MARQUETTE, Mich.-Everyone's heard of marketing on a shoe string, but at one Upper Peninsula credit unions, it's all about party hats-discounted party hats, at that.
Two weeks after 2009 began, staffers at U.P. Catholic Credit Union donned New Year's celebration hats to promote the CU's low APR Visa Classic and Platinum cards.
"Anytime you put our services representatives in party hats the first thing you hear from members is 'what's going on?'" Member Services Representative Julie Johnson pointed out, noting this approach makes members both comfortable by the passive approach and intrigued so they begin the conversation.
The promotion was "cheap and easy" for the $100-million CU, as the hats were bought on clearance at local stores and the "holiday hangover" displays in U.P. Catholic CU's two branches were given to them for free by their card services provider.
The promotion only lasted for two days, as many members would visit those branches multiple times each day and the credit union did not want to overwhelm them. But in those two days, about 20 members signed on for 9.9% APR Visa Classic or 8.99% APR Visa Platinum cards; no small feat for a credit union with about 11,000 members and in a town of about 20,000 residents. While the promotion was not "wildly successful," Johnson was pleased at the outcome, as U.P. Catholic CU has spent much more on campaigns in the past with lesser results. The start of the New Year seemed like a perfect opportunity to shift its members away from high interest credit cards handed out by retailers that they may have picked up during the Christmas shopping season.
"It seems like the time where people are trying to get more credit because money is tighter," she added. "It may seem like a quick fix to get that Kohl's card, but you don't need to be burdened with that high interest rate. A solid, smaller rate is a lot better than a quick gimmick."
As the most of the country languishes in the recession forcing many credit unions to change up their strategies in promoting card services, Johnson said that is not the case for U.P. Catholic CU.
"We feel as though we're a little more isolated of the happenings everywhere else," she noted.
Marquette's biggest economic forces are the local university, prison system as well as the mining and logging industries, which remain fairly steady.
