Credit Unions have a wide variety of financial services to offer their members, but current and potential members alike both need education about the products and services and general financial literacy knowledge to make the best decision for their financial goals. They need to learn how they can benefit from offers and products, and how they can solve real, everyday problems and frustrations in their lives.
Content marketing is a great way to speak to these commonplace pain points and help educate consumers about how to find solutions. It sounds simple, but good content marketing involves a lot of planning so that your credit union can provide targeted audiences with the information they need to make a great choice and increase conversions along the way, whether it’s for a specific loan product or a new membership.
What is content marketing? Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand’s products or services but is intended to invoke interest in the brand. Instead of pitching your products or services, you are providing truly relevant and useful content to your prospects and customers to help them solve their issues.
Content Marketing is Especially Important for Credit Unions
The financial services and products you offer can be complex. Members need to know more about them, and need that information in an easy-to-digest format. If you produce content aimed at educating specific user groups about your products and services, over time you will build a library of material that will help you educate members and potential members while meeting current marketing goals and plans. However, to be successful at content marketing, a lot of up-front planning will yield the best results and prevent frustration.
Content Marketing is really good about creating great information through blogs, video, infographics, e-books, and more- that is highly targeted to help customers (members) learn more and make great decisions. By taking complex subjects and breaking them down into bite-sized pieces, you can create helpful information for members and potential members to better understand what you can do to help them, without overwhelming them or making them feel bad in the process. In fact, creating content that helps you become their financial personal trainer, so to speak, will build trust and loyalty, helping your Credit Union to really stand out in a sea of financial services companies that can seem very much the same and interchangeable from the outside.
Define Your Goals and Metrics for Success Up Front
Much of content marketing starts with defining your problem and goal. You want to make sure you have a clearly defined set of goals by answering these questions:
- What services or product lines do you want to expand or increase?
- Who is most in need of these services- current members? New members? Both?
- What do these people have in common?
- When are they most likely to need this product? Is there any seasonality involved?
- What are some common questions that your consumers have on certain products or services?
- Why is your product or service the best solution for their problem? What are its advantages, and disadvantages?
Developing SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) Goals up-front will help you outline your content marketing and provide a plan that works best for your credit union and your strategic goals.
If you put in the work to carefully craft content that your target audience wants, it will help you gain loyalty and brand recognition. Content marketing can bring clarity to products and services and help consumers along their decision path (consumer journey). Think about the ways you can incorporate content marketing for your credit union.
