ve all heard of them. They’re those “sponsored links” you find on the top or side of your Google search results page. They just happen to correspond with whatever term you were searching. If you’re like most surfers you’ve probably even clicked on one of those links once in a while. That’s just what Google and the company advertising were hoping.

If you’ve ever been on the other end of Google AdWords, then you’ve discovered how much science is actually behind the process – and math. Results are broken up into impressions, clicks, clickthrough rates, cost-per-clicks and many more.

Trial and Error
When managed properly, Google AdWords can be a very powerful marketing tool to help your credit union grow its membership. But it does take the perfect mix of keywords and phrases to get beneficial results. Working with Google Analytics and through trial and error, you can juggle key terms to uncover which are most effective for your credit union.

According to Google, the more specific you can be in your keywords, the better off you will be. Plus, it never hurts to think like your potential members instead of a credit union. What terms would they be using when they’re searching for mortgages? Tailor the keywords to what your credit union specifically offers or is promoting when it comes to mortgages. Instead of just using the term “mortgage,” you’re better off using “low rate mortgage.” Google AdWords gives you the ability to tweak your keywords to find what works best for you.

Another great tip to remember is to stay away from plurals if at all possible. Using the word “mortgage” versus “mortgages” will enable you to capture people searching for both terms, while using the plural would exclude anyone searching using the singular term.

The Google AdWords Advantage
So, we’ve covered the nuts and bolts of Google AdWords – which might be leaving you wondering why use Google AdWords at all? If your credit union has some marketing dollars to spend, Google AdWords will give you the most targeted and affordable campaign results out there. You can advertise nationally or locally, depending on your needs. Going with Google AdWords enables your credit union to target online customers within a 20 mile radius if you’d like, or by a specific city, region or country. Basically, you’re reaching new customers at the precise moment they’re searching for products and services like those at your credit union.

Another strong selling point to Google AdWords is the cost. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad. And you can control how much you spend per click, your daily budget and where your ads appear. To get the most bang for your AdWords buck, just make sure you understand the overall ROI and then bid on the appropriate keywords accordingly.

Results
A major perk of Google AdWords is the backend data you receive on your campaign. You get graphs, statistics and performance data to help you track how your ads did – which makes it easier to make informed decisions on any editing that might be necessary.

Case Study: Facebook Advertising

Google isn’t the only online entity that offers pay-per-click advertising – Facebook is also making some impressive headway in their online advertising options.

Bellwether Community Credit Union had been experiencing a slow but steady growth of "likes" on its Facebook page and had reached just over 200 in a six-month time period. Impressive growth, but the credit union was looking to boost those numbers even more.

Once it started using Facebook ads, with a dedicated tab on the page itself, Bellwether’s "likes” have grown to over 500 in just three months. Madeline Anderson, marketing manager for the credit union explains, “We were running promotions and contests to get members to post on our Facebook page, but that didn't seem to have as much impact as the ads themselves.”

Getting Started
To get the best results from Google AdWords, it may be worthwhile to work with someone with AdWords expertise. Someone who is trained on the latest AdWords tools and best practice techniques to help you effectively manage your credit unions’ campaigns. If you’re interested in working with an expert, CU Solutions Group has trained staff to help.

Related Services:  Custom Website Content, Website Design and Development

Calling All Members! How to Get People to Your Website (Hint: It’s about more than looks!)

Beauty, while definitely in the eye of the beholder, only touches the surface of the qualities your website should possess. By “beauty” we mean a creative design, a well thought out site architecture and a flow that makes navigating your site a breeze. 

But—just as there’s more to your credit union than shares, drafts, and loans—there’s more to your site than beautiful functionality. There are the functions at work below the surface of the site—the search engine optimization (SEO) tools that help draw members to your site and help increase your site’s effectiveness in attracting and retaining members. Think of all the potential members who are searching Google to find a financial institution. You want them to find you first among the hundreds of available options. Here’s how to help make that happen.

Begin with Keywords and Metadata
Start with the basics. When writing your content, be sure to include keywords on every page. Keywords are best placed in the first 50-100 words of the page’s content, but adding them sooner is even better. Next, be sure to add metadata (data about content) and search terms to each page of your site, and then add alt/title tags to all photos. It’s a really good start, but you need to take it even further.

Incorporate Google AdWords
By incorporating the most searched words from Google AdWords into your website (not to mention your social media and online marketing content) you can improve your searchability and help increase your chances of being at the top of Google’s search list. For example, “online banking” is a popular phrase for searchers. In your website content, use the phrase multiple times without sounding redundant, usually three to four times per page.

Top Google AdWords and phrases can be purchased from Google, enhancing your site’s searchability. AdWords allows you to set your daily budget and will even estimate your daily clicks, based on what you’re able to spend.

Review the Stats
Along with keywords and AdWords, you have to take a look at the stats. Google Analytics presents a variety of statistics (which we can always help you analyze). At first glance, the information might appear overwhelming, but take some time to delve in and really learn what the numbers are telling you.

A recent Ragan.com blog suggested four steps to help users get more out of Google Analytics: “make goals; it’s more than just page views and clicks; set up weekly or monthly custom reports; and use the advanced segments feature.” Let’s look at each of these:

1. Set goals – Without goals, you won’t know exactly what you are measuring—or if there’s been any improvement. After you write your goals, use the goals feature on Google Analytics to track your progress.
    
2. Look beyond page views and clicks – Instead of reviewing only page views (which simply reflect how many times viewers opened a Web page), review other statistics, such as the number of unique visitors, the amount of time spent on the page and where visitors are coming from.
    
3. Set up weekly or monthly custom reports – Standard reports are helpful, but custom reports give you the data you choose. In Google Analytics, you have the ability to create and automate custom reports with your key measurables and objectives.
    
4. Use the advanced segments feature – If you want to track the traffic to your site that comes from a certain source (such as your Facebook page), use the advanced segments tool. In his tutorial, How to Use Advanced Segments in Google Analytics to Isolate SEO Problems, Glenn Gabe states, “Advanced Segments are relatively easy to set up, they are retroactive (letting you run reporting on past traffic), and can help you isolate any type of visitor you are trying to analyze.”

Remember your goal is getting members and potential members to visit your site and use your products and services. And that’s the most beautiful result of all!
 

Related Services: Website Design and Development, Online Services

A Plan of Action

It’s that time of year when marketers everywhere are sitting down to build next year’s marketing plan. They’re pulling out their strategic plans and identifying the goals they’re going to tackle for 2012. And they’re asking these questions: What is it that our members want and need from us? What can we do to get them to use our products and services more? We understand that you know your members intimately, but if you’re anecdotally defining their needs, it may be time to verify your beliefs through marketing research.

You can use marketing research to assist you in accomplishing your most challenging goals, including:

• New membership growth
• Increasing wallet share and retention
• Improving member service
• Assessing member loyalty
• Measuring member overall satisfaction
• Identifying new products or services

You have the ability to reach your goals by finding out what your members are thinking and doing through the use of member surveys, focus groups, member analytics and website analytics.

• Member surveys are a great tool to provide insight into member loyalty and to help improve member satisfaction. Member surveys can be done via mail, telephone or online. Although online surveys are growing, mail surveys still tend to have the highest return rate.
  
  
• Focus groups allow you to dig deeper into your members’ thoughts and desires about their banking needs and your credit union. Credit unions typically utilize focus groups when they are exploring a big change like introducing a new name or brand. This type of research can be expensive, but the insights you gain are well worth the effort.
   
• Member analytics are a wonderful tool that provides an in-depth analysis of your current membership. The reports provide a thorough understanding of your membership, which in turn gives you insight into wallet share growth, retention strategies and member loyalty. When developing marketing strategies, a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of your membership is a valuable tool. This is also a great place to start when you build a member loyalty program or a rewards program.
   
• SEO and website analytics are tools used to effectively drive traffic to your website and to help you evaluate the behavior of website visitors. By tracking visitor behavior with website analytics, you can put more emphasis on the keywords and sources that bring the visitors you want to your website.

According to CUNA, one in three credit unions conduct member surveys in-house, especially those with assets of $50 million or below. For the credit unions that have the staff time, expertise and software available, this can be a very cost-effective way to manage your research.

For those that don't, most marketing research providers can customize their services to match most budgets and they have the tools and resources to accurately and informatively analyze the data. They also can provide your credit union benchmark data from other credit unions to compare to your results. If you decide to outsource, Marketing Solutions has marketing research experts that can work with your credit union on all or just a portion of your research endeavors.

Before you venture down this road of marketing research, keep in mind that you shouldn’t ask what your members want if you don’t intend to act. Their answers might make you realize that some of your products and services aren’t as popular as you think or that your member service isn’t reaching its potential. Your credit union needs to be prepared to really assess and explore survey results and be willing to shift its strategy where needed to not only help you reach your goals, but to give your members what they want and need.

Related Services:  Marketing Research Services, Online Services