Commerce, business, the stock market and free trade were all built on our ability to sell things to each other.
This is why the credit union marketing function is so incredibly important. Marketing teams work hard to drive leads to your credit union. Day after day, they convince people that your credit union is a better solution than another financial institution available to them.
Every point-of-contact with your customer is a channel of communication. The conventional ads on television and radio, newspapers and magazines, direct mail and billboards are all just different channels of communication. Same for digital channels, such as email and live chat, social media and content marketing. External messaging is where the conversation begins. External messaging should trigger a visit to your website or social media.
When you consider that, let’s not leave out word of mouth, reviews, and face-to-face interactions with your front line. Your website is also part of your front line where questions are answered, and more information can be gathered by the consumer. But this doesn’t happen until your potential member first hears about you and is intrigued enough to seek you out by finding you via one other communication channels. All of these, for better or worse, comprise your credit union’s brand.
Have you ever seen a three-legged race where the right leg of one team member is tied to the left leg of another team member, requiring them to run in a synchronized manner? Whether it goes right or wrong depends on a different communication, internally between the runners.
Your external communications are the first hand-off in this three-legged relay race. This is where the consumer will decide if they are going to act (or not.) Perhaps they fill out an interest form or an online application. The race is on.
When your potential member leaves your website and calls or visits in person, or someone from your frontline team reaches out leads from your online contact form, this is the second hand-off in the relay race.
But this is where the three-legged race gets tricky.
The first runner is your marketing person. The second runner is your frontline. The bond that ties them together is your communication channels, externally and internally. When these are all singing from the same sheet music, you have channel alignment and a high close rate.
When they are managed separately, each of them playing their own tune, running their own race, frontline team members are complaining they aren’t getting good leads and that your marketing campaigns aren’t working.
Success or failure of your marketing and sales truly depends upon the quality and quantity of communication and tight bonds between your team members across various departments.
As with a real three-legged race, what keeps you from taking home the gold is asynchronicity, lack of communication, ego or your team members are plain worn out from task saturation that prevents consistent communication.
As a team that has partnered with strategically focused credit unions for more than a decade, Your Marketing Company has crafted a unique, time-tested action plan that brings clarity and breaks down barriers, leading to growth and the realization of your goals. We still have one opening to accept a new client in 2021! Ready to grow? Email bo@yourmarketingco.com and let’s get started.
