OnPoint Community Credit Union

Evolving Role of Marketing within Credit Unions

Members don’t compare their credit union experience only to another bank or credit union. They compare it to the best experience they’ve had anywhere. They expect things to be simple, intuitive, personalized and available when they need them.

That changes the role of marketing because we have to think beyond the campaign. We have to understand the entire member journey. You can have a great advertisement, but if someone clicks through and encounters a confusing or frustrating experience, the advertising really doesn’t matter.

At the same time, this creates a tremendous opportunity for credit unions. Technology can make financial services faster and easier, but people still value trust, empathy and human connection, especially when money is involved. The challenge is to bring those elements together: use technology and data to improve the experience without losing the humanity that makes credit unions different.

Aligning Member Needs, Brand Priorities and Business Goals

I’ve never thought those three things should be in conflict. In fact, the best marketing happens when member needs, the brand, and the business strategy all reinforce one another.

I usually start with the member and put them and their needs at the center. I try to talk to as many members as I can to ground me in our marketing strategy. What are we trying to help someone accomplish? What problem are we solving? What would make their financial life easier or better? If you don’t start there, it’s easy to create marketing that serves the organization but doesn’t necessarily serve the person receiving it.

Then the brand becomes the filter. How do we deliver that experience in a way that aligns with who we are and what we want people to believe about us? And finally, there has to be a business outcome. Marketing leaders should be comfortable talking about growth, deposits, loans, engagement, retention and ROI.

I’ve always believed marketing earns credibility within an organization when we can connect our work to the business’s performance. When you align all three, you create something powerful. You’re delivering value to the member, strengthening the brand and helping the organization grow. That’s really the sweet spot.

Paying Attention to Changing Customer Behavior

One of the biggest things I’m watching is just how good consumers have become at ignoring marketing.

There is so much content coming at us every day that consumers make very quick judgments about what deserves their attention. That means relevance matters more than volume. Simply flooding the marketplace with more messages isn’t necessarily going to make a brand more effective.

I also think consumers increasingly expect organizations to understand them. They’re accustomed to personalization, but there’s a fine line between being helpful and being intrusive. The best use of data is when the customer thinks, “That made my life easier,” rather than, “How do they know that about me?”

“Great marketing almost never comes from one person having a brilliant idea. It comes from teams where people understand the strategy, feel ownership of the outcome and are comfortable challenging one another.”

The customer journey has changed as well. Someone might see something on social media, search for it, ask an AI assistant, read reviews, visit your website and ultimately talk to someone in person. We have to think of that as one connected experience.

Trust is becoming more valuable, not less. AI will make it incredibly easy to produce enormous amounts of content. The scarce commodity won’t be content. It will be credibility. Brands that are useful, authentic and trustworthy are going to stand out.

Leadership Lessons for Marketing and Team Development

Probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that leadership is much less about having all the answers than I once believed.

Earlier in your career, you tend to believe that becoming a leader means becoming the person who knows what to do. Over time, I’ve come to believe the real job is to create clarity, ask good questions, bring talented people together and give them enough trust and space to do their best work.

Great marketing almost never comes from one person having a brilliant idea. It comes from teams where people understand the strategy, feel ownership of the outcome and are comfortable challenging one another.

I also think people do their best work when they understand why it matters. One of the most important things a leader can do is connect the day-to-day work to something bigger. Help your team connect to the organization’s purpose, the brand, and the people we ultimately serve. I believe strongly in high expectations and candid feedback, but the combination has to be high standards and high trust. At this point in my career, I probably measure my leadership less by what I personally accomplish and more by the people and teams I help succeed.

Building Strong Marketing Careers and Strategic Leaders

The first thing I would tell them is: become more than a marketer.

Learn how the business works. Understand the financials. Understand operations, technology, risk, sales and the customer experience. If you want to become a strategic leader, you have to be able to connect marketing decisions to what the organization is trying to accomplish.

At the same time, never stop being curious about everything, especially people. Marketing is ultimately about human behavior: why people make decisions, what they value, what frustrates them and what earns their trust. Technology will change, channels will change, and tools will change, but that part of marketing will always matter.

I’d also tell people not to be afraid of assignments that make them uncomfortable. Some of the experiences that stretch you the most end up preparing you for leadership. And find people who will give you honest feedback,not just people who will tell you what you’re doing well.

Finally, learn how to simplify. Senior leaders spend a lot of time taking complicated issues and helping people understand what really matters. Careers are long. Stay curious, keep learning and surround yourself with people who are better than you at something. That’s usually where growth happens.