FAIRHAVEN, Mass. — Evolving small ad-hoc promotions can become the driving force in picking up new business, as one credit union here has discovered.
After starting its member business lending program just a few years ago, First Citizens CU quickly teamed up with those merchants to offer retail members discounts on sandwiches, manicures and other services. After starting the effort, it quickly snowballed, said CEO Peter Muise.
"Each branch had an opportunity to have a business of the month for that particular branch ... [we] would allow them to set up a small display within the lobby with a cross-promotional item," he explained. "It got our members to be aware that we're doing member business lending and we also got business accounts from it."
Becoming a business of the month is fairly simple; branch managers accept discount proposals from their member businesses and send in what they would like to see advertised, and that information is entered into a queue at the main office. For now, businesses are selected on a first-come first-serve basis and no one is being turned away.
From paper coupons attached to small displays on a counter in the lobby, First Citizens evolved the campaign and moved the advertisements and community notices to plasma monitors and, as response from member businesses picked up, localized the feeds to ensure they remained relevant to retail members. The next logical extension, which the credit union just recently started, was to create an e-newsletter that is sent out to thousands of members and feature a business that was offering great deals on products and services.
"If you do the business of the month in the branch only the people who go in there see it," said Muise. "If you do it electronically, it goes out to 19,000 people."
"It really creates a synergy between the retail members and the business members," added marketing coordinator Kristen Carreiro, who noted that First Citizens is tracking the number of hits the business of the month websites are receiving through the newsletter's links and is pleased with the results. "The early responses were really great - a lot of positive feedback. And it has created a lot of interest in how other businesses can get involved in it."
Muise said the $458-million CU is using its flexibility to provide a service for businesses they would not be able to find anywhere else. Aside from pleasing retail and business members alike and attracting new merchants into the fold, the campaign is also geared towards driving higher check card volume. Though the system of accepting proposals has remained the same, the way the actual discounts work have changed. Merchants now simply ask to see a Visa card with the First Citizens logo stamped on it and receive the discount at the point of sale.
"We want it to be a First Citizens debit card. I prefer not to have coupons, I prefer to cross-sell my debit cards," Muise said.
