Your Members Need Financial Education and Money Management Resources

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Inflation rates, gas prices, homes – everything is going up. And that puts more stress on your credit union members. It’s especially difficult for your members that fall near or below the poverty line.

And while no amount of financial education can fix unprecedented circumstances of life, your credit union is one of the only places that can offer people the financial education and money management resources they need when they need them.

Since the holidays are approaching, we thought now would be a great time to offer some tips to help your CU offer resources that can make a difference.

Your Members Are Facing Tough Times

Your members are carrying heavy financial burdens that they take on very early in life. 45 million Americans hold federal student loan debt, and after the events of 2020, financial security as a whole has felt much less attainable for so many of your credit union members.

Because of this and other factors we mentioned above, it’s clear that now is the right time to make sure you are offering quality financial education options and money management resources to your member base. Here are some of the best ways to do that.

Know Your Audience

In general, American adults have a poor understanding of how their finances work. As a credit union, it’s your job to foster relationships with your members to build trust and share helpful knowledge about banking best practices.

The first step in that journey is to know your audience. Use the data from your members and take a look at how they’re using their money. Is it personal loans? Mortgages? Whatever the case, your members are looking to you to offer solutions and education.

To get to know your audience, you can run surveys online or get feedback in person. Ask your members what topics confuse them the most. A class on investing in stocks is a great resource, but only if your member base is financially stable enough o do that kind of investing. Most often, it’s the day-to-day and future planning items that people want to know about: they want to know how to pay their bills and still save money, and they want to know how much money they need to retire comfortably.

In lower-income areas, some of these resources for financial education and money management may include classes on how to apply for government-sponsored housing and food assistance. Knowing your audience is a crucial step in planning an effective financial literacy program at your credit union.

Lean on What’s Out There

You don’t have time to reinvent the wheel – if you are hoping to offer basic money management classes at your credit union, do some research first. Check out the experts in the field – do they have free resources? Can you host or purchase these resources or classes and offer them to your members? Are these experts available to host in-person or virtual interactive classes?

There’s no need for you or your employees to spend time trying to create a money management class or helpful guides from scratch – there are thousands of templates and resources from top universities that you can include in your list of resources on your website.

Divide these resources into tiers – your website visitors can choose from the list based on their expertise level.

You can also create resources based on some Google search data. For example, when the interest rates on mortgages started going up, there was an uptick in searches for mortgage calculators and other resources that explained how to determine how much a low- or middle-class member should be spending on a new home.

There were also more searches for comparison data between renting and owning homes in many areas. Your credit union can also partner with other service providers to help create a more transparent and educational experience for those looking to increase their money management knowledge to make big financial moves in the future.

IMS Integration – Digital Solutions That Make a Difference for Your Members

A huge part of the struggle to close financial education gaps comes from a lack of accessibility. And at IMSI Integration, we believe that banking services should always be more accessible, not less. That’s why we offer tailored software and technology that can reach your members and help them reach their financial goals through your credit union’s services.

With tools like web loan applications, online account opening, and Skip a Pay, we are bringing your credit union’s most powerful products to your members in a more efficient and impactful way.

Benefits of Credit Union Content Marketing

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Credit unions occupy an interesting space in the financial industry. Many of them are smaller, local businesses, but there are others that operate on a national or global level. Regardless of the size of your credit union, there are many reasons why you should be using content marketing to promote your CU’s services.

Content marketing is one of the most popular forms of marketing right now. But what is content marketing? How do you create effective marketing content? How does it benefit your credit union?

Here are some of the top benefits of credit union content marketing.

What Is Content Marketing?

Though the phrase “content marketing” seems to be a new buzzword, the practice has been around since the 1700s. Historical pamphlets, almanacs, and other written information used to create a narrative or promote an idea or business are all content.

In today’s terms, content marketing is a strategic approach to marketing that focuses on creating high-value content. The goal of this content is to attract or retain a specific audience, and to use that audience to create or grow your customer base.

Content includes everything you say to your customers, whether it’s through email campaigns, social media, newsletters, webpages, and more.

Even if your credit union doesn’t have a designated content marketing strategy, you are likely still using content marketing in your overall efforts.

Ways to Amplify Your Credit Union Content Marketing Strategies

The Credit Union Times shared an article about new ways for credit unions to use content marketing.

Their first suggestion includes creating a podcast. Podcasts are a great form of content, especially if you are educating an audience on complex or in-depth topics. Credit unions can benefit from podcasts in many ways.

First, it’s an easy educational resource to offer. You can invite your board members to speak about certain financial topics, including episodes about budgeting, securing a home or auto loan, and much more.

And second, the content can often be evergreen. That means no matter when your members listen to it (whether it’s today, tomorrow, or next year), the information within the podcast episode is still relevant. This is much different than other forms of content, like social media posting, for example.

Another great form of content is blog articles. Another great educational opportunity, you can use a credit union blog to share industry or local news, teach members about your products, services, and other insights, and so much more.

There are hundreds of different forms of content, and many of them can be leveraged to share your credit union’s mission, insights, and services.

New Content Freshens Up Your CU Website

The primary source of brand content for your credit union is your website.

Your website is the face of your brand. It tells potential and current members everything they need to know about who you are and what you do. And you would be surprised how quickly website content can look or sound outdated.

The content on your website should represent your credit union as it is today. Have you updated or changed your offerings? Created new initiatives or educational resources? Have you done some analysis of your website traffic and found that certain pages are performing better than others?

You can use these insights and ideas to start working on better, more optimized content. And don’t forget about SEO (search engine optimization). Even the best website in the world needs to be discoverable, and most people head to search engines when they are looking for answers or solutions to their questions and problems.

If you are in a period of high transition in your credit union, revamping your website might need to be done several times in the next few years. Or if you are well-established and running consistent programs that have great website content already in place, an overhaul may only need to take place after several years, to keep the site from looking dated.

Optimized Content + Great CU Solutions = Success

Credit union content marketing is another tool that can help boost your brand. This means more website and social media visitors, and, ultimately, more members. But your content has to be talking about the products and services you offer that make your members’ lives easier.

Luckily, IMS Integration can help augment those offerings with elegant, member-facing solutions that include:

  • Make a Statement: Statements and notices are a necessity for your credit union. And whether you are still printing and mailing statements or sending them all electronically, Make a Statement can help.
  • Online Courtesy Pay+: Regulation E amendments and the fast-changing world of compliance are elevating enrollment requirements. IMSI developed an online solution for electronic enrollment that is fully integrated with the core system and handles the regulation required member notifications.
  • Online Self-Service Forms: IMSI’s online self-service forms collect information required to enable member self-service requests fulfillment.
  • Trial Balance+: This tool enables the export of member account information to an external secured system. It’s versatile, with a rich user interface, and it can be accessed from any branch using your favorite web browser.

Check out our website for more information, or request a consultation today.