Credit Union Sustainability - To Survive and Thrive?

In the fourth quarter of last year, while visiting clients with my client service team to present and discuss marketing plans, I was curious what senior executives were thinking about 2010 and beyond. With my trusty Kodak camera, several CEOs, senior executives and marketing professionals allowed me to video their thoughts. Now you can view them on our microsite, www.mycuresource.com/CUSustainability. This month's tips are highlighting these various thoughts about opportunities and challenges that direct your general marketing, e-marketing and personal strategies!

Our gift card winner from last month's poll about your pet peeve in the marketing department was Lisa J. So, take this month's poll on social media and you may be a winner, too! It's as easy as clicking here!

Best regards,

Nicki
Nicolette Lemmon, President

PS. Another resource is our blog at MyMarketingInsights.com to read more on marketing strategy, trends, faves and other good discussions.

GENERAL MARKETING TIP

Focus on a Commitment to Lending

In 2009, Arizona had devastating economic blows that threw many credit unions into the red in what seemed like a blink of an eye. As the housing market collapsed, unemployment hit all time highs, and foreclosure signs went up everywhere, the ability to attract qualified borrowers was slim. Yet, for Todd Pearson, President and CEO, Arizona Central Credit Union, the opportunities in lending while finding more efficiencies, were still his focus for 2010.

One thing that he told LemmonTree he was not going to do in 2010 was to cut marketing, rather to invest in trying to capture more wallet share.

Check out his video on our Credit Union Sustainability microsite as Pearson expresses his understanding of what it will take to make it through Arizona's tough economic climate.

Want to set up a strategy for adding new dimension to your marketing strategy to get results? Email us or call toll-free at 1.888.536.6243.

E-MARKETING TIP

Video is Continuing to Make Inroads on the Internet

From corporate sites to blogs to YouTube, the use of video as a marketing tool online is becoming "the" must-have medium. Why? Because it makes your information and messaging come alive, seemingly more personal.

In a 2008 article, "Beyond YouTube: Getting Started With Video for Marketing and Sales," author Gary Anderson commented, "Video is the most powerful communication medium we have, unless we're actually in a room with someone, and YouTube put the tool of video communication over the Web into the hands of the common folk."

Over the past year, LemmonTree has continued to monitor, experiment and research the video phemomenon. One statistic that popped out in a November article on InternetNews.com written by Kenneth Corbin, was from Jon Gibs, the Nielsen Company's Vice President of Media Analytics, who cited that in a year-long study, the aggregate total of video streams viewed increased 45 percent year-over-year. Gibs commented, "During the past year, online video viewing has become central to the Web experience."

Regarding the benefit to marketing efforts, a commenter to Corbin's article cited that, "In studies authored by DoubleClick, Google and AOL, audiovisual content was found to drive an engagement rate 4 to 7 times higher than static image and text."

And, further benefits can be in moving your website's ranking. In another article "Search Engine Success: Getting Video SEO Right" by Benjamin Wayne, Search Engine Watch, he commented,"Videos, properly submitted, are 53 times more likely to generate a first page Google ranking than traditional SEO techniques, according to a recent study by Forrester Research."

Looking for more ways to engage with your customers/members online? Contact LemmonTree's E-Marketing Department for help with anything web solutions.

PERSONAL MARKETING TIP

The Move to Using Video for Your Personal Brand

As the popularity of online video has increased with YouTube, Hulu, and Facebook, it has also caused an opportunity for personal branding. A video is more engaging than a paper resume in terms of delivering your personality along with accomplishments.

Seth Godin, a popular blogger, stated in a webinar for Marketing Profs, that he didn't believe in having a resume. He believes everyone should be crafting their personal brands using social media and other online tools.

According to William Arruda, personal branding consultant, he believes that video will be key to building the personal brand. Why? His concept is along the same lines as Godin, that most human resource people are using Google and social media searches to find out about candidates and assessing their online personas.

The use of video adds a component of credibility that you can craft to present the most persuasive content about yourself. However, the quality of the message, your delivery and your ability to provide a follow-up written version (aka resume) are critical to showing you have the right mix for a new opportunity.