Did you know that only 23% of credit unions use search engine marketing within their marketing strategy? Of all the credit union marketing strategies available, digital campaigns can have the largest impact on the goals that matter to credit unions.
What’s included in credit union digital marketing strategies?
When we talk about digital marketing, here are a few of the tactics we include in that digital umbrella.
- Website design & development
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Content strategies
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
- Social media
- Email marketing
Digital marketing strategies cover a wide range of tactics to reach current and prospective members. It’s growing in popularity each year as credit unions realize the positive effects of utilizing online channels. Here are five specific benefits to including digital marketing within a holistic credit union marketing strategy.
1. It will be easier for prospective members to find you.
How do 71% of individuals find products or services they want to buy? The internet. While traditional marketing still has value, over two-thirds of prospects looking for you digitally demand an engaging online presence. Your website is the base of any digital marketing strategy. A beautiful and functional website will be easy for prospective members to find and navigate. You can use targeted landing pages and calls-to-action to lead these visitors into joining or opening additional accounts. So not only does digital marketing make you easy to find, it also makes visitors more likely to trust and do business with you.
Our digital marketing work with AmeriChoice Federal Credit Union led to these impressive website statistics:
- Organic search traffic increased 21.2%
- New users increased 27.93%
- Unique page views increased 13.63%
2. It encourages member retention.
There are a multitude of digital marketing strategies that encourage current members to stay members – and even deepen their relationship through additional loans and accounts. Email marketing can keep members in the loop and educate them about offers and promotions. Social media gives you an authentic way to connect with members. Each of the digital channels we mentioned earlier can work towards keeping members happy.
Happy members also tend to refer more of their friends and family to join. Being top-of-mind and spending time to foster a relationship will increase referral opportunities in the future.
3. It allows you to compete with larger financial institutions.
What do you have that larger financial institutions don’t? A hyperlocal presence. Digital marketing campaigns can capitalize on that advantage through local SEO strategies.
Not only this, but digital marketing campaigns show members that you can offer the same services as larger banks. Visitors are looking for financial institutions that offer the technology they need. A modern website shows that you invest in technology and makes it easier to apply online and/or bank online.
4. It positions you as a financial expert.
Most people use the internet to answer any questions they have, and that includes questions about money. Developing educational online content allows you to reach those people and gain their trust. Content marketing doesn’t go for the hard sell right away. It focuses on becoming a resource for both prospective and current members. Once they trust you as a resource, they will be more likely to trust you with their money.
Find out how often you should be posting new content on your website here.
5. It gives you access to raw data about your members.
Digital marketing gives you the ability to track data and improve your marketing based on those statistics. Traditional mediums are more difficult to track, and therefore harder to prove ROI.
One of our favorite analytical tools is Google Analytics. When you set up this platform for your website, you gain access to raw data about your website visitors. Each digital marketing strategy comes with unique ways to track this data. Social media posts measure likes, comments, and shares. PPC ads show the number of clicks versus the number of views. Email marketing tracks open, click, and unsubscribe rates. All of these key performance indicators and statistics are invaluable information. You can use this data to make educated assumptions about your current and prospective members -and how to edit your strategies to better reach your marketing goals.
Publisher Note: This post was originally posted by QNTM (CU Rocket’s parent company) on July 11, 2018. This post has been updated to improve recommendations and update statistical data from the originally published content.