Many long-standing credit union marketing strategies have lostmuscle in recent years, thanks to the advent of digital everythingand the wildly changing business case for branches. The universe ofposters, pamphlets and print ads has given way to search ads,social media and site optimization.

In turn, many credit union marketing teams are findingthemselves forced to change their philosophies and even reconsidertheir hiring needs as marketing priorities shift from branches to digital. That's a tall order, but pros saythere are a few simple ways credit unions can reinvent theirmarketing to compete in the world beyond branch walls.

1. Get rid of the campaign calendar.

Some credit unions are too campaign-driven, Ryan Ruud, founderof the Minneapolis-based credit union marketing firm Lake OneDigital, said.

“And they are struggling – not just credit unions, but acrossthe board,” he added. “They are struggling to catch up with the wayconsumers are actually looking for content and looking for products and services.”

Promoting home loans in the spring and auto loans in the fall,for example, ignores the way real people live, Ruud explained.Two-month promotions mean little to consumers with 24/7 access toinformation, and that's completely disrupting the way financialinstitutions market themselves, he said.

The solution: Focus on a digital sales funnel.

“Half the time, the first engagement with a credit union is theyare out shopping for the lowest rate and the credit union wins,” henoted. “So, how do you move them through the funnel to get them tounderstand what a credit union is and what all the benefits in thecredit union are? You need to have a digital touchpoint when thatis the only engagement that you ever have.”

2. Stop focusing on print.

Those big racks of product brochures in the branch lobby are dinosaurs, said Joe Vernon, who is amarketing manager at the Vancouver, Wash.-based Gravitate, whichdoes credit union marketing. Targeted ads on Facebook and othersocial media platforms are today's brochures, he said.

Credit unions also need to invest in search-engine optimizationand paid search advertising, because shopping for accounts, loansand other financial products often begins with Google these days,he said. Creditunion websites have to be dynamic and built to cross-sell,too.

“If the user's visiting the website and spending the time in thepersonal banking section, make sure that the content and the adsthat are shown to the user are related to those products andservices as opposed to just generic, static content,” he said.

Credit union marketing teams should also be producing blogposts, infographics, video and even animation.

“Start creating your target personas and start creating contentthat will speak to them,” Vernon said. “Start promoting it to themand not just posting it and praying and hoping they find it. Try toget in front of their faces a little bit. Just continue focus oncreating that content and help educate them … something thatconveys a message and inspires the audience to dig around a littlebit.”

3. Rethink hiring.

Credit unions also need to be sure their marketing people haveexperience writing for online audiences, as well as experience with social media headlines and email marketing,Vernon said.

“You need to write a headline that's gonna get them to stopscrolling and look at it, read it and then inspire them to click.So having someone who is really strong writing action-orientedheadlines is definitely something that they'd want to look for, andthen hiring someone with exceptional design for different platformsas well,” he said.

Credit union marketing teams have to be more integrated thanever with their IT teams, and credit unions need to hire marketerswith modern skill sets, according to Roy Page, who is founder andCEO of Third Degree, which does marketing for credit unions.

“Marketing and IT have to become very good partners. Aninvestment in IT is an investment in marketing because of thedigital demand that the consumer has today,” he said.

Even seasoned marketing directors, managers and VPs may bemissing some necessary skill sets, and many credit unions arehiring younger staff out of college who are more comfortable andexperienced in the digital world, Page added.

Credit unions should make room in the budget, Page warned. Theadvent of digital media hasn't made marketing less expensive – infact, it costs more today because of the talent required andbecause the communication channels are much more fragmented.

“And now we have what I call an 'applosion,' which is an explosion of applications and digital technologies,” Pageadded. “It's hard for a credit union and a marketer to filterthrough that, and even harder for a CEO to wrap his or her armsaround that because they're not necessarily in tune with it everyday.”

4. Remember buy-in is the biggest priority.

Competing with huge financial institutions and theirseven-figure marketing and technology budgets can be intimidating,but a willingness to pivot quickly can be a huge advantage in thedigital era.

“I always think that if you can break it down into the smallestdigestible pieces and deal with what is right in front of you, youare going to be successful. And that is going to be the best pathto being successful, especially when you start dealing with digitalwhere literally by the time you decide you want to tackle it orroll it into your strategic planning, it is going to be completelydifferent,” Ruud said. “So just take it one step at a time and knowthat as long as you are moving forward, you are doing OK.”

Some credit unions face resistance from their own boards,particularly boards that lag in terms of diversity, age andconsumer consumption, Page said.

“It starts with leadership, and it starts with the vision of theCEO and the board,” he said. “If they have a vision to be relevant,then they will find a way to address that. That's calledinnovation. And some may innovate and some may not. And the onesthat don't are going to become part of another credit union.”