Credit Union Digital Branding

Transcription

1 Digital branding and social strategies are becoming the necessary norm for all businesses, including credit unions. But there is a danger of managers, while acknowledging this new norm, giving it merely the kind of make customers happy tokenism that got Netflix in trouble in Sharing these presentations in your credit union and then acting on their implications will help. Executive Summary Payton Dobbs, Head of Industry, Banking & Lending, Google Credit Union Digital Branding About the Presenters Christine Trodella, National Sales Manager, Facebook A Research Colloquium in San Francisco, California Hope Schau, Associate Professor of Marketing, Gary M. Munsinger Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Arizona Executive Summary by Ben Rogers Filene Research Institute Kristen Christian, Organizer, Bank Transfer Day Acknowledgments We would like to thank CO-OP Financial Services for its generous support of this and other vital credit union research. Maya Bourdeau, Partner, Attune Beth Austin, Principal, Crescendo Consulting Publication #266 (3/12)

2 Executive Summary and Commentary by Ben Rogers, Figure 1: The Trajectory of Digital Consumption between January 2010 and January 2011 Portals 21% In 2000, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings sent a memo to the growing company s employees: Tomorrow when you come to work, if it doesn t make the customer happy, move the business forward, and save us money, don t [do it].... Anything we re doing has to meet all three criteria, recalled chief talent officer Patty McCord to Fast Company magazine in This is the same Hastings that in 2011 angered millions of loyal Netflix customers with an opaque subscription shuffle, an ill-fated plan to split its streaming and mailing websites, and a price hike on regular subscribers. These were all, no doubt, carefully designed to save the company money and even move the business forward. But they did not make the customer happy. Today s search engines can recall, within seconds, nearly anything a famous person has ever said publicly, making it easy to expose the differences between what we preach and what we do. But the search engine merely exposes the ageold and all-too-human discon- Social nect between saying and doing. Politicians are susceptible to it, businesses are susceptible to it, people are susceptible to it. If should be were as easy as is, then we d all be doing just fine. Search Source: ComScore, Global Y/Y change, January 2010 January % +52% That disconnect is worth noting for two reasons: First, credit unions cannot just pay lip service to the digital revolution; they need to participate. Second, at the Filene Research Institute, we re aware of the dangerous disconnect between saying and doing, so we are treating this report about digital branding differently from other Filene reports. Instead of the usual executive summary followed by a downloadable, text-based PDF report, in this summary you will find a link that leads to a web-based presentation combining video of the speakers with some of their most important slides. More importantly, you can share the presentation beyond your own screen in staff training or perhaps a board meeting; you can also do it in broader ways with your social and professional networks on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 1. Jena McGregor, High-tech Achiever: Netflix, Fast Company, October 1, 2005,

3 What Is the Research About? In November 2011, Filene convened a panel of expert researchers and practitioners in San Francisco to discuss (and show) how credit unions should think about their own branding and digital presence as marketing moves to an increasingly electronic format. We wanted to know what tools are out there (and what s coming down the pike) along with what digital messages and channels resonate with today s consumers. The main takeaway: It is not enough to turn traditional collateral and messaging into digital collateral and messaging. Instead, credit unions need to capitalize on the deeper trend of social connections to make sure their marketing reaches the right audience in the first place and has its intended effect when it arrives. Mobile usage, more emphasis on design, and social marketing all came to the fore as trends that every credit union needs to consider, especially as it hunts for new members. What Are the Credit Union Implications? The colloquium included a cross-section of social media practitioners and researchers along with strategists from Google and Facebook. Each brought a different message, but the unspoken message really, the needn t-be-spoken message was that digital marketing is becoming ever more important. Adopting it won t be enough; embracing it is the only acceptable route. Consumers trust other consumers opinions more than any form of advertising, so now that they can meet each other online, credit unions should facilitate the interaction around their brands. Social media enables collective consumption, which is not new at all, but in today s world it is both malleable and traceable. (Hope Schau, University of Arizona) The founder of Bank Transfer Day proves two things: that social media has undisputed power in today s communications world and that the credit union ethos resonates among a vast swath of consumers. But challenges remain, because outrage is a lot easier than change. (Kristen Christian, Bank Transfer Day) Measuring impact is much more important (and harder) than measuring output. Maximizing impact among Gen Yers requires promoting emotionally rewarding concepts; rational advertising is not enough. Work within what your target already believes social responsibility, collaboration instead of trying to bring them to your message. And your efforts must be truly unique if you expect word-of-mouth or viral distribution. (Maya Bourdeau, Attune) Good social media usage correlates with important performance measures, but not in every category. Credit unions that perceived their social media efforts as successful were more likely to see loan

4 Figure 2: Consumers Search for Banking and Credit Union Terms via Mobile Devices Source: Internal Google Data Google mobile banking query growth in the past 3 years growth, more website visits, and higher deposit volume. But, interestingly, even good social media programs did not correlate with more products per member. Perhaps most importantly, social media is becoming table stakes and ROI discussions are misguided. To whit: What is the ROI of your pants? (Beth Austin, Crescendo Consulting) With online the preferred banking channel, a 20 increase in mobile searches for banking terms in the past three years, and almost half of consumers reporting For a complete overview, please visit that they search exclusively online for financial services products, search and social are essential platforms for every financial institution. The online search leader shares mild (e.g., search trend tracking, Google places), medium (advertising with mobile site links), and hot (Google Wallet, hosted video channel) options for effective digital branding. (Payton Dobbs, Google) The web is undergoing a fundamental transformation: Traffic shows the web experience has gone from browsing (down 21% through early 2011), to searching (up just 1%), to discovering, which is social (up 52%). The inherent advantage social brings to marketing is the ability to find customers that look a lot like (and have reason to listen to) your existing customers. (Christine Trodella, Facebook) The presenters agreed that credit unions have an advantage on the social media playing field. Unlike big banks, they require fewer acrobatics to convince consumers that they are authentic and that they have members best interests at heart. On the flip side, though, big banks long ago learned the valuable lesson about emotion-based advertising, and the emotional appeal translates well to digital and social channels. For a full overview of the Digital Branding Colloquium, visit This link leads to a dynamic online presentation tool called a Prezi that includes short video clips from the presentations along with some of the most relevant slides. More in-depth video and the presenters full slide decks are also available for download. This presentation is offered in lieu of a traditional Filene report.

5 Digital branding and social strategies are becoming the necessary norm for all businesses, including credit unions. But there is a danger of managers, while acknowledging this new norm, giving it merely the kind of make customers happy tokenism that got Netflix in trouble in Sharing these presentations in your credit union and then acting on their implications will help. Executive Summary Payton Dobbs, Head of Industry, Banking & Lending, Google Credit Union Digital Branding About the Presenters Christine Trodella, National Sales Manager, Facebook A Research Colloquium in San Francisco, California Hope Schau, Associate Professor of Marketing, Gary M. Munsinger Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Arizona Executive Summary by Ben Rogers Filene Research Institute Kristen Christian, Organizer, Bank Transfer Day Acknowledgments We would like to thank CO-OP Financial Services for its generous support of this and other vital credit union research. Maya Bourdeau, Partner, Attune Beth Austin, Principal, Crescendo Consulting Publication #266 (3/12)

6 Digital branding and social strategies are becoming the necessary norm for all businesses, including credit unions. But there is a danger of managers, while acknowledging this new norm, giving it merely the kind of make customers happy tokenism that got Netflix in trouble in Sharing these presentations in your credit union and then acting on their implications will help. Executive Summary Payton Dobbs, Head of Industry, Banking & Lending, Google Credit Union Digital Branding About the Presenters Christine Trodella, National Sales Manager, Facebook A Research Colloquium in San Francisco, California Hope Schau, Associate Professor of Marketing, Gary M. Munsinger Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Arizona Executive Summary by Ben Rogers Filene Research Institute Kristen Christian, Organizer, Bank Transfer Day Acknowledgments We would like to thank CO-OP Financial Services for its generous support of this and other vital credit union research. Maya Bourdeau, Partner, Attune Beth Austin, Principal, Crescendo Consulting Publication #266 (3/12)