SANDUSKY, Ohio-Credit unions may struggle with awareness and misconceptions about membership, but one CU believes it's actually lack of relevance that is often the biggest detractor to growth.
As a result, VacationLand FCU recently completed a rebranding aimed at making the credit union seem more current in the minds of its members and the community. A secondary goal of the rebranding is to reduce the average age of its membership (47.5), all efforts CEO Kevin Ralofsky said "guarantee the credit union's future success."
The CEO recognized that the maturity of the credit union's membership could lead to obsolescence if there was no major effort to reach out to the next generations.
The $140-million VLFCU utilized a unique community outreach program designed to target a younger membership primarily that leaned heavily on social media and emphasized great service. The results: since January 2011, VLFCU has experienced a steady increase in membership among its targeted membership age group of 15 to 45 years. Over that time 60% of net new membership is under the age of 31 and 86% is under the age of 46.
"You have to seem relevant in the minds of your members and potential members," said Ralofsky. "Otherwise they will begin to overlook you."
The credit union updated some of its products, chose brighter colors for its lobbies, reworked its logo, revamped its website to be more current, fun, and entertaining, and made an effort to have a much bigger presence in the community, using social media to do much of that. Ralofsky said VacationLand FCU was fighting the typical problems of having roots in a single sponsor and then going to a community charter. "Most people did not think they could join or that we could meet their needs if they did."
The CU introduced its Change Agent Squad (CAS) in July 2010 made up of local high school students and college-age young adults. The CAS educates peers and the community about the differences between credit unions and banks and why credit unions are a better alternative.
The CAS goes out into the community distributing incentives that range from pizza for kids after school, to movie tickets, to gift cards. The group rides in the cube-a small van with glass walls that allow people to watch what's going on inside, like teens playing xBox 360. Ralofsky said the cuBe is a "3-D moving billboard for the credit union and a people magnet."
Outside the fun, the cuBe is a branch on wheels. The multi-media cuBe is outfitted with CU*BASE and the capacity to do most financial transactions except exchanging cash. The cuBe rolls up to community outreach events to present financial literacy education, entertain at sporting events, and act as a remote branch approving auto loans at dealerships. "The cuBe establishes a noticeable and essential presence in the community," Ralofsky said.
While the Change Agent Squad and the cuBe are strong reinforcements for the VLFCU brand, the glue that cements them together is social media, said Ralofsky. "Using social media outreach has been incrementally more successful than using more traditional outreach means."
The credit union has a presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Foursquare. VLFCU has 4.5% of its membership actively engaged with the credit union on Facebook, has 263 Twitter followers, and its 23 YouTube video uploads have netted 2,564 views.
CUSO is Formed
VacationLand FCU has successfully rebranded the credit union, has implemented programs to educate and instill the values of credit union membership to current members and the next generation of members, and has built a strong reputation in their community, explained Ralofsky.
He added that VLFCU has also formed Chatter Yak! Marketing Strategies, a CUSO that provides marketing services to credit unions. Ralofsky emphasized that CU* Answers played a key role in VacationLand's success, particularly around the social media components.
