All I want for Christmas is a new website

Welcome to the brand new currencymarketing.ca!

It seems that about every three years I get the urge to redesign our website! Time has flown by since our last launch in December 2007. Here's a few of the highlights of the new site.

Who we are

This section will give you a sense of who we are and what makes us tick. Make sure to watch the new staff profile videos for some little-known facts.

What we do

Since we get multiple inquiries every week about our Young & Free Program, we've put together a comprehensive section to explain most of the details.

Speaking

This page showcases information about what I speak about and how to invite me to speak. Over the past three years, I've spoken at about 30 events and have really come to enjoy public speaking (who knew!).

Resources

In this section you will find published articles and a collection of podcasts and live show archives.

Blog

I started blogging in 2006 and have since published 340 articles. Original titled the CU Brand Blog, I feel this title and focus no longer fits. There are much better blogs about financial branding and I really don't have much more to say on the subject since our focus has moved away from branding over the past couple of years (hence my infrequent posting on the subject). So, with a fresh website comes a fresh concept for the blog. Entitled, Credit Unions Matter, I will continue to explore and expand my thinking on why credit unions matter and what credit unions can do to matter more. This will also provide a clear division between this blog and our Why Gen Y blog.

Thanks for stopping by the new site. Take a look around and let me know what you think!

Tim

Thing 12 of 30: Replace our ten-year-old, super-nasty website

September is 30 things I would implement or consider implementing at my credit union if I was a credit union leader.

Thing 12: Replace our ten-year-old, super-nasty website

In hindsight, this should have been my number-one thing! If I were a credit union leader, I would make it priority one to develop a modern website that included:

1. A beautiful, 980-pixel-wide layout with completely integrated online banking like Vancity's website
2. Integrated blogs from a number of credit union employees like Vantage Credit Union's website
3. Crisp writing and a clear personality like Coast Capital Savings' website
4. Product ratings and reviews like San Francisco Fire Credit Union's website
5. Online account opening and an integrated personal financial management tool like South Carolina Federal Credit Union's website
6. A public-facing discussion forum like Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union's website
7. Mobile texting capabilities like Mount Lehman Credit Union's website

You may balk and say that I have described a very expensive website. Maybe so, but at my credit union, before I opened another branch or upgraded the administration center, I would have a positively kick-ass website!

Tim

Young & Free update: New websites are here and multiple launches are just around the corner!

New website design

We originally designed the first Young & Free microsite in 2006. Needless to say the social web has progressed in the last three years and we have learned a tremendous amount from running three Young & Free programs. This experience has influenced a total redesign of the Young & Free sites. Here are some highlights:

• The new header prominently displays the regional hex logos, colors, textures and Young & Free Spokesters and better illustrates what the program is all about.
• During the Y&F Spokester's term, the blog is now the home page instead of a secondary page. This will ensure that visitors are greeted with daily fresh content. Visit the new Texas and Alberta home pages to see what I am talking about.
• We are using the new Disqus (pronounced Discuss) blog comment platform. Disqus enables visitors to login through their Twitter, Facebook, Seesmic or Open ID accounts. Participants can automatically tweet their comment, update their Facebook status with their comment and subscribe to further comments by e-mail. Disqus has the ability to accept video comments through Seesmic and will automatically add any tweets that link to a post.
• During the annual Y&F Spokester search or during a special promotion like the Young & Free SC Last Band Standing competition, the new site design features a promotional homepage. During these periods, the blog moves to the first secondary page.
• We have a new and improved right sidebar with:
  • A permanent spot for our new Living Young & Free Show
  • Greater visibility of our monthly prizes
  • A real-time search widget to highlight activity on Twitter
  • A latest blog comments widget to highlight active commenters, recent activity and popular posts
• The base of the site has a much larger product ad, more Flickr photos and readily accessible links to corporate pages and all of the other Young & Free sites.
• The top navigation bar has been reorganized to better highlight videos, financial information, events and a new forum.

Young & Free in the near future

Since going public in June 2008 with our plan to offer one courageous credit union in each state and province an exclusive license to run a Young & Free program, we have had tremendous interest. In fact, more than 150 credit unions and leagues have filled out our form requesting further information.

Although interest is extremely high from US credit unions, the economy and especially the NCUA Corporate Stabilization Program have had a tremendous impact on most credit unions' ability to move forward with an aggressive 52-week program like Young & Free. Having said that, we are extremely excited to announce that our fourth Y&F region will be live in one month and number five and six are launching at the end of January 2010 and June 2010 respectively.

Thanks for everyone's continued interest and support in Young & Free. Please let me know what you think of the new websites!

Tim

Random quote on Twitter confirms it: There are some stinky credit union websites out there!

I saw this tweet yesterday. It pretty much sums it up. It's ironic that credit unions continue to pour money into new physical branches and sadly neglect their online presence. Attractive and inviting branches are important, but so is having an easy-to-use and feature-rich website.

For every brilliant Vancity or America First, there are a thousand stinkers.

Tim

Are all ideas in the credit union world free for the taking?

Meet Julie, Coast Capital Savings' award-winning online greeter. Julie is from Canada and has been helping website visitors since 2006.

Meet Lisa, Community First Credit Union's online greeter. Lisa is from Australia and has been helping web visitors since I am not sure when. UPDATE: since 2007 (from the comments).

I learned about Lisa in the comments today on the Financial Brand. I have no idea whether Community First has licensed the idea or was given permission to clone Julie.

In the case of these ads, Community First does give props to the originals from BankerSpank that were inspired by Apple (boy, this is getting confusing).

All's fair in the world of cooperative credit unions or just another example of credit union R&D (rip-off and duplicate). What do you think?

Tim

TD online banking: a critique

I discovered a neat thing today when I checked out my sad little balance at the TD. For those of you who've forgotten, I opened accounts at Canada's 5 major banks to do mystery shopping for this blog.

Anywho, I logged in and found this:

Here's my critique:

1. Too much copy.
2. Haven't we gotten beyond the ALL CAPS full name thing in (de-) personalizing our offers??
3. Use it sparingly, not every time I log in.
4. It's brilliant.

Now, I already know that you're thinking two things.

First, you're worried that my boss, Tim, will tear me a new one for spending 3/7 of my time (check out the tabs) on non-work-related internet surfing. Thanks for the concern, but he actually encourages us to use social media, as it will play a big role in the future of marketing.

The second thing you're thinking is, "How can she have 75% of her criticism be negative and yet say it's brilliant? Is she taking Will Ferrell's crazy pills?"

Here's why it's brilliant:

1. I took the time to read it.

Do you know how hard it is to get people to read your marketing messages? Very hard. I will clarify, though - the IDEA is brilliant. The execution sucks.

Are you "helpfully interrupting" your members

Nala

Is a microsite still a relevant marketing tactic?

Last week I gave props to a couple of British Columbian credit unions for their good work. Here is the post. The Prospera Credit Union microsite that I wrote positive comments about definitely had the blog readers disagreeing. This got me to thinking, has the microsite concept come and gone? Is it still a useful marketing tactic in an integrating marketing campaign? Or was this just a few people that didn't like Prospera's new microsite?

Wikipedia defines a microsite as follows: A microsite, also known as a minisite or weblet, is an Internet Web design term referring to an individual web page or cluster of pages which are meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website. The microsite's main landing page most likely has its own URL.

Big companies like Nike and Sony crank out dozens of new microsites every year. Develop a new product, launch a microsite. Launch a new movie or new video game, launch a microsite. Some of these sites are pure entertainment, while others provide useful tools. 

Here are a two more financial industry microsites to weigh in on.

Wells Fargo Backstage This youth-oriented microsite has all the latest bells and whistles. It teaches, entertains and gives visitors a chance to win.

Gruber Institute of Financial Wellness This microsite from Alabama Credit Union is really the same bank-bashing premise as the Prospera site featured last week with a different spin.

And here are a couple non-financial microsites. One real funny, one real useful.

Philips Shave Everywhere This is not for the timid or faint of heart. Not only is this brilliantly funny, it actually makes a compelling case that men should have zero body hair! This is a couple of years old now, but it still sets the standard for what a microsite can be.

Nike Plus I personally use this site in conjunction with my iPod nano and my fancy Nike running shoes to track my runs (OK, they are mainly walks with my wife and kids). This is an amazing microsite that pulls together personal tracking, goal-setting, Google maps and more.

So, what do you think: is the microsite an overused marketing tactic that has seen its day or can a well-designed microsite still be the central hub of a successful marketing campaign?

Tim