Why Credit Unions Should Stop Building Campaigns and Focus on Perpetual Experiences

Many credit union marketers were initially trained in traditional campaign-based marketing techniques characterized by:

• Legacy media like print, TV, and outdoor advertising
• Time-limited or seasonal durations
• Broad, less-differentiated reach
• One-way communication

While these techniques are still widely used across many industries, they suffer from some fundamental drawbacks:

•  Legacy media can, at best, be targeted at wide segments
• Fading post-campaign results due to short-term focus
•  Inconsistent engagement since a campaign creates intermittent touchpoints
• High resource utilization for a time-limited program
• Poor loyalty-building tool – rather than feeling valued, members feel like generic advertising targets
• Difficult to measure long-term impact 

The Alternative: Perpetual Experiences

An alternative way to reach marketing goals is to create perpetual experiences. Perpetual experiences consist of continuous interactions between the credit union and a member to create a long-term, immersive relationship and enhanced value perceptions. These experiences foster the growth of emotional connections over time via technology, data, and personalized content that is fresh, relevant, and interactive. The aim is to deepen member loyalty, ultimately leading to superior financial returns for the credit union.

The core elements of perpetual experiences are:

• Ongoing Engagement: Perpetual experiences induce ongoing customer interaction with the credit union, unlike one-off campaigns that pop up sporadically in a member’s awareness.
• Personalization: The credit union leverages data based on past behaviors or interactions to tailor experiences, making them unique and personalized to individual members.
• Value-driven: Perpetual experiences prioritize value over promotion. Personalized content and interaction create a sense that the credit union values the member.
• Automation: Consistently maintaining the ongoing stream of experiences could never be handled manually. Technology tools do the heavy lifting to provide a constant stream of content and interaction.
• Emotional Connection: The ever-present flow of experiences builds enduring emotional connections that would not be possible with traditional marketing campaigns.
• Multi-Channel: Perpetual experiences can be delivered across multiple channels, including websites, apps, social media, brick-and-mortar branches, email, etc., to ensure members have a seamless brand experience.
• Community-building: Perpetual experiences can allow members to feel a sense of community between themselves and the credit union, thereby promoting a sense of belonging and connection to the organization. 

Benefits of Perpetual Experiences for Credit Unions

Perpetual experiences deliver multiple benefits.

• Heightened Customer Loyalty: Offering perpetual experiences builds emotional connections with members over time. As they feel increasingly understood and valued due to high-quality, relevant, and authentic content, their loyalty and trust also deepen.
• Improved Resource Allocation: Leveraging technology allows the credit union to deploy high-frequency content and interaction experiences while keeping costs and staffing at optimal levels. This methodology avoids the up-and-down resource utilization pattern associated with the traditional marketing campaign approach.
• Scalability/Adaptability: The foundations of perpetual experiences permit the credit union to scale the program as member engagement increases. The program is also naturally flexible, allowing credit unions to stay agile and responsive to shifts in market demands or member behavior. They can easily adjust their messaging and offers to remain relevant and aligned with member needs.
• Enhanced Data Insights: This methodology's continuous interactions yield valuable data that drive more profound insights into member preferences, behavior, and attitudes. These insights can then be used to optimize the program further and refine personalization, improving the overall member experience.
• Messaging Consistency Over Time: Continuous programs like perpetual experiences allow marketers to manage evolving strategic themes seamlessly over time. By contrast, the sporadic nature of traditional campaigns makes it challenging to execute messaging adjustments smoothly.
• Increased Brand Recognition and Recall: Consistent, memorable experiences help members keep the credit union top of mind. As they are exposed to content and participate in interactions that align with their values and needs, they are more likely to turn to the credit union for financial help.
• Stronger Emotional Engagement: Ongoing, consistent experiences spark feelings that evoke deeper emotional connections between members and the credit union. Such bonds lead to increased opportunities for word-of-mouth recommendations and brand advocacy.
•  Improved Customer Satisfaction: Ongoing engagement allows the credit union to offer greater value over time, thereby better satisfying member expectations. Since increased loyalty is highly correlated with satisfaction, perpetual experiences provide an excellent way to constantly improve a member's attachment to the organization.
• Competitive Advantage/Differentiation: Credit unions offering perpetual experiences set themselves apart from competitors by creating unique and memorable member experiences that feel dynamic and alive. Members see the brand as a more appealing marketplace alternative for centering their financial lives.
• Higher Lifetime Member Value: Members engaging with a credit union over time are more likely to devote a larger share of wallet, increasing their lifetime value. The longer members stay engaged, the greater their overall value to the business.
•  Word of Mouth/Organic Growth: Positive, continuous experiences produce loyal advocates who are likely to share their feelings of satisfaction with others. Such organic word-of-mouth promotion can attract others to become members without direct advertising spend.
• Brand Differentiation: In consumer financial services, where many brands offer similar products or services, delivering a unique and compelling experience serves as a key differentiator. The brand is perceived both as exceptional for its products and services and also as an organization for which members feel a profound affinity.
• Improved Customer Education: Unlike traditional campaign marketing, members can learn from perpetual experience programs. With content like tutorials, FAQs, and educational blogs, members gain more value from credit union products and services. Educated members are more likely to take advantage of all account features, leading to greater satisfaction and less churn.
• Community Building: Perpetual experience marketing often involves creating communities around the credit union brand. Over time, such communities solidify brand loyalty as members engage with each other and the credit union in mutually beneficial interchanges.

Shifting from Campaigns to Experiences

Given all the advantages cited above, it makes sense for credit unions to evolve away from campaign-only marketing strategies and incorporate Perpetual Experience programs. Steps that can assist in this process are:

Audit Current Marketing Efforts

Comprehensively assess all marketing processes to determine where perpetual experience programs could be beneficial. This does not necessarily mean scrapping all campaign-related initiatives. Traditional programs may still serve a valuable role where they make sense in the overall marketing scheme.

Educate and Motivate the Staff

Incorporating perpetual experience programs into marketing operations demands that all staff members understand how such initiatives work since they will plan, launch, administer, and measure the programs. Success or failure will depend on their skills, knowledge, and motivation, so management must be committed to optimizing the human factors behind the delivery of perpetual experiences.

Invest in Technology

Leveraging technology effectively is crucial in successfully undertaking a perpetual experiences program. Choosing the right tools and skillfully implementing them will increase the probability that these initiatives will meet credit union goals.

Focus on Member-Centric Content

Personalized content and interactions are fundamental elements in creating perpetual experiences. However, authentic and compelling personalization depends on credit union marketers thoroughly understanding members’ mindsets. Simply stated, you need to genuinely know where members are “coming from” if you want them to believe you know where they’re coming from. Efforts to nail personalization will go far toward making ongoing experiences deliver their full benefit potential.

 Encourage Feedback and Adaptation

Perpetual Experience programs are dynamic because member needs, attitudes, and behaviors constantly evolve. Successful programs design robust feedback loops to continuously measure member responses to content and interactions. Such feedback must be used to tweak programs quickly so members constantly receive fresh, relevant experiences and deepen their feeling of affiliation with the credit union.

Perpetual Experience marketing is all about creating ongoing, dynamic connections with members. This kind of marketing has the potential to drive long-term growth, build outstanding brand equity, and ultimately lead to higher customer retention and satisfaction. Credit unions can secure a deeper place in their members' hearts and minds by investing in continuous engagement.

While campaign-based marketing remains a valuable tool, its limitations suggest that it works best when integrated into a broader, ongoing marketing strategy focusing on continuously building long-term relationships with members.