This $4,000 digital investment yielded $253,269 in new money in one day.
MarketMatch works only with credit unions and community banks of all sizes. Recently, we had the honor to help promote a one-day event for a credit union with $133 million in assets and 11,500 members served from two branches in central Michigan.
Using digital media as the driver of the promotion, we saw incredible results.
Focus
Having only two locations, and with 33% of the area’s market share owned by three large banks, overall awareness for this client was limited, at best. However, they had the benefit of 42% of the market being owned by credit unions, helping to ease the education and perception hurdles that many smaller CUs face.
The client had made the decision to hold a one-day sales event on the day before Thanksgiving. On “Whiteout Wednesday,” they would help members get a jump on Black Friday with special pricing on six individual products, including a holiday loan, credit card balance transfer, auto loans and a new member incentive.
Momentum
As with most smaller credit unions, the objective was to make the biggest possible splash with the least possible budget. That said, we opted to focus acquisition marketing solely on digital: SEM, digital display, Facebook and Instagram ads. This would allow us to best target geographically and demographically, with limited waste. We also used email to existing members only … and the credit union sent one direct mail postcard to their entire membership and purchased two local newspaper ads.
While the client operated only two branches, all the offers were available through online applications, so we targeted acquisition messages to the credit union’s top five markets based on current member penetration … assuming that birds of a feather would flock together. Segmentation was also based on age, income and past search interests.
All marketing was directed to a dedicated web page. Prior to the event, the page detailed the upcoming offers, increased excitement through a countdown clock and provided a form for interested individuals to sign-up for reminders.
At midnight on the day of the event, the page transitioned to a sales mode. The countdown clock disappeared and the focus was completely on providing the easiest, most obvious possible links to the online applications for each individual offer.
Results
For a credit union with 11,500 members, based in a city with 49,000 people, the results were outstanding.
Our digital strategy used roughly 50% of the total promotional budget of $8,500. We experienced the following results during the 16-day marketing timeframe:
- 15,589 page views with 12,264 being unique
- The digital marketing received 1,777,825 impressions
- More importantly, it generated 11,506 clicks
But the true proof of the programs impact was in sales.
One the same day of the previous year, with no promotion, the credit union closed seven loans and opened one new account. On average, they close about seven loans per day throughout the year.
During this one-day event, the credit union earned:
- 39 new loans (including credit card balance transfers) worth $161,725
- 20 new member accounts, bringing in $13,044 in deposits
- 5 new certificates for $78,500
There is still unclosed loan paperwork being sorted out, so these results are expected to improve!
We will also track residual growth over the next few months, generated by the increased awareness.
The Takeaway
You don’t need to be huge to manage a successful digital strategy. In fact, I would argue that the more tightly you need to manage your marketing budget, the more you should focus on digital marketing.
It also doesn’t take a fortune. With roughly $4,000 in a digital budget, we generated $253,269 in new money for the credit union and proved enormous incremental growth.
Take a look at your 2018 marketing plan. If it looks like it could have been written in 1999, with broadcast, newspaper and direct mail as the bulk of the budget, you should reconsider your strategy to something more targeted, measurable, engaging and fluid.
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