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Remember the “plain label” craze from the late ’70s and early ’80s? Everything from cereal to beer (really!) was packaged in plain white containers, labeled in black, and sold at a discount. The products were usually, well, tolerable. Plain label products died out quickly — there’s a limit to how many boxes of funny-tasting cereal kids will tolerate.
Be honest — how many of you have web sites that show a Big Scary Lawyer Warning (BSLW) like this when a member clicks a link to another site?
OH NOES! You are leaving the ABCFCU web site! ABFCU has no control over and is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other web sites. ABCFCU does not endorse or guarantee products, information or recommendations provided by linked sites and is not liable for failure of products or services advertised on these site. So if you click a link somewhere else and your toes fall off, don’t come running to us!
Is this REALLY necessary? I don’t think it ever was. Yes, of course you should make it clear when someone is leaving your site, but do you have to remind people that you’re not responsible for the entire internet? Besides, who’s going to read all that?
From the bizarre goings-on at NCUA to the expensive “consumer protection” legislation coming online, the only thing that’s certain is that things are changing fast for CUs. Sources of fee income are shrinking, expenses are rising, and margins are squeezed tighter than ever. Things are getting Weird with a capital “W”. It’s time to think the unthinkable and mull the outrageous.
Scott Adams, creator of the serial documentary “Dilbert“, invented the term “confusopoly” back in 1998. Basically, it refers to the tactic of entangling consumers through sheer confusion rather than being directly competitive.
Chris Blough (CEO of Wayne County CU) had a brilliant quote on Liquid Lunch,
“Small Credit Unions need to be like jet skis. We’re not the Titanic. A jet ski would see the iceberg.”
If you were opening a new restaurant, would you consider letting your customers decide what to pay? According to an AP story in USAToday, Panera re-opened an existing restaurant as a nonprofit in Clayton MO, asking their customers to use the honor system to pay for their meals. Cashiers do tell customers a “suggested” price, and there are workers at the door to explain the concept that it is “not a handout,” but people decide on their own what to pay.
I’ve lost count of all the great credit union product ideas that have been strangled in their cradles because of technical limitations — “uhhhh… our system can’t do that.”
That creates a problem  – if all you have to sell is the same old products as everyone else, they’re commodities, with no differentiating features. Even worse, you’re stuck in a race to the bottom, competing on price alone. You’re letting the competition, inertia, and tradition define what your credit union can and cannot do.
Over the past several years, more and more credit unions have eliminated certain words from their marketing and identity. Words like “member”, “join” and even “credit union” are now taboo in a lot of places, and internet account access is almost always called “home banking.” And when was the last time you heard “share draft”?
Why do credit unions still focus so much on marketing checking accounts to non-members?
I mean, I know why — the checking account is still the best indicator of a PFI relationship, and it’s extraordinarily “sticky”. Members with checking are loyal members, or at least they’re stuck with you for a while. I get that.
Remember those Kraft Macaroni and Cheese commercials a while back, where kids exclaimed “It’s more cheesier”? I cringed every time I heard this phrase, and so did thousands of other writers and English majors.
We’ve had a remarkable stretch of cold and regular snow here in Indy the last few weeks, so I’ve been forced to drive to work instead of riding a motorcycle. Being stuck inside a “cage” is pretty rough for me, but at least I can listen to the radio. I even pay attention to the commercials, mostly out of professional interest.
You’ve probably heard the term “eating your own dog food” before. It means that everyone on your team also needs to be a consumer or user of your product, whether it’s dog food or checking accounts.
I had the pleasure of participating in BarCampBank Chicago last week with some great Credit Union people from at least three states, including the Illinois and Michigan state leagues, CUNA, and even one lonely person from a community bank. There was no set agenda, the topics were determined by the group, you literally moved in and out of the discussions, and there was never a lull in the conversation – nicely organized chaos.
I know we’re all buried in planning for 2010, hitting deadlines, running the numbers, and aligning our strategies and synergies to maximize ROA before we’re DOA.
But go outside. Look up.
As marketers, it’s easy to used to dealing only with the positives. Look at all these features! These benefits are fantastic! Great rates! Easy to apply! Friendly service! Low payments! High earnings! Better! Faster! Bigger!