Welcome!

What is CU market place?

This blog is a marketing and business development resource for credit unions in the Virginia Credit Union League.  It’s a way for the Credit Union Marketing & Business Development Council of Virginia* to reach out, offer fresh perspectives, and get conversations started around important topics.

We’ll feature short, timely articles related to the issues we face in CU marketing. Initially, we’ll be publishing the ideas of Council members (click on the tab above to learn more about us), but we’d love to hear from you as well!

We invite you to read and comment on the articles, ask questions, disagree, support and expand on ideas, etc. Our goal is community and cooperation – another venue for sharing thoughts, ideas, problems etc. similar to the discussion portions of our marketing conferences.

*The Credit Union Marketing & Business Development Council of Virginia is a committee appointed by the Virginia Credit Union League (www.vacul.org).

2012 East Coast Marketing & Business Development Conference

Join the Virginia Credit Union League’s Marketing & Business Development Council at the 2012 East Coast Marketing & Business Development Conference as we host “reMEMBERing” for Credit Union leaders across the East Coast.  This invigorating conference will focus on assisting you with techniques on remembering where you have been and how to continue to grow as a credit union and co-operative.

Learn more and register for the 2012 East Coast Marketing & Business Development Conference.

Hey Google! Where’s MY Credit Union Website?

By Dan Veasey

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TIPS FOR CREDIT UNIONS

The next time you go online, do a search for “credit union,” followed by your city.  Where does your credit union appear in the list?  Take notice of the other things that show up too.  You might be surprised.  If you’re not showing up in the top three, then you can probably benefit from a little basic search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing don’t just answer your search queries at random – there is a method to their madness. 

Here are a few basic steps that a credit union web designer can take.  I know – you might be the web designer, operations manager, training coordinator and employee psychology consultant all rolled up in one, but really, these steps aren’t that hard. Some simple things to do:

Keywords
Search engines are tasteless robots.  They don’t care how spiffy your website looks; they actually read what you are saying.  The more that your site mentions keywords, the more likely the search engines will associate those keywords with your page.  Put keywords wherever you can. Especially in page titles. You can usually see what the page title is in the top part of the browser window. Even if your browser doesn’t show the whole thing, search engines will read it.  For example, the title of a checking page might be “XYZ Credit Union – Free Checking & Online Billpay – Moneyville, VA.”

Another subtle but effective place to put keywords is in the ALT section for images.  Search engines don’t have eyes, so they can’t ‘see’ your pretty pictures, but they can read a short description about it.  This further emphasizes to the search engine what your page is about. 

Be Bold! Be Strong! Emphasize!
Make the keywords that appear in your page stand out with strong and emphasized lettering. Be sure to do it with the html tags ‘strong’ and ‘em’. (But don’t go crazy with emphasizing everything on the page or search engines will just ignore it.)

Update your site regularly
Search engines will consider you more relevant if you consistently post new content.  Almost every CU regularly publishes a print newsletter. Your site should be updated at least that often, but probably more so.

Link to yourself
A fairly common practice is to put several key links below the fold. (That’s the part below what usually appears on most computer screens without scrolling.)  If your CU is active in social media, be sure to link back to your main website from there too. Blogs, Twitter and Facebook can all have an impact on how important your site looks to the search engine robots.

Other not-so-simple things to consider…
Use a content management system. This usually calls for a web developer to set up but once completed will actually make your updates and search engine optimization much easier. A good CMS will do much of your SEO for you.

Register your site with the primary search engines. Google and Bing offer a free Webmaster Tools service. Once you’re registered, they’ll tell you plainly how well your site is being scanned by their servers and even give you some tips as to what you can do to improve the process.

I hope you’ll give a few of these SEO techniques a try. If you have other tips you’d like to share with Credit Union marketers re: getting found online, please leave a comment.

Dan Veasey is Marketing & Information Systems Manager at Piedmont Credit Union in Danville, VA. Piedmont has a community charter and serves Danville and the counties of Pittsylvania and Halifax. It is a part of the Piedmont Chapter of VACUL.

Marketers – Caffeinate Your Presentations!

By Ken Gonyer

As marketers, many of us are called upon pretty often to do public speaking. If you’re like me, you want every talk to be a success. What does success look like? I think a good talk is a lot like a good cup of coffee – it’s stimulating and it keeps you wide awake. In this article I’ll share some easy ways to do just that – enliven your presentations and engage your audience.

Ask a question – even a rhetorical one. Asking engages your audience in conversation – either audibly or mentally. Even if nobody answers out loud, your listeners respond silently. If you ask lots of questions and take answers occasionally from your audience, you’ll find that your listeners rate you as a better speaker. Maybe it’s ego, but for whatever reason, people react best to meetings in which they have been given a chance to share input.

Use gestures to interact with the audience’s imagination. Props are fun, but your gestures are even better than props because of the flexibility – you can create any number of images you want. For example, what gestures would you use to suggest the two characters described below:

“This guy was as big as a house. He scowled down on his shrimpy enemy with disgust.”

You’d probably use exaggerated movements with your arms, hands and face to suggest to your listeners the size and emotion you’d like them to see in their mind’s eye. They can picture the setting, movement, characters – whatever you vividly describe with both words and movements. As you continue your talk, you can repeat gestures or return to the spot on the stage where you used those imaginary images before – your listeners will once see again this thing they’ve imagined.

Smile! A smile is a non-verbal communication device that will connect you to the heart and emotions of your listeners. When you’re speaking, let your smile shine out as you talk. Pause at appropriate points and just smile. Ask a question and let your smile light up your face.

Make eye contact. Not roving scans, but short connections with first one person as you complete one thought, then another person as you begin a new sentence. Combine eye contact with a smile and you have interaction!

Combine a smile and eye contact! One of the best ways to make a smile warm and engaging is to couple it with a lift of the eyebrows or a sideways tip of the head as you catch the eye of one or two folks in the audience. Try it today and watch your listeners. Often you’ll see them begin to smile and raise their eyebrows back at you. It works!

I hope you’ll experiment with a few of these ways to caffeinate your speeches or presentations. Ask more questions, use more gestures, smile and make eye contact – they’re are all great ways to keep your presentations perking like hot coffee. You’ll capture the attention of your audience and connect with them personally too.

Ken Gonyer is chair of the Marketing & Business Development Council. He is a VP and Branch Manager at Park View Federal Credit Union in Harrisonburg, VA. Park View FCU serves members and affiliates of the Mennonite and Brethren churches in Rockingham County and is part of the Central Virginia chapter of VACUL. Ken is the blogmaster for CUmarketplace.com.

Battling the Beast

By Stephanie Bailey

Today we are going to attack a beast! A compliance beast, that is. Since many credit unions do not have a compliance department or a third-party compliance company to rely on for help, those who do the advertising for the credit union must also try to keep up with compliance requirements for advertising. We’d like to help you conquer this beast.

I’m sure you’ve wondered why compliance is such an important topic for marketers. Sometimes it feels like someone out there is trying to make our lives more difficult, doesn’t it? It’s not true. Although keeping up with the latest regulations can be complicated, it is worthwhile. The best motivation for your compliance efforts is a desire to help keep your credit union safe and sound so that you can continue to serve your members.

Here are a few tips to help you stay in compliance when advertising. 

TIP 1 – Let’s Be Honest

Many say that honesty is the best policy, and that is so true in the credit union world. If you say that the product that you are advertising is free, it must be exactly that. Part 740 of the Truth in Savings (TIS) Act states that “an advertisement shall not be misleading or inaccurate and shall not misrepresent a credit union’s account contract.” Exactly what does this mean? Simply that you cannot advertise something and hide the guidelines. It’s that simple: be honest with your audience. 

For example, many credit union professionals do not realize that “free” is a huge trigger term in the world of compliance. It is not a word to be taken lightly or thrown around without thought. The TIS Act requires that if you advertise a deposit account as “free” or “no cost,” it must be that… it cannot have any maintenance or activity fees. If there are fees, your ad is not truthful and does not comply with the TIS Act.

 TIP 2 – Deposit Accounts and NCUA

Credit unions are required to inform their audience that they are federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) whenever advertising a deposit account. That’s a given, right? You simply have to slap the NCUA logo on the advertisement and you are good to go. Unfortunately that is not completely accurate; in order to remain in compliance you must have the correct statement.

Option 1 – Complete Statement: “This credit union is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration”

Option 2 – Short Title: “Federally insured by NCUA”

Option 3 – Reproduction of Official Sign (short statement and NCUA logo combo): Add the NCUA logo and use the statement “Federally Insured by NCUA.” Keep in mind that the short statement font size must be clearly legible and cannot be smaller than the smallest font size used in other portions of the ad.

As long as you use one of the 3 options listed above, you will be within Compliance guidelines.    

TIP 3 – Mortgages and EHL

Whenever your credit union advertises a mortgage product, there are a lot of compliance issues to remember. As a result, you may shy away from this kind of ad. Since mortgages can be a great source of income, don’t let compliance hold you back. Even the most basic ad requires disclosures. This may sound scary, but it is easy. You must do two things:

• Tell your audience that you do not discriminate by displaying the Equal Housing Lender (EHL) logo or using the EHL statement.
  Statement: We do business in accordance with the Federal Fair Housing Law and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
• Display your credit union’s NMLS (Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System) number which tells your audience that you are authorized to conduct mortgage business in their state.

 TIP 4 – Trigger Terms

This is a tough topic because different products have different “Trigger Terms.”Just know that if you use a Trigger Term, you have additional disclosures to add.

Triggers for deposit accounts

• Rate
• APY
• Free or No Cost
• Bonus
• Term Share account
• Overdraft services

Triggers for Open-end Loans, Credit Cards & HELOCs

• APR
• the finance charge
• the periodic rate
• a statement of when the finance charges begin to accrue, including the grace period of “free ride” period, if any
• the method of determining the balance on which a finance charge may be imposed
• the method of determining the finance charge, including a description of how any finance charge, other than the periodic rate, will be determined
• any other charges aside from the finance charge that may be imposed as part of the plan

 Triggers for Closed-end Loans

• the amount or percentage of any down payment
• the number of payments or period of repayment
• the amount of any payment
• the amount of any finance charge

Tip 5 – Giving gifts

Credit unions love to give their members gifts for opening accounts. Who can blame them? It makes members happy. Remember, however, that you must disclose certain information if you are offering a gift at account opening.

For gifts over $10, you must include the following disclosures in your ad:

• Annual Percentage Yield and the date it was implemented
• Time requirements to obtain the bonus – beginning date to the end date
• Minimum balance required to obtain the bonus
• Minimum balance required to open the account, if it is greater than the bonus
• When the bonus will be provided
• Any other requirements to obtain the bonus such as specific products or transactions.

 Tip 6 – Review and review again!

We all get overconfident at times. We think that if we were the ones to create an ad, then it’s sure to be correct. Wrong… after reviewing something so many times, your eyes tend to read what may or may not be there. Create a team that is knowledgeable about compliance and marketing and have them review your ad for compliance concerns, misspellings, and a general understanding of the ad. If someone finds an error, don’t take the criticism personally. Instead, be grateful. Everyone makes mistakes and it is easier for someone else to catch it.

Hopefully these tips will be good ammunition as you attack the compliance beast. Here are a few more resources to help you in the fight:

• The credit union philosophy of “People Helping People” also applies in the compliance world. Virginia Credit Union League serves as a conduit for compliance information and is available to answer questions on day-to-day credit union operational issues. Learn more at http://www.vacul.org/compliance/index.php.
   
•  League Listservs are forums where credit union professionals can ask questions from other credit union employees. They are ideal for best practices sharing. Don’t be afraid to ask about compliance. It’s part of our business; what better way to gain knowledge than to ask your peers?
   
• CUNA offers a great guide that includes examples and checklists for a small fee. The Compliance & Marketing Guide, now in its 3rd edition, could really help your credit union stay in compliance. More details can be found here: http://cuna.org/products-services/detail.php?sku=28867K.

Stephanie Bailey is Marketing Coordinator for 1st Advantage Federal Credit Union in Hampton Roads, VA. 1st Advantage has a community charter to serve the Virginia Peninsula and is part of the Hampton Roads chapter of VACUL.

See and Be Seen!

Enjoy our inaugural blog entry, provided by Susanne Waltemyer.

When I first started in sales, my boss was always advising me to “see and be seen.” At the time I really had no idea what he was talking about, but I made every effort to follow his instructions. 

Wouldn’t you know it – he was right on the money with that one little directive. It was the first building block for me to learn how to create long-lasting relationships with our members, sponsor groups and even our community partners.

Many different factors go into creating successful relationships with members, but practically speaking, you really need to start out by creating Development Goals, a Broad Range Business Development Plan and an Outreach Calendar.

Here at CommonWealth One, we deal with a fairly diverse membership of over 200 Sponsor Groups (SEGs) and four underserved communities. These SEGs include members from many different industries, ranging from scientists and engineers to factory workers and those who work in the hospitality industry.

For any of these groups/communities, the most effective way to reach them is promoting a consistent presence and message that speaks to them. That will ensure that we are top of mind when they are ready to make the move to a new Financial Institution.

 How do you go about developing that type of presence? 

1. First, make sure that you have the right Business Development (BD) staff in place. It is vital that your BD staff is professional, knows your members, knows and understands your products, and has regular and consistent contact with your members.

Also, they need to make every effort to support worthwhile events within your community that your members may attend. After all, when you are attending community events like benefit fairs or even providing financial literacy seminars, you and your staff are not only the face of the credit union, but the expert about your credit union.

Your prospects and members look to you as an authority on financial matters, so you had better know your products, services, delivery channels and how they work together to benefit your members. As a BD professional, it is your duty to be able to translate all of the knowledge about your credit union to the people you meet and to live up to the image and branding that your credit union has identified.

2. The second factor that will make your BD efforts successful is having a Contact Plan that intersects with your Outreach Calendar in all the right places. Your contact plan should be formulated using your BD goals, field of membership, the image you want to present and what is important to your members or SEGs You will also need to develop a benchmark to measure your success. Our plan highlights how often we call, visit, attend events and offer seminars based upon the type of group we are serving. Our goal in BD is to drive members into the credit union.

3. The third, and in my opinion, most important, factor is the execution of your plan to successfully meet your goals. Business Development success ultimately is measured by the growth in the number of households within your community using your credit union for more than one of their financial service needs. When you are out in the community “seeing and being seen,” you are also providing your members with the opportunity to voice their needs. And if you listen, members will tell you exactly what they need and their expectations, so you can better serve them in the long run.

Susanne Waltemyer is Business Development Manager at Commonwealth One Federal Credit Union based in Alexandria, VA. Commonwealth One has a Multiple Common Bond charter and serves groups in Washington D.C., Harrisonburg, Warren County, Clarke County and parts of Alexandria, VA. COFCU is part of the Northern Virginia Chapter of VACUL.