As you may have read here, here, here, here, and here, CUES Experience was a blast.

What struck me the most about Mark Stutrud, Summit Brewing Company’s founder and CEO, was that he knows exactly who Summit is and where it’s going. He makes no apologies, and doesn’t try and water Summit down (figuratively, but also literally….there’s no “Summit Lite”), or grow without reason to be like his larger competitors.

One of my favorite quotes by him was, “If we aren’t making some people mad a few times a year, we aren’t doing our job.”

My main takeaway, and the theme of my workshop after the tour, was to differentiate by knowing exactly who you are and pursing that as deeply as you can. Get specific. It takes businesses years and a lot of hard work to find a nitch. Credit unions come with one – its automatic! And as a result we have a built-in affinity and culture from the very beginning. So own that.

Our final question was this: What is something you can do at your credit union that is so relevant to your specific SEG and/or community, that it absolutely wouldn’t make sense somewhere else?

Also, I highly recommend Ron’s post on his Summit takeaways – “Financial Services Marketers Could Use A Beer .”

Here are the slides (a few of which make little sense without their talking points):

| View | Upload your own

Also, Summit beer is fantastic. If you can get it in your area, do it.

ps: I didn’t take any pictures, because I’m a moron. But I’ll update this post with a link to some shots from the tour as soon as a certain someone hooks it up.

I thought it’d be nice to start the week off with a rant inspired by three things:

1. Jim Bruene’s recent post about the scrappy usage (his word: ‘anemic’) of financial apps in Facebook.
2. My disagreement with this quote from the CUES Nexus blog (sorry, Lisa):

   If you want to reach Gen Y, why not be where they are? The more than 68 million Facebook users (many of them young people) spend an average of 20 minutes a day on the site. And about 250,000 new users sign on every day. Some CUs are already there, waiting to greet them.

3. That there are still high-fives given for credit union MySpace pages.

Social networks…

Are Not:

Real estate. If you look at online communities as an opportunity to park your caboose and head people off at the pass, you’re missing the point. Go buy a TV spot, pop up or newspaper ad – stick to the proven, tried and true methods of interrupting and annoying people.

To brands who treat conversations like billboards: you’re not just old marketers, you’re also posers. (And I should note that I’m not talking about Lisa here at all.)

There are 140 Facebook apps added every day. This is Noise 2.0. The apps that are the most successful are those that help Facebook users do what they came to Facebook to do rather than react to the fact that they happen to be there. More on that in a second.

Are:

Communities. If you bust in on that without immersing, participating, understanding, you are a door to door salesman. If you show up, you and your toothy grin, you’d better be adding value to the community by helping them interact, grow, and have a deeper connection with each other (that’s why they’re all there in the first place). The Cluetrain Manifesto said communites are groups “of people who care about each other more than they should.” And each community/platform is unique, but also interwoven. Engaging the Facebook community looks different from engaging the Second Life community looks different from engaging the Twitter community.

For Example:

Why is Facebook’s iLike so successful (361,568 daily active users, $15.8 million in funding…for a Facebook app)? Because people use Facebook to communicate themselves, learn about and connect with people. iLike enables that and, as a result, enhances Facebook for its users.

This is shown across the board in the numbers too. According to Adanomics data (made sense of by Asi Sharabi) the most widely used apps (44%) are “Identity Formation / Social Comparison.”

Why do I think Fiserve’s MyMoney will not succeed as it is right now? Because, frankly, who cares that you can access your account within Facebook? It is not that difficult or time consuming to open a new window or tab and get to my online banking login. Thank you for saving me three clicks, but until MyMoney brings more to the table I’d rather keep my applications clean.

What if you could use MyMoney to visualize your progress as you saved for a vacation, a new toy, or the secret to time travel. What if a few trusted friends and I could use Facebook’s social tools to build a cross-FI collective overdraft protection account that auto transfers cash in a time of need, notifies each person on the account, and in doing so: 1) saves me fees and 2) builds in the obligation to replace that money as soon as I can?

By the same token, Financially Fun Island™ (not a real thing, but almost a real thing) in Second Life will, at best, attract a lot of industry insiders who are interested in this “innovative new tactic.” But the citizens have better things to do than go to your island and play money games. They’re building an active economy. However, a financial institution that offers home, land, and small business loans in Second Life for Second Life is enriching the in-world experience…not just capitalizing on it.

I’d much rather be enabled than greeted.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got. You can yell at me now.

Ron Shevlin said something to Matt and I at dinner a few months ago that resonated with me. Credit union websites should be operational. Sites should be a resource for staff to solve problems, not just a marketing tool.

Coast Capital Savings Credit Union does a great job of communicating its voice. It’s aggressively casual. It communicates the personality of the credit union and is an extension, perhaps even the center piece, of the marketing campaign. Creatively, it’s good work.

I hope more credit unions don’t do this. I hope they realize Coast Capital is a rare breed, willing to cop an attitude in a very conservative, very attitude-less industry. There’s only room for one smart-ass in the class.

Instead, when creating content for a site, credit unions should focus less on what the Coast Capitals of the world are doing and more on what their MSR’s are doing. Don’t worrying about fluffy, fun, catchy content – go the other way. Become operational. Become informational. Creative writing is expensive and difficult to maintain (insert picture of frazzled brand manager wringing her or his hands and asking “is it ON BRAND???!!!” with every update).

This idea of sites being operational is something that as a web development firm, I’m going to discuss with our clients. It’s something any of you in credit unions out there reworking websites and creating copy might consider. Leverage what you do well when developing content.

Don’t be flashy. Inform. Solve problems. That’s what CU’s are good at. And consider the first audience to be your front-line staff. Put information on the site that they can use to solve member problems when they call or come into a branch. Consider what information CAN go on the site. I’m sure most operational CU documents might find a home on the website for your staff and membership to use. PDF’s of forms; outlines of procedures; how to find your routing number.

At that point, it really DOES become a resource. It informs. And information drives traffic.

By this stuff, I mean this new stuff. Web 2.0. User-generated content. Social media. Whatever you want to call it.

All this stuff you live and breathe. All this stuff that continues to come in waves. All this stuff that you know is perfect for your credit union. All this stuff that you can’t explain to anyone who is not involved. All this stuff your members are doing online. All this stuff that you know is passing your credit union by.

How about the brand and name experts? No, they’re too busy helping credit unions merge to waste their time on this stuff. They’re telling credit unions, “Skip this stuff. It will pass.”

How about the ad agency? Not likely. They make their money in 30 second increments. If they can’t monetize it, forget it. They, too, are telling credit unions, “Skip this stuff. It will pass.”

How about the PR consultants? Nope. User-generated content with no editorial review is too scary for them. “We need to control this stuff.”

How about the IT department? Yeah right. They’re too busy with bank system security and making sure your in-box isn’t filled with spam. Just try to convince the techies that embedded code from a third-party website is a good thing to do. “Nope, that stuff is not touching my stuff. My job is to block stuff, not touch stuff.”

How about the young person in the organization with a knack for computers? Maybe, but this person will never have the influence or the resources to really implement this stuff. “OK old dudes, this stuff is so cool. Trust me, we really need this stuff.”

How about your marketing and communications department? They would be the natural fit, but with a steady flow of branch requests and with the production of your ingrained annual sales promotions, time and resources are spread too thin. “We’d love to help, but we just don’t have time to do this stuff.”

How about the digital agency or the web consultancy? Possibly. They are definitely capable of doing whatever your credit union wants to do. But they can’t go it alone. “OK, before we do anything, we want to make sure you guys understand this stuff and are comfortable with us doing all of this stuff.”

How about hiring an expert on staff? Good idea. But you better be prepared to listen and give him or her the freedom to experiment or he or she will get frustrated and leave. “I have been telling you about this stuff for months now, but you all still don’t get this stuff. I’m packing my stuff and leaving.”

So, who’s left? Your senior management and, especially, your CEO. Until credit union CEOs and the senior executive team are actually involved in this stuff, it’s not going as far as I know it can go to propel the credit union movement forward.

CEOs and the senior executive team need to feel the anxiety of not being able to see what their Twitter crew is up to while on a flight. CEOs and the senior executive team need to feel the exhilaration of receiving a slew of comments on a controversial blog post that they just posted. CEOs and the senior executive team need to understand the power of this new form of community firsthand. It cannot be explained. It must be experienced.

And CEOs and the senior executive team need to be seen participating in social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn by staff and members. CEOs and the senior executive team need to give permission to experiment and innovate.

As it stands, credit union CEOs and the senior executive team are out of the loop. They see all of this stuff as a waste of time and energy. But guess what, this stuff is real, this stuff is happening right under their nose and this stuff is not going away any time soon, if ever.

Signing off on a message from the president that you didn’t write for your credit union’s quarterly newsletter is not a two-way conversation. Not even close.

Two questions for you:

1. Who owns this stuff at your credit union?
2. What can we all do to prove this stuff is worth doing?

Tim McAlpine is the President & Chief Strategist of Currency Marketing. You can read Tim’s ‘stuff’ on the Currency Marketing blog at www.currencymarketing.ca/blog.

Discussion of branding – major, national brands in particular – is akin to a lively discussion of battle. The players are intriguing. Heroes and states engaged in a struggle for life and death tear at each other for wealth and power. Indeed, Sun Tzu is often referenced in marketing classes. Which is silly or inspiring depending on your viewpoint.

CUNA just released a white paper that takes a measured look at a nationwide credit union brand. Currently, major brands are struggling with how to engage customers more deeply and relevantly; it’s a little baffling that a national credit union branding campaign is something discussed.

A national branding campaign is expensive. It’s terribly wide. It requires an existing infrastructure. And technology is coming into existence design to create communities and thwart mass marketing.

For CU’s to engage in a national branding campaign is akin to storming onto the battlefield, weapons drawn. Without sufficient resources (if you’re in battle, that would be other people, and in business, that would be capital), the campaign is doomed to fail. And failure in the case of a national campaign is in terms of wasted dollars and wasted impressions. And in a movement with limited resources, failure is harder to absorb.

Not only is it expensive on the national media side, any branding campaign must be activated at a local level. Unless credit unions spend money in addition to the campaign (a rule of thumb is that activation is three times as costly as the sponsorship), there is no direct tie to the actual credit union, and the message is lost.

Control the Battlefield

In any great story of underdog triumph, strategy and cleverness trumps sheer strength. Leonidas knew not to fight the Persians on their terms and met the invading force at Thermopylea. Paris would’ve failed fighting the immortal Achilles head on.

It’s time credit unions stopped envying the mighty and, instead, become crafty and wise.

The solution lies apart from the Siren’s song of a national campaign. Credit unions should invest in creating real competitive advantages:

• Improve infrastructure through shared branching and ATM networks
• Create community-specific products
• Train staff in the specific needs of the community and SEG

What do credit union’s know best? They know their SEG’s. They know their communities. They know their members. No big banking brands have this knowledge. Credit unions can do what banks do (provide services); banks cannot do what credit unions can do (know their members):

• Use social media to communicate deep, not wide
• Design branches to reflect the membership
• Revive the membership drive and go meet with SEGs
• Leverage annual meetings as a celebration of the CU and its members
• Invest in local businesses by using their services

That’s the credit union’s battle ground: local not national. Getting sucked into a national campaign is costly, difficult and ultimately, nearly impossible to win.

Concerning financial institution websites, Ron says:

On some sites, the blog content might be the central focus of a product’s page, and on others, blog content might be sidebar material. On some sites, blog content will replace the lifestage content that appears on many sites, letting customers themselves dictate the content, tone, and direction of what appears.

Why will FIs do this? Because they’ll learn that engaging customers and prospects in conversations is the best way to sell their products. The trust they’ll build by doing this will outweigh the competitor down the street offering a CD with one-quarter of a percent better rate. That won’t be enough to get consumers to move and switch.

I agree.

The big players get this. Name a big bank – heck, name a billion-dollar CU – who’s not thinking social media right now.

I believe marketing will twist management’s arm to get this done across the board. That said, there will be resistance.

Just like there was resistance to having a website in the first place.

On an Unrelated Note:

Please come say hi to us in Mad-town or Spokane this week at the League events there. Brent and I will have Open Source CU schwag on us and we’re just itching to give it away.

Also, congrats to Team Little Guy for crossing the finish line and raising a small fortune. I had a blast in North Carolina with Jeff and crew last week – even got to meet Dan and Matt!

I heart NY. Hat tip to Chuck and Ron.

This is the best cooperative ad campaign I’ve yet to see, and it comes from New York’s credit unions.

Why does it rock?

Other than the solid website and TV spots, here are a few points that are brilliantly executed but might not be so obvious at first glance.

• It explains how to start a credit union. At BarCampBankSeattle, Jesse expressed disappointment that he could find no resources explaining the process for Black Rock FCU. It’s nice to see that New York doesn’t simply say, “Here’s how you do it, now go have fun” – they say, “Here’s who you call at NCUA and at the NY State Banking Department. We’ll help.”
• It debunks CU myths while avoiding the rhetoric. As a whole, we worry too much about taxation and not enough about reaching new members – and not just “Gen Y’ers” either. Doggone it, one of the best ideas I’ve seen in a while is the burial plot loan.
• It even brings focus to volunteer opportunities within a credit union – both in the community and in the credit union itself.
• Instead of “People, not profit” it emphasizes “People over profit.” I hereby move that “People, not profit” be struck from the lexicon and replaced by this new phrase. Of course, we return those profits back to our members (or we should).

Overall, this campaign and the corresponding website explains eloquently that we are cooperatives, not banks. Every league should take a long look at this site, consider it the benchmark, and get campaigns like this launched in their state.

As a frequent Facebook user, I recently came across a great example I thought worth sharing.

Within Facebook’s home page is the “news feed,” a former controversy turned avenue for more targeted advertising that updates you on the latest happenings of your friends; what photos they’ve added, groups they’ve joined and causes they support.

Occasionally Facebook will include a “sponsored group” which appears in the “news feed” making users aware of companies dipping the ir toes into social media. In a number of cases, this has been used for trying to recruit younger employees.

Such was the case when I encountered a sponsored group titled “McCareers,” an effort by McDonalds to attract younger managers, which prominently displays quotes such as, “From the day I walked into McDonald’s, I’ve never looked back,” from Ana (no last name provided) a “restaurant manager” for McDonald’s. See photo below.

When I viewed the group, I was surprised, and somewhat amused, to see the comments users had left on the McDonalds “wall.” While unfortunately I can’t quote them verbatim (the commenting section was removed and disabled within 24 hours of the group’s posting) the comments from users included; discussion about McDonald’s supposed anti-union actions, a former employee blasting the company about how bad it was to work there, a jibe at McDonalds from one user saying even with all their “marketing muscle” they were only able to attract a few people to the group, and my personal favorite, a satirical 5 Reasons to Work at McDonalds which included “making America fatter.” It’s no wonder they disabled the commenting section.

The point I’m trying to make is that social media is simply an extension of what is real, and you can’t just buy your way in. Just because McDonalds potentially paid an estimated $150,000 for a sponsored group (see slide 3 in full screen) and one week after its debut has only 231 members doesn’t mean its Facebook group will want to make people work there.

So before you go jumping into social media, make sure what you’re doing is authentic, and then allow people to spread it. And maybe when you’re considering investing $150,000 for a sponsored group, you should consider giving your employees a raise.

Maybe then they’ll be lovin’ it.

Bryan Sims is the CEO of brass|MEDIA.

I haven’t picked up an issue of Adweek in quite a while, because what’s happening on Madison Avenue with the Budweiser account doesn’t really concern Weber Marketing Group or our clients. But I picked up an issue today and thumbed it all the way through. Boy oh boy, has that publication changed in the last few years.

Adweek used to be all about global agencies and massive TV ad campaigns. Now it’s almost all about new media, or at least that how it seems. Here are three articles from this week’s current issue:

• Why Barbie can have a social website, but not Coke
• YouTube, politics and Obama Girl
• Advertising in video games

The story about how Coke – the world’s biggest, most valuable brand – couldn’t sustain its social website, “The Coke Show,” was the most interesting. From the article:

The Coke Show joins a growing list of cautionary tales, including Wal-Mart’s ill-fated social network The Hub and Anheuser-Busch’s Bud.tv, showing it is far from easy to tap the same kind of sharing vibe that’s fueled the rise of MySpace, YouTube and Facebook.

Takeaways:

1. Learn from Adweek. They see which way the wind is blowing. Marketing – even advertising – is increasingly becoming a dialogue with consumers. Traditional media still has its place, but the days of one-sided, one-directional marketing are numbered. It will be more and more common for consumers – not advertisers – to control the discussion and pick the venues.
2. Success isn’t guaranteed. If big brands like Coke, Budweiser and Wal-Mart can’t find success after applying all their might and muscle, others are sure to fail also. The rules are still being written and no one has all the answers. Can your credit union’s CEO handle this level of ambiguity and uncertainty? Especially when the ROI is fuzzy (at best).
3. Don’t rush into the Web 2.0 world blindly. Some organizations seem to think “if you build it, they will come,” but it’s not that simple. You need to know your target audience and what they want to talk about BEFORE you launch a blog or a MySpace page. And don’t underestimate the commitment it takes once you’re up and running. You’ll need to devote time, energy and focus to your Web 2.0 initiatives every day (hint: hours of writing).

Jeffry Pilcher is the Creative Director of Weber Marketing.

Remember me? I’m the Canadian juggler from Currency Marketing that was picked to speak at the Partnership Symposium on October 4. With the event just over five weeks away, I am starting to prepare my presentation – Where Does Traditional Marketing Fit Into a Web 2.0 World?

To illustrate my key points, I will include real-world examples of how credit unions are integrating on- and off-line tactics in their marketing efforts to deliver killer results. Rather than just including examples that we have created for our clients at Currency Marketing, I want to include diverse examples from all over North America. That’s where you can help.

And, since I got the gig with a YouTube video, here’s another one to hopefully bring a smile to your face today (and not annoy you too much). Although I only included a few residents of Open Source CU in my video appeal, everyone is invited to take part.

I will be sure to give full credit to the agencies, credit unions and individuals involved. So what do you say? Are you in? E-mail tmcalpine@currencymarketing.ca, post a comment (without giving everything away) or, better yet, post a video response on YouTube!

Tim McAlpine is the President of Currency Marketing.

Paula writes:

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the BC credit union website to search for an ATM close by. The search found 4 that I went looking for, only to find that one didn’t exist at all, two were much further south than shown on the map, and the other one was 10 minutes east of where the map showed it to be. The experience was pretty frustrating, so I sent them an email to let them know what had happened. I gave them details on my search parameters, the results, and the ensuing frustration.

How did Credit Union Central of BC respond? Paula goes on:

This reply came from Alana a few days later … “Thank you very much for bringing this matter to our attention. I can understand your frustration of being misdirected by us. We were unaware of any problems with the ATM mapping feature on our website, and upon receiving your email have been in contact with our technology partners to ensure that all mapping errors are corrected as quickly as possible. The specific information you have provided us with has definitely helped us narrow down where the issue exists, and we truly appreciate the time you have taken to send us this information.”

I’d be more than pleased with that response. But Credit Union Central of BC didn’t stop there:

She asked for my mailing address … I assumed to send me a card. What arrived knocked our socks off! On Friday, while we were in the city, we got a call from a courier to arrange a delivery time for a pie. Cool – just what we needed, because we were having company for dinner and Patrick didn’t have time to make dessert.

But this was no ordinary pie! It was GI-NOR-MOUS!!! Imagine a 4.5 lb pie in a reusable pie plate, packed in a wooden crate filled with strips of “thank you” paper, with the note of thanks I had been expecting. The pie’s ingredients were also listed with instructions … it was so fresh that it is recommended to finish it within 5 days. . . .

Can you say “customer service”?!? ... what a great business concept! If you EVER need to send an apology or thank you, please consider using this company – you will definitely earn some brownie points in the process from the recipient!

Consumerist said of the affair: “We will add ‘humorous pies’ to the already long list of reasons we prefer credit unions to banks.”

Thanks to Jeff at Creative Brand Communications for introducing us to the Lemonaire -

In a nutshell (lemon peel?), the program is part viral marketing, part micro-lending. The bank is giving $10 plus basic lemonade stand supplies to qualifying kids, in order to help fund their first “start up.” Thereby teaching them about business, money and pursuing your dreams.

Don’t get me wrong: I love the idea and the production quality. The video is hi-lar-ious. That said, while lines like “It’s pretty good – probably makes for a pretty good mixer” had me rolling, my 10-year-old niece would say, “Huh?”

Something tells me the video/campaign is made for more for adults rather than kids (which is fine; it’s their marketing budget to spend). The most obvious clue is the lack of a next action. In other words, if I were a qualifying kid how do I get one of those lemonade accounts and the gear?

The campaign is catchy, creative, and exudes the Umpqua brand (one of the strongest in the industry considering their size)... but is it compelling?

That depends on whether you’re counting how many kids got lemonade stands or how many businesses opened checking accounts.

If there would’ve been a next step for the kid to download an application or instructions for them to take to their parents to get them to the nearest branch to pick up their supplies, I wouldn’t be calling this into question. Am I being too picky by crying foul on this? What does it matter?

I can just see the dejected look on the kid’s face when she can’t find her “loan application.”

Matt linked me to this Techcrunch post today asking Will The Last Corporation Leaving Second Life Please Turn Out The Light.

Without getting into the numbers (which are worth a look),

The crux of the piece [originally at the LA Times] is that despite the hype, real life businesses are closing down their Second Life outposts due to little to no interest in them.

I blame this on the Field of Dreams Myth: “If you build it, they will come.”

Apply the following to a house in Second Life, MySpace page, blog, podcast, wiki, Twitter account, Facebook app, Ning network, etc. I call them my Social Media Field of Dreams Myth-busters™ (note the hyphen and™, which ward off the copyright infringement claims):

• If the cause behind a campaign isn’t compelling, it will fail.
• No one ever woke up saying, “I want to look at Company X’s marketing today!!!”

I’d like to share an IM conversation I just had with Brent on the matter:

Trey Reeme:
off the top of your head, what percentage of CUs could successfully launch a social media campaign today?

Brent Dixon:
im not going to throw out a number, but a very small percentage.

Trey Reeme:
I’m thinking close to 1%.

Brent Dixon:
not to be confused with “what percentage of credit unions could successfully use social media,” thats different.

Trey Reeme:
right.
actually, less than 1. More like .1.

Brent Dixon:
successfully launch a campaign though, id agree 1% or less.

Trey Reeme:
you know what’s frustrating?
it has nothing to do with assets or budget but everything to do with culture.

Brent Dixon:
yup.

Trey Reeme:
and a lot of CUs who think they could pull it off can’t.

Update (6/6): Gabriel Garcia from Tech CU’s marketing department offers a good explanation in the comments here. I’m looking forward to seeing what they produce in the real campaign, as this one wasn’t intended for public consumption.

Tech CU invites you to View the TechCU Mortgage Commercial.

Enthralling.

Or how about their welcome post, where you can consume the following gem:

Social media is not a repository for your marketing leftovers.

The last post was made April 8th, so maybe I just stumbled on a site where they’re testing social media out. (It’s not linked off their website.)

When I first saw them come up in an iTunes Store search for “credit union” this morning, I just knew they’d be a shining example of a CU using social media – a big budget CU with a tech-savvy member base who’d love the medium. On the contrary, I’m very disappointed.

Just a kickin’ design wrapped around no strategy at all. No idea about the folks behind the blog. No personality. No real people to be found. No reason to subscribe.

Without compelling content, the crickets will chirp.

Please, Tech CU, prove me wrong. You already get RSS as your main site’s got it on rates, news, and events. I want to see you get social media, too.

What could Tech CU do instead?

I’ve needed a break from blogging, so I haven’t been around much recently. Too much credit union stuff on the brain, and here’s a tip for a blogger who’s near burnout: don’t write anything if you don’t have anything to say. It will keep you sane.

Three items have broken my silence.

CUES Nexus

First, the CUES Nexus Connection blog has been brought back, refocused, and is now indispensable. Lisa, Mary, and Christopher are to be commended for the work there and on Skybox, which is showing much more personality on much more regular posts.

Tim McAlpine

That anyone would put the time into a YouTube-driven campaign for getting on the Symposium speaker roster rocks. That the video has seen 135 views without a direct link from here (until now) is pretty cool, too.

The Gruber Institute of Financial Wellness

dumpyourbank.com

Thank you, Alabama Credit Union. You have joined Coast Capital Savings on my very short “marketing I don’t mind” list. (That doesn’t really exist, so I’m creating it now).

I so want a mug!