by Jimmy Marks

I’m a little miffed today.

One of my colleagues managed to drop a back-issue of the Credit Union Times on my desk today. In it was an article (read the online version here) about how Credit Unions need to “think outside the box”.

Ho hum, I thought, considering that just about every article that has ANYTHING to do with Credit Union marketing says those exact words.

But then I kept reading (bad idea). The article goes on to say that:

• Credit Unions have to get themselves onto Facebook and MySpace.
• Gen – Y is the “Hannah Montana generation” (although it never says why).
• Gen – Y has no interest in entering a brick-and-mortar building when it can do everything online.
• No one cares about helping people.

The article goes on to make outrageous claims about how the iPhone and Bill Gates’ retirement mean Macs will outdo PCs – which is bull. PCs claim about 75% of the marketshare, Apple moves around 6%. Read about that here.

The overarching question in the piece is “Are you still a CD Credit Union in an MP3 World?”

Right, I forgot – No one buys CDs anymore. Which is why THEY have shy of 90% of the market, compared to 10% for MP3s and – get this – 0.2% vinyl. People are still buying albums on vinyl!

The article is littered with buzzwords. “Evolve with the marketplace”, “Be edgy”,”Outdo the Banks”…sorry, I nodded off there. I don’t want to seem like I’m picking on anyone (I’m really not – the article’s a good read and it DOES point out that sometimes the best way to appeal to a group is to latch on to their wants more than their needs), it’s just that I’m tired of people in the CU industry who try to drive a square peg into a round hole when it comes to young customers. You want the truth about how young folks (like me) see finances?

I’ll do this one thing at a time.

1. Credit Unions should be on Social Networks – Okay, so Facebook is important to advancing high schoolers and college kids. Fine. But nobody needs to get it in their head that all the problems CUs face trying to get youth membership will disappear when they sign their CU up for a MySpace page or a Twitter account.

   Gen-Y uses these spaces as a personal tool, not a professional one (go back and read my old posts on Facebook and Social Networking – or don’t, I don’t care). So no, you don’t get a bump in ROI because you uploaded your favorite videos of a dog chasing his tail. You want to advertise? Advertise. But don’t try to “friend” me to tell me about a Roth IRA. I promise you I won’t want to chat about it. Want to use Facebook’s ACTUAL business tools? Here’s a link. I just made your day.

2. Gen – Y LOVES Hannah Montana - I’d laugh at this if the thought didn’t completely repulse me.

   And why does this have anything to do with ANYTHING?!? Hannah Montana is not a real person. Is the idea that Gen – Y is desperate to be dual-identity pop stars? Did people in the 30s and 40s call their children “The Buck Rogers generation”? You CAN’T BOIL AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF PEOPLE DOWN TO A FAD. Fads disappear – and so does money, if you’re not careful.

   That’s why we (the young) rely on Credit Unions to KEEP our money. This link points to a study saying that only about 19% of Gen-Y’s total income gets saved (that’s an average, now…nobody I know puts away 20%, not even me).

3. You can do it all online! – No, you can’t.

   I can’t go online and speak to a loan officer. I can’t go online and resolve a checking dispute or get the best service for a problem I’m having. My computer doesn’t burp up cash when I need it. I can’t count on my computer for everything.

   Sometimes, you have to have a building with actual, living, breathing people inside. The speaker from the article says he’s “of the generation that…learned to eliminate the middle man.” Well, why’s he still here? I point to self-checkout, a phenomenon that is popping up at more and more stores. I love self-checkout because I never have that much stuff and it all pretty much fits in one bag. But when I buy beer (I’m 22) or Lucky Charms (I don’t act like I’m 22) that don’t scan correctly or need cashier assistance, I can’t just beg the machine to read my ID. It won’t. Because there is NO SYSTEM in the world that can act without human input.

   Drink machines don’t refill themselves, Gas pumps don’t just pump pure crude from out of the ground, and a bank can’t run without people there to make sense of whose money is where. You can upgrade or downgrade a building, you can put balance sheets in the palm of someone’s hand, but Credit Unions have to do with people. Part of the reason I joined my CU was because I got better service and support, not because of their website. Get real, people.

4. Nobody Cares About People – Who sold somebody with this one?

   Gen – Y can, at times, come off a little selfish. But who isn’t? We all want to get the most for our money and the most for ourselves. But one thing that someone had to tell me when I started my account at the CU was this: I own part of a financial institution. I put more into my investment every time I save, every time I borrow, and every time I walk through the lobby. I’m a financial powerhouse, and it only took $5.

   You really want to hook Gen – Y? Explain to them that Credit Union membership means owning your own bank.

So, what’s the lesson for the day? Well :

• Social Network friending doesn’t mean anything. I’m friends with people I’ve never met. Odds are, they only friended you to drive up their friendship number or as a novelty.
• Online services are important, but they’re only one leg on the table. Match, don’t surpass, your online with your over-the-phone, e-mail and personal services.
• Never lose your focus on PEOPLE. At the end of the day, Gen – Y wants to be treated well by their CU. That matters more than hip-hop and iPods and, yes, even Hannah Montana.

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