While the credit union industry has made some respectable incremental strides to improve consumer awareness, there is quite a bit of work ahead of us. At the institutional level, credit unions need to expand their marketing functions to include public relations and advocacy. Particularly at community credit unions, management needs to place focus on social media strategies and identifying ways to reach out to local media to share the industry’s message.

I look at the right side of the graph and wonder how much lost membership and portfolio growth (and missed revenue!) is represented by the lagging slope of the Google search volume index trend. As an industry, it’s time for us to evaluate the potential return on investment from PR and brand-building activities compared to traditional new account and enrollment incentives. The window of opportunity for credit unions to capitalize on consumer dissatisfaction with banks will not stay open forever!