Peek Inside: Finance Center’s In-House Marketing Department
Finance Center FCU originated in 1953 to serve the military personnel and civilians assigned to Fort Benjamin Harrison on the east side of Indianapolis. In 1968, FCFCU opened several locations in West Germany to accommodate military personnel serving overseas.
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Name of Financial Institution: Finance Center Federal Credit Union
Area served: Central Indiana
Website: www.fcfcu.com
Assets: $419 million
Number of members: 45,492
Number of branches: 7
Members per branch: 6,500
Loans: $318 million
Investments: $90 million
Capital: $55 million (13.1%)
12-Month Share Growth: 6.80%
12-Month Loan Growth: 4.19%
ROA: 0.37%
Number of total employees: 120
Ratio of customers to employees: 379:1
Number of employees in marketing department: 5.5 (4.58% of entire workforce)
- Vice President of Marketing Operations
- Chief of Sales & Marketing
- Senior Marketing Manager
- Communications/Marketing Manager
- Research Marketing Manager
- Marketing Assistant
Number of campaigns run every year: 4
Systems & Tools
| Have Now | Don’t Have | Not Yet, But Plan To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formal written marketing plan | X | ||
| Brand standards manual (addressing design) | X | ||
| Brand guidelines book (for staff) | X | ||
| CRM system | X | ||
| MCIF system | X | ||
| Onboarding program | X | ||
| Matrix mail program | X | ||
| Social media strategy | X | ||
| In-branch video merchandising system | X | ||
| Formal SEO strategy | X |
In-House vs. Vendor
| In-House | Vendor | Both | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising | X | ||
| Design | X | ||
| Media buying | X | ||
| Direct mail | X | ||
| Email marketing | X | ||
| Web design/development | X | ||
| Online advertising/marketing | X | ||
| Social media | X | ||
| Promotional items, giveaways | X | ||
| Sales collateral, brochures | X | ||
| Public relations | X | ||
| Community relations/events | X |
Social Media Strategy
Social media allows us to be transparent to our membership. We use social media to provide financial advice, give information on current promotions, and also for brand enhancement. Social media has also offered us a great outlet for member service. We’ve been using social media for three years. Our advice would be to begin using social media as an individual before creating presences for your credit union. Also, have a clear strategy before you begin.
URL for Twitter account: twitter.com/fcfcuTwitter account created: September 11, 2008
Twitter followers: 2,348 (equal to 5.2% of overall membership)
Accounts followed: 1,273
Tweets sent: 1,968
Average # of tweets sent per day: 1.57
URL for blog: blog.fcfcu.com
Focus of blog: Online newsroom, press releases (SEO)
Blog launched: January 3, 2012
Total # of blog posts published: 21
Comments enabled? Yes (moderated)
Total # of blog comments: 0
URL for Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/Finance-Center-Federal-Credit-Union
Number of Facebook Likes: 429 (equal to 0.9% of overall membership)
URL for YouTube channel: n/a
Marketing Channels Deployed
| Using Now | Don’t Use | Not Yet, But Plan To | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct mail | X | ||
| Print ads | X | ||
| TV ads | X | ||
| Radio ads | X | ||
| Billboards/outdoor | X | ||
| Ads within online banking/bill pay | X | ||
| Paid banner ad placements | X | ||
| Search engine marketing (e.g., Adwords) | X | ||
| Microsites | X | ||
| Email marketing | X | ||
| eStatement ads | X | ||
| QR codes | X | ||
| X | |||
| X | |||
| YouTube | X | ||
| X | |||
| Foursquare | X | ||
| Blog | X | ||
| Online forum | X |
Marketing Strategy
Biggest challenge in the next 12 months?
Communicating brand identity, expanding into new markets, managing operation expenses, improving ROI, tracking success of marketing efforts.
Critical products to market this year?
Lending products – direct mail, email, in -branch advertising. Business products – local publications, direct mail, email, in-branch advertising. Health Savings Accounts/B2B Services – Sales team, direct mail, email
How are branches and front line staff integrated into marketing initiatives?
Marketing communicates with staff through email and branch managers the current campaigns and procedures.
How do you track marketing ROI?
We have a formula in place that we apply to as many efforts as applicable. We also have reports built within our lending software to track campaign success. Google Analytics is used frequently to determine the success of our online marketing and SEO efforts.
Favorite campaign?
We ran a campaign on interchange legislation last year. We were really able to motivate our staff about the issue. They were well educated and did a great job informing our members of the implications of the legislation. We had email marketing as well as in-branch advertising on the issue. Staff members wore special buttons with our marketing message. In the end we delivered nearly 5,000 signed postcards opposing the legislation to our representatives in Washington, DC.
