WOM is a Unicorn with Hen’s Teeth, And I’m Sitting on One Now
Posted by Charlie Trotter on December 19th, 2006
A funny thing occurred to me in a meeting yesterday. We were talking about how to communicate best to Gen Y, what they/we respond to, turn-ons, turn-offs. A few beats into the chat, several things hit me like several tons of bricks, respectively.
First Ton
Communication is communication. The base principles of polite, sincere communication, mass or one-on-one, are universal, not generational or demographic.
We say Gen Y appreciates Transparency™. Well, who doesn’t? Who would rather receive salesy, insincere communications on any topic over honest, take-it-or-leave-it communication? No one, that’s who. Even the people writing and distributing the salesy messages don’t like to go home and get bombarded with flashy, circus-style junk over dinner.
Second Ton
What is the best kind of advertising? Most people will respond with the obligatory, “Word-of-mouth.” We abide WOM as a sort of communicative Holy Grail. It’s as good as gold and as traceable as Unicorn tracks. A few businesses claim to rely solely on WOM to get their business. (PS: That’s a would-be-high-road claim for, “I’m immobilized with the fear of communicating.”)
It hit me that the WOM Unicorn is real, rideable and has a head full of hen’s teeth. When word-of-mouth happens, two people are talking, two friends, two family members, two strangers in the same isle at the grocery store. Just two people talking. If WOM is truly the best kind of advertising, if we really believe that to be true, then why do we burn the formula and dance on the ashes when it’s time to communicate to a broader audience? The reason is, the first steps of Homemade WOM will not give an immediate ROI. And now we have arrived at our drug of choice: Near-instant ROI.
The WOM formula is scalable. The numbers go up, but the principle stays the same. Two people at a grocery store don’t use language like “Act Now!”, “Unbelievable Value!!”, or “SALE, SALE, SALE!!!”. They converse. Your company is people. Your audience is people. Start acting like it. Start talking like two people talking, not like one person selling.
Third and Final Ton
This will all come together here in a second, so hang in there.
Credit Unions are different from Banks in the most profound way. Credit Unions are Not-for-profit and Banks are For-profit. I’m going to give you three empty lines to think about that.
Credit Unions and Banks are as conceptually removed from each other as East is from West. That you both deal in finance is, frankly, immaterial. So why do Credit Unions look, act and communicate like Banks? Why do you continue to send out flash-bang mailers carrying Important Account Information! to share the legitimately good news of your rates and other products? You are literally 85 million people in line at the grocery store. You are a community of commonality, a sort of Financially Conscious Anonymous. You are a support group. And support groups don’t sell each other things. They offer each other good advice, real, honest solutions to their problems, and when their words leave their lips, they don’t appear in a bright red starburst.
Organizations like to run weekend or seasonal specials with bright colors and they slash numbers to get the quick sale. That concept couldn’t be more removed from the Credit Union core values. Becoming financially healthy will not give instant gratification. Saving takes time. Getting out of debt takes time. These are the things you teach, delaying today’s gratification for tomorrow’s stability. Yet, when it’s time to spend a little money and effort to reach people with that news, you want instant gratification. ROI! ROI! ROI! It’s time to drink your own kool-aid.
You are not a Bank. You are a brand new idea. You are the printing press, cotton gin and the wheel.
So quit acting like the never-good-enough-for-Mom step-child of the financial world and be who you are. Roll around in who you are. Gen Y, and the whole world, is screaming out for something different, something sincere, something helpful. Give it to us. Give it to yourself.
Getting hit with a ton of bricks will only kill you unless you learn from it. Charlie, bud please we need more than cheerleading!
If CUs are better than the cotton gin then give us some value ad ideas for how to utilize our cooperative advantage. For example, why don’t copy the open source movement with financial litteracy. I better other people in my CU that have similar incomes or debt have innovative ways to reduce their debt, save and invest.
In our ultra open society of real world TV and MySpace personal finance remains hush hush.
In Charlie’s defense, sometimes it does us good to focus on why we want change in CU land and not just how to get it done. For specific ideas, I’d encourage you to go back through some of our posts and podcasts from the last year. We’re always focusing on adding value for our readers/listeners, and searching through our site categories may help narrow it down.
You’re right, financial literacy has gotten the short end of the stick in our consumerist culture. But with tools like Wesabe and messengers like Ramit Sethi, the hush-hush stigma of discussing money is disappearing. Credit unions have a great opportunity to be the messenger (as Doug True pointed out in the latest CIiCU podcast) because the community’s already there with CUs.
Thanks for the comment!
“They offer each other good advice, real, honest solutions to their problems, and when their words leave their lips, they don’t appear in a bright red starburst.”
Who do I trust when I am looking for a mechanic, dentist or a doctor? My friends and family. Why should choosing a financial institution be any different? If you (financial institution) speak to me as Charlie describes above I am much more likely to trust your advice than if you are “yelling” at me in a spam letter.
Thank you, Charlie, for giving credit unions insight into the type of communication our generation responds to.
P.S. I have decided that I am boycotting starbursts. They are loud, annoying and incredibly unnecessary if the services one is selling are worth anything to me.
Charlie, I love this post!
You might enjoy a talk that I gave recently at Ignite Seattle. I completely screwed up the credit union capitalization stuff, but generated a lot of passion for credit unions in general.
Keep it going!
-Jesse
PS: You guys need to add digg, del.icio.us, and technorati tagging to your entries. If you’re using wordpress I recommend the sociable plugin.
Charlie,
You are brilliant. Whatever the Trabian boys are paying you—it’s not enough : ’ )
I am going to forward your BLOG to every credit union I’ve worked with in the past five years. In one posting you captured it. You should keynote at CUNA, WOCCU, CUES and LMNOP—-all the acronyms.
And to Dave, read it again. This is NEW good stuff that we NEED to read again and again….
Charlie:
Outrageously good post – particularly your Third and Final Ton. I hope you don’t get discouraged. Too often, I’ve found CU folks resistant to hearing criticisms about their modus operandi….you may learn that your name is uttered in vain on CU listserves as a deviant troublemaker or “banker-in-disguise”.
Most U.S. CUs are failing to BE different than banks!
“So quit acting like the never-good-enough-for-Mom step-child of the financial world and be who you are. Roll around in who you are.”
Charlie, this may be my favorite CU quote of 2006! I have been in the CU industry for 2 years now and as a member of Gen Y this is how CUs need to think about this segment. Great post!
Generation Y?
Good news – they have already told you how they want to communicate.
It’s myspace, bebo, youtube, secondlife and every other bizarre web site name you could think of. But the even better news is that it is WOM – albeit via clipped curt messaging, strange video blogs and mobile text. But the even better news is that it is really inexpensive to do – normally free.
The world community just got smarter without anybody giving it permission. So don’t ask permission just get on with it.
Cost-effectiveness shouldn’t be a talking point in an argument for sincerity, Credit Union Direct. It’s not another trend wave to ride out. It’s just the right thing to do.
I’d say Gen Y, rather than saying “We want to communicate with a bunch of websites with silly names,” is really just saying “We want to communicate.”
All of these bizarre web sites have appeal because they give people a voice. An expression. The strange video blogs and “clipped curt messaging” are just a few ways that people have decided to talk. Manifestations of specific personalities. But by and large the content people are contributing is just conversation. Stuff that most suits would deem unmarketable.
As Charlie has pointed out, it would seem that good old-fashioned conversation is highly marketable.
I hve printed this out and posted it at the agency. This is exactly the message that I have been trying to convey for 6 years in the credit union marketing industry. The challenge we face is that…
“we know inserts work”
“we know postcards work”
“we need trackable results”
Of course these things work. And it is nice to have trackable results to put on your P/L and slide into your annual report. We can all slap each other on the back and congratulate our brilliance. The problem is that you are missing a key element – member awareness.
As a credit union member (of several credit unions) there are things that I want to see my credit union do that my bank doesnt (yes I have bank accounts too)
I want to see: Credit counseling for members Debt management assistance credit management online courses business development accounts for entrepreneurs and home business operators home budget workshops for stay at home parents
I can go on and on but I normally get paid for these pearls of wisdom. The worst part is that these are trackable, they perform value added services to the membrs, they will generate WOM and are venues to add on products the CU already promotes (short term personal loans, credit cards, share accounts etc.)
Everyone says they want to get out of that box, but fear bears a nasty weight.
Keep up the good work on the blog. I read it every day!
Tony
Many thanks, Tony! Love the comment and the list of what you want to see.
Yeah, Tony, big thanks for the love. Your comment made my day.
Yeah, Tony, big thanks for the love. Your comment made my day.