OAK RIDGE, Tenn.-Creating a rosier financial outlook is easy according to one credit union; members need to just save more than they spend.
In an economy where lines of credit are being quickly shut off and home equity has dried up, ORNL Federal Credit Union is taking steps to ensure its members can negotiate these troubled waters without sinking into serious debt problems.
Public relations coordinator Nancy Ballard said Chris Johnson, a senior VP at ORNL, began expressing concerns over the economy and the marketing team began to kick around ideas that would help ease members' minds. The new campaign they crafted stresses the virtues of thrift and makes members aware that the credit union is more than willing to help lighten the load anyway it can-through loan refinancing, cutting debt, enrolling in direct deposit or even a simple consultation.
The message of financial responsibility could not be any simpler: "Save More. Spend Less," the advertisements tell readers in plain black and white. Ballard said the message was simple because members and non-members alike need to "go back to the basics."
For it's part, the $1.15-billion credit union is doing the same thing when it comes to following through and helping its members figure out exactly where they are financially.
"We've never really sat down with a balance sheet," Ballard said when asked what the campaign was changing from a member services perspective. "Member services officers would offer new products; now we're not so much trying to promote one particular item-it's more about looking at the whole picture."
ORNL created two easy-to-understand worksheets that employees and members fill out together to give members a rough sketch of how much debt they have, how much they are saving and where they can either cut back or invest more to achieve a more robust financial position. Vice President of Marketing Tom Wright said the credit union has always made these types of efforts, but had not communicated that message to the public well. Its new simple marketing campaign "let(s) the community know, hey we've been doing this all along for our members, come on in." There was never really any formal process, this is kind of our first shot at it," he added.
After Johnson left University of Kentucky FCU, he wanted to bring the "trusted adviser" program he started there to his newest venture. Though ORNL is not quite ready to start such an in-depth advisory program, where members are given a detailed picture of where they are, where they want to be and how to get there, it is giving staffers and members alike a bit of a preview with this latest campaign. If the program in development stays on track, it should be ready for members by 2010.
