ELGIN, Ill.-An old pillar of credit union growth that has largely been cast aside has been resurrected by one CU here.
The $552-million Corporate America Family Credit Union has rolled out a program to "re-engage" with human resources professionals at its select employee groups to reinforce the message the CU is a valuable benefit. In short, SEG marketing.
La Trease Shaw, Corporate America's director of marketing, told Credit Union Journal the CU has "continually communicated" with its 700-plus SEGs throughout the years, but wanted to do something "a little different."
"We noticed our materials focused on the credit union, which is not a bad thing, but we wanted to change the focus to educating the HR professionals on the benefits of working with our credit union," she explained.
A second goal was to connect with the HR managers, she said. "We realize they have lot on their plate, so we wanted to let them know we are here to help their employees and help them. The 'Hello Again' piece did that."
"Hello Again" is the name of a 15-page mailer developed by Corporate America's marketing team in conjunction with UpShift Creative Group of Chicago. The mailer won a Silver Award of Distinction in the Print Category for 2011 from the Communicator Awards, and Shaw said it went a long way toward putting the credit union at top of mind in HR departments.
The mailer's theme was there were three elements the HR professionals had to put in to tap credit union benefits: "no cost, little time and no effort." The mailers went out to every one of Corporate America's SEGs in the first quarter.
According to Shaw, the marketing piece "really drew a lot of positive responses." The CU's business development staff has since followed up with either onsite visits or telephone calls.
"We would contact the sponsor companies anyway, but this added more to the conversation," she said.
'Always Opportunities'
Asked if she believes engagement with HR departments at SEGs has become a lost art for many credit unions, Shaw pointed out the level of connection varies greatly. For single-sponsor credit unions, engagement is near 100%, she said.
"There are always opportunities for credit unions to communicate with their SEGs. We know change is always constant, so constant communication is necessary. If there is a reorganization at the company, perhaps the person the credit union was working with got promoted and then there is an opportunity to meet that new person. Or there are partnership opportunities, such as if the company hosts a benefit fair every November.
"You just never know unless you try," she added.
Overall, the response to the "Hello Again" mailer has been "positive." Shaw said Corporate America has had membership growth this year, but because it is running a number of marketing efforts simultaneously, she could not attribute the growth solely to the re-engagement campaign.
"We launched online membership enrollment this year, which also helps. All of the initiatives together are helping us grow," she noted.
