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

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

Three doses of new credit union online coolness

Here's a shout out to three credit unions that are innovating online.

First Entertainment's The Audition microsite

Southern California's First Entertainment Credit Union is about to launch a new microsite on June 23, 2008. From the looks of the teaser intro, this is not your basic amateur web video production. It features beautifully produced video with an intriguing storyline brought to life by terrific actors. I can't wait to follow this site after the official launch.

I am big fan of First Entertainment's marketing initiatives. This is one credit union that really knows its field of membership! Considering that these members are from the entertainment business including movie studios, ad agencies and creative firms involved in radio, film, Internet and television, its no surprise that the marketing output of this credit union is wildly entertaining!

Addison Avenue's new youth-centered Addison Cafe microsite

Next up is a fresh new microsite from Northern California's Addison Avenue Credit Union. As one of the founding Zopa US partners, Addison Avenue is no stranger to innovation. This is how Addison Avenue describes its new online venture, "Designed with young adults in mind. The site has products relevant to the needs of that age group and even has a blog that discusses finances in a relevant, real-life way."

America First adds product ratings and reviews to its website

Michigan's (whoops!) Utah's America First Credit Union is the first financial institution that I have run across that has added product ratings and reviews to its website. This is brilliant! Obviously, America First has taken a page out of the playbook of successful online retailers such as Amazon and Apple. This is a brave direct feedback loop that other credit unions are unlikely to follow right away. I can hear the collective credit union masses gasping as they think to themselves, "What if we get a low rating or a bad review on one of our products?"

I bet the folks at America First are thinking, "If we get a bad review, we'll just have to improve our products and services."

Doug True from FORUM Solutions had an excellent guest post on Open Source CU yesterday calling out risk-adverse credit unions. I agree with Doug, but I am also encouraged by these fresh examples and others that I stumble upon daily.

Tim

Bellco has balls! Forget the cooperative spirit, the gloves are off

Here is a prime example of a growing trend in member acquisition: stealing from your credit union cousins.

Denver Colorado's New Horizons Community Credit Union has recently been acquired by a Texas-based credit union. To capitalize on this opportunity, New Horizon's competitor, Denver's Bellco Credit Union, has mounted an aggressive new promotion to steal New Horizon's members.

The campaign creative features a "Greetings from Texas" postcard with one of your happy $100 dollar bills waving to you from another state.

The copy is witty and gets right to the point. "Here I am in Texas! It's a little hot, but everyone wears those fun ten-gallon hats. Can hardly wait to come home to Denver."

And another zinger, "It will almost be as if you're with a big out-of-state bank instead of a friendly, local credit union."

Followed with a list of compelling reasons to switch and a great offer: "When New Horizons Community Credit Union members open a Bellco checking account now, Bellco will give you $100. Rather open a Bellco savings account? Bellco will give you $25. It won't cost you anything to join Bellco—in fact, you'll make money on the deal. It's an easy way to keep your money within visiting distance. And give it some friends to play with. Ready to give your money a better home, right here in Denver?"

Sounds pretty good to me. In the past, there was an unwritten understanding within the credit union movement that credit unions where all in this together and the banks were the enemy. The new reality, especially in multiple credit union markets, is a full-on, no-holds-barred fighting to the death (or merger).

You will either love or hate this approach. From a pure marketing standpoint, this microsite for Bellco is a stellar example of an aggressive member acquisition strategy. I don't know what the rest of the campaign looks like, but I imagine if I was a member of New Horizons Community Credit Union and I saw an ad that looked like this in my local newspaper, I would definitely take notice, probably visit the microsite and definitely consider moving my account.

This campaign begs the question: Is this a good thing for the credit union movement? Or does the ethos of the cooperative spirit and the collective credit union movement really matter anymore with everyone on a quest for more members and billions in assets?

I am torn between saying "Shame on you Bellco!" or "Great job Bellco!" It's kind of like laughing at a dirty joke when you know you aren't supposed to.

What do you think?

Tim

Update: There is also some good discussion on the Bellco story on Open Souce CU, BRUEN/BENSLEY Credit Union Blog and Ron Shevlin's Marketing ROI blog.

Think small world web, not world wide web.

I wrote the title of this post in a comment I made on Open Source CU after reading an interesting article by Jeffry Pilcher of Weber Marketing. Jeffry's article chronicled two recent social media failures by Coca Cola and Wal-mart and warned credit unions to think twice before jumping into their own social media experiments. Jeffry's article joins a long list of blog posts that are warning credit unions to think before they leap.

Good advice, but I also think that too much fear and constant warning will keep too many credit unions out of the social media space. And that's sad, because I really believe credit unions have an awesome opportunity to create meaningful connections online and further the credit union difference.

This is what I said. "A niche, a purpose, relevancy, freshness and a small-geographic footprint are key for credit unions. In the real world and online. Rather than the World Wide Web, think Small World Web. You simply can’t be a Facebook or a YouTube, but I believe you can do something special in your own backyard."

I'll expand here, because I want their to be more than two successful credit union social media case studies everyone points to. Verity Credit Union's Our Voice blog and the Vancity Change Everything community are both great, but we need to start pointing to other successes. Poor Shari Storm and William Azaroff can't carry the weight of an entire industry! So here's my advice.

1. Niche: Your blog should further your brand's position and speak to a select group of people. There has to be some people who read your blog and say 'huh?' While others make it a must-read in their RSS reader. How about a blog dedicated to senior citizens, youth or another underserved member segment?
2. Purpose: Believe in something and show your credit union's passion. If the content is too light and fluffy, you're audience will fall asleep and not return. Don't be afraid to be controversial and polarize. Nothing starts interesting dialogue like people disagreeing!
3. Freshness: Don't just regurgitate your newsletter content. Speak from your heart about things that matter to your members. And don't be afraid to have some fun. Also, don't be discouraged if the comments are few and far between. It takes time to stimulate your audience to actually participate. Most importantly, post something new at least once per week, ideally more. Recruit a group of bloggers from within your credit union employees and if you are daring invite a few members to blog as well.
4. Small geographic footprint: The Web is too big. Keep things small. This is the most important advice I can give you. State clearly where you operate and who you serve. If your topics get too broad, you'll lose your relevancy.

Out of curiosity, I ran Change Everything and Our Voices through the above advice and I'd give Change Everything an A and Our Voices a B. No wonder, they are all we can talk about!

Tim

Google Alerts is useful and amusing!

This is probably old news to many blog readers, but worth a mention nonetheless. I highly recommend using Google Alerts to track what's being said about you, your credit union and anything else that interests you.

Google Alerts is a free service offered by Google which notifies its users by e-mail about the latest Web and news pages of their choice. I've been tracking a few search terms for awhile now and here are two tips to help you get the most out of the service.

Pick your frequency wisely. Three options are available: once a day, once a week or as it happens. I am a sucker for punishment and went for the as it happens option. After clogging my in-box and further contributing to my self-diagnosed ADD, I set up a rule in my e-mail application that moves alerts into a sub-folder automatically. I named the folder "00-Google Alerts" so it sorts to the top of my folder list. I go in and review the list about once a day to see what's up.

Refine your searches. First and foremost, use quotes. For example, one of the first alerts that I setup was Tim McAlpine (hold your narcissistic comments to yourself please). This yielded countless alerts with anything that had either Tim or McAlpine in it. Now, by refining the search to "Tim McAlpine" I receive only applicable alerts.

However, even using quotes isn't fool proof. I love this one from Buffalo News: "Tim McAlpine shot 6 under in bad conditions, playing "almost perfect golf." This definitely wasn't me, but it sure made my day.

And don't even get me started with the weirdness that comes when you ask to be alerted when "Cuckoo" is used on the Internet!

Like I said, this might be obvious to many of you, but I'm sure there is someone out there who hasn't yet tried Google Alerts.

Tim

P.S. What are some of the weirdest things you've learned about your own name or your credit union by searching the wonderful Web?

But I thought Google was against evil

I don't know if you noticed that I prefer credit unions to banks? This might come across subtley in my blog posts from time to time. So imagine my chagrin as I'm reading an article in Marketing Magazine about Canada's largest bank, RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) taking advantage of a new map advertising service being offered by Google.

Here's an exerpt from the article:

RBC puts itself on the map

RBC has placed its brand name in front of consumers who use online, in-car and mobile navigation systems, becoming the first Canadian financial company to do so.

Users of applications such as Google Maps will find the RBC icon indicating bank branch and automated teller locations when searching by name or by category—such as “financial institutions”—for a given area.

The development applies to both RBC Royal Bank in Canada and RBC Centura Bank in the United States.

The RBC icons will begin appearing in online map applications as those systems update their maps over the next few months.

Yikes. Come on Larry and Sergey, so it ain't so. You mean to tell me that Google is now going to sell virtual real estate to the highest bidder, even if that highest bidder is a big bank? Is nothing sacred? I thought you guys were against evil?

This is actually a pretty innovative idea that I wish the credit unions of Canada and US jumped at first. Oh well, just one more thing to fuel my dislike for those cagey big banks.

I am unclear if credit unions that are using the Google Map API, like we do on the Credit Unions of BC website, will have the RBC logo start appearing all over their maps as well. It sounds like you will have to initiate a specific search, but I'll have to check into this further.

Tim

Is your credit union embracing blogging and social networking yet?

From the research I've done, very few credit unions are participating in and taking advantage of all of the Web 2.0 tools available to them. For a Wikipedia definition of Web 2.0 click here.

Sure, most every credit union has a website and online banking, but does your credit union communicate with your members in an open, two-way conversation? Are you aware that your members are talking about your service or lack thereof online for everyone to read? I doubt it. Credit unions need to get smart and savvy and pay attention to the new Web reality. Here's a quote from the cover article from last's month's issue of Wired Magazine.

Get naked and rule the world

Smart companies are sharing secrets with rivals, blogging about products in their pipeline, even admitting to their failures. The name of this new game is RADICAL TRANSPARENCY, and it's sweeping boardrooms across the nation. Even those Office drones at Dunder Mifflin get it. So strip down and learn how to have it all by baring it all.

Here are some examples of credit unions opening up

+ Vancity's Change Everything site and CEO blog

This is a phenomenal social network site with absolutely no marketing speak. All credit unions should be studying this example—it is truly authentic and perfectly aligned with Vancity's brand. This is the model of the future.

The link given is CEO Dave Mowat's blog. With Dave's recent announcement that he is leaving for ATB in Alberta, this was a great forum to allow his members to speak out about his decision. From what I can tell, this appears to be the only CEO blog in the Canadian credit union system. If I am wrong, please leave a comment with a link to others. I feel other CEOs need to be consistently blogging.

+ Aware Teens by Forum Credit Union

Forum Credit Union, located in Indianapolis, IN has set up an interesting forum for teens. They ask a question each month like, "what summer job would you like to have?" and "what is your favourite winter activity?"

Today's youth are so savvy with computers and technology; they are tapped into MySpace, Facebook, Digg and other social networks. Kids' expectations of blogs, forums and social networks is extremely high, so if you do try to engage them, you better not go only half way.

The Forum Aware Teen blog is fairly new and a little light and fluffy which might explain why the questions get less than 10 answers each, but it's a start.

I believe that all credit unions need to be talking to the up-and-coming youth. Their bank competitors definitely are.

+ Verity Credit Union

Verity Credit Union, headquartered in Seattle, WA totally gets it. A dozen staff members contribute regularly and the topics are fresh and well-written.

They engage members and are really trying to improve communication by talking about tough topics. You can tell that this blog is not going through multiple edits and public relations polish. It is active and there is great dialogue gong on.

This is a great example to follow. It is what a credit union blog should look and feel like. The grammar experts out there might find the occasional typo that I spotted offensive, but I think it actually adds to the authenticity.

Well done Verity!

+ Service One Credit Union Brown Knows CU Blog

I am not sure if the name of this blog was intentionally meant to be funny or not, but the name of Valerie Brown's CEO blog has a double meaning that she might not be aware of! Growing up, I knew a different definition for brown nose! (click here).

Joking aside, this is a good example of a CEO regularly writing to members. However it's disappointing that you cannot leave comments. To her defense there is an e-mail option.

There is an expectation in the blogosphere (here's another Wikipedia definition for you) that a blog should be a two-way conversation. When a blog doesn't have a comment mechanism that posts automatically, it makes you feel like the author is afraid of what might be said.

A closing word from the wise

Ron Shevlin, a VP from Epsilon, a leading interactive marketing firm in the US has a clever blog that often touches on the banking and credit union world. Here is a wonderful diagram of how your credit union should be communicating online!

What are you waiting for? Open and start engaging your members and potential members online!

Tim

Here's a few credit union resources you should be bookmarking!

I am a chronic Web surfer. I have so many bookmarks—I am actually obsessed with syncing the bookmarks on my desktop computer with my notebook and my handheld. Don't ask.

One massive block of bookmarks is my credit union industry bookmarks. To get you started, here are a three sites that I think you should be following. I will add more in future blog posts.

Marketing Association of Credit Unions (MACU)

In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that we designed this site. Boy, it sure is great huh? Check out www.macu.ca.

I also encourage you to become a member if you aren't already. MACU puts on two great conferences every year and the speakers and subject matter are always very relevant and engaging. I have been going for the past 10 years and applaud the organization for continuing to do a stellar job.

We're going to the upcoming conference in Banff on June 7 and 8, 2007. Will you be there?

Open Source CU

There is a great site in the states that is really on the cutting-edge of pulling the whole Web 2.0 and social networking movement into the credit union movement. Check out www.opensourcecu.com. I like the openness and the point of view.

It's run by a Web design firm called Trabian. By the looks of things, Trabian have developed a number of great credit union sites in the U.S.

You can also find a Podcast on iTunes. Two of the main folks from Trabian offer up their very vocal opinions on the way credit unions should connect with their members. Definitely worth a listen.

The Credit Union Journal

This is the online companion to their print publication. There is lots of interesting information to be had at www.cujournal.com.

The daily briefing section keeps me in touch with what's going on in the United States credit union industry. The similarities and the complete differences to the Canadian credit union industry are fascinating to me.

Maybe a bit dry for the faint of heart or for thos

e that prefer spotting Brittany or Paris on the latest cover of The Star, but you should definitely bookmark it.

In the interest of keeping my blog posts short and sweet (and more timely), I'll leave it at that for now, but expect to see more links here in the very near future.

Do you have any good links that I can add to my credit union bookmarks? Drop a comment and let the world know. Well, at the least the little corner of the world that reads this blog!

Tim