Champion Credit Union Gets Awesome Kudos in Newspaper Article

Champion Credit Union in Canton is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. It's one of our state's oldest credit unions (in fact, Champion is the oldest credit union in NC that doesn't have "postal" in its name).

A local newspaper near Canton, the Waynesville Enterprise-Mountaineer, did a fantastic front page article on the history of the credit union. Included in the story is the fact that a random encounter on an airplane ride inspired the founding of the credit union, and a fellow named Bergengren came to Canton to help organize the credit union.

Yeah, that Bergengren!

The story also shares some great information about how people in the mill community have relied upon Champion over the past three quarters of a century for their financial services.

You can read the story by clicking here. If you aren't touched by the loyalty and affection Champion members have for the credit union after reading this story, please quit your credit union job immediately and go work for a bank.

I Want Media Attention!!! (So Now What?!) – Part Two

Last week, we went over some of the media message channels you might want to consider if you’re looking to get attention for the work your credit union is doing and compared the pluses and minuses of each. We also threw out a few basic ideas about things that happen at your credit union that may be newsworthy.

With this baseline drawn, we’ll move into the most important aspects of getting your news out to the media. Many of these are common sense tips that will hopefully be easy to implement. Some will take legwork, but they are well worth the time investment.

The first and most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to put yourself in front of reporters to get in the media game. Meet a reporter for coffee or lunch, or spend some time on the phone with them. The purpose of the meeting is twofold – introducing yourself and the credit union to the reporter, and listening to the reporter so you can get a feel for what types of stories they are looking for in general.

This process can be a bit time consuming, especially if your credit union covers a lot of geographic territory. But this time investment helps you in two ways – you put a face with your name when you send material in, and you find out what types of information you should send. It can also help you out when a crisis hits the credit union (embezzlement for instance) – if the reporter knows you, you’re much more likely to get a fair hearing than if you’re some faceless person at Brand-X Credit Union.

Building relationships with reporters is important, but getting your news placed in the media is also depended upon another form of detail work – how complete the information is that you provide. One of the more common mistakes I see credit union people make when they send information to me is that they give very little detail about their events.

Sometimes, I’ll literally get two sentences on a credit union’s biggest events of the year, including annual meeting summaries or big fundraisers! Since the League loves to see credit unions shine, we’ll usually call or email people back to get more information so we can post these on our web site or publish them in Focus.

A reporter won’t call back for more information if you leave out details (why should they?), so you’d better make sure you’re giving them as much information as possible. In general, be sure to include six essential pieces of information in your press releases: who, what, when, where, why and how.

On that same note, send a good quality digital photograph in with your press releases after events happen. Odds are that reporters are not going to attend your annual meeting, but a complete press release and photo of the event increases your chance of getting a little coverage.

The final tip to consider is to be creative in getting attention. The Northwest Chapter holds a golf tournament each year. Over the past three years, they’ve reached out to a local radio station that has promoted the tournament and even had a couple of radio personalities play in the tournament each year! The chapter also appears on the local television station in Winston-Salem to talk about the tournament and credit unions. These efforts not only promote the tournament, but also position credit unions as organizations working together to improve the community.

So I encourage you to look for opportunities to be creative with the media process, and get to know the men and women who bring the news to your community each week. Granted, these rules are not etched in stone. What makes for a nice news item in smaller papers like the Hickory Daily Record or Jacksonville Sun won’t even be considered by big dailies like the Charlotte Observer. However, these tips will work in many communities.

As always, the League is happy to assist with media outreach and story pitching. A media contact list is located here on our web site. We also have press release templates available for you to download and use in the Marketing Resource Center. Let me know if you have any questions or comments!

I Want Media Attention!!! (So Now What?!)

Yesterday, I got a chance to see the folks in Hickory at the Foothills Chapter meeting. The chapter is composed of many credit unions that started up in the area’s manufacturing heyday. (The Hickory area is widely known for its furniture manufacturing, although a lot of those jobs have gone overseas the past ten years.)

With so many changes in the economy and the world, it's more important than ever for credit unions to "get in the game" when it comes to public relations. Consumers are bombarded with ads from banks in a variety of ways. We cannot as a movement afford to remain silent any longer - we've got to get the word out about who we are, what we do and how we do it!

The folks at these credit unions wanted a short primer on how to get their news items placed in the media. So we took a few moments to discuss the pluses and minuses of different media channels (television versus print versus radio), and identified opportunities for them to get their news out into the public square.

In comparing some of the different media in the Hickory area, quite a few opportunities emerged. While every city is different, there are a few guidelines that are pretty much universal:

-- Local newspapers offer the best opportunity to get news items placed. Generally speaking, they contain many different sections where news from the credit union would be appropriate (more on what to send later). In addition, newspaper advertising is generally fairly cost-effective when compared to television.

-- Radio can be a good fit on three different levels. First, for those radio stations with a local news reporter, some news items will occasionally be appropriate to send. Second, radio stations do community announcements, which are perfect, free opportunities for credit unions. Third, radio stations with locally-produced shows (especially in the morning) can be good spots for you to talk about what your event (especially if you’re doing a community fundraiser or creative event). Radio advertising is usually fairly cost effective.

-- Television is tough! Not only are the advertising costs fairly high, TV news looks for visual types of stories with lots of movement. Credit unions and banks usually do not generate that kind of news (and when they do, bad things are usually happening!). A couple of exceptions include morning television shows, which can offer opportunities to appear and talk about your credit union’s activities. Also, cable companies are increasingly hopping into the TV news business and these operations produce news 24/7. These cable-based news channels can also be good outlets for credit unions.
Overall, I wouldn’t ignore the TV medium entirely but I would also be very selective about what types of information you send, and to whom you send it.

-- Finally there are alternative channels. Look around for “low hanging fruit” in your community – free opportunities to communicate your events and news. Examples might be alternative newspapers or the community announcements channel on cable. (If you’re really brave, go on public access TV!) Another can be bulletin boards at the local grocery or book store that allow people to post fliers (heck, they even supply the thumbtacks!!!).

So now that we’ve identified some of the media message channels to consider, let’s take a look at a few opportunities through the year where you can send out a press release and hopefully get some attention. Granted, it takes a little time to get this information together, but the payoff of a third party communicating your messages for free is well worth the time investment. So consider sending these announcements to the media as a minimum through the year:

-- Annual meeting announcements – send information out beforehand to let people know the meeting is coming up, and then after-the-fact (with a good photo) to summarize what happened.

-- Board election results – give your volunteers a little free publicity! Send out a press release (and photo) for each board member to the newspapers in your area. Your board will love you for it, and the newspaper’s readers will be happy to see their friends and neighbors spotlighted!

-- Staff promotions, hires and other news – showcase people who work at your credit union, and celebrate your employees’ success when they advance in their careers.

-- Charitable and community events – helping out your neighbors? Tell folks about it! It’s a good way to get your news out there, and it also allows the non-profit community agency you are supporting to get some positive promotion.

Now that we’ve summarized a few of the different message channels and opportunities to spread the word, the question becomes how to actually share your information in a way that will ensure success. We’ll tackle the issues of how to write a good press release and how to send it to the right people in part two, next week!

The Great Thursday Road Show

After a spectacular run of 80 degree weather, winter is trying to make a comeback here in the South. If the weather guessers are right, we're headed for the 20's this weekend. (Time for a disclosure - I used to be a TV weatherman before I became a PR lackey. It's been a good career move ... these days, I sleep a lot better and lie a lot less.) :)

Meteorological changes aside, it's a Great Thursday. The Braves managed an outstanding 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies last night. The game turned on a spectacular eighth inning relay throw from Jeff Francouer to Kelly Johnson to Brian McCann that absolutely nailed Ryan Howard at the plate. Dude was road-kill!

Speaking of the road (terrible segue I know), it's also a Great Thursday because I'm hitting the road to visit a couple of credit union success stories today. First up is a trip to Kilwin's, an ice cream shop in Cary. Kilwin's is newly opened thanks to a member business loan provided to the Hernandez family by Coastal Federal Credit Union.

Credit unions don't talk a lot about their business lending success stories, and we really should. A few credit unions here in NC make loans to help folks like the Hernandez family open small retail businesses.

Many other CUs provide loans to members who open lawn care and other small businesses. While not a business loan in the strict sense of the word, the jobs and opportunities created are the same as the loans made by Coastal.

After visiting the Hernandez family in Cary, I'll be off to Food Lion Credit Association CU's annual meeting in Salisbury. It's a big night for them, as they are celebrating their 25th anniversary -- and officially unveiling their new name. (I'll post a link to the story and the name later tonight.)

The Food Lion staff, headed up by John McGrail, is absolutely committed to serving its members -- and they're some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. It'll be a great crew to hang out with on a Great Thursday evening.

Afterward, it's off to Good Friday and a three-day weekend. Y'all have a great weekend!

Jeff

GREAT Ad Campaign and Promotion on the West Coast!

Hey folks,

Greetings from NC, where it is sunny and 80 degrees! Spring is showing up everywhere here on baseball's opening day.

The Braves won already, and I am about 30 minutes away from a bike ride. Does life get any better?

Anyway, I wanted to link you all up with a great ad campaign underway at Boeing Employees' CU in Seattle. This campaign is being reported on by the Netbanker blog. Check it out - it's smart ... and the "headline number" puts ING to shame! http://www.netbanker.com/2007/04/boeing_employees_credit_union_becu_markets_highrate_savings_checking.html

Yours in biking (and baseball)!
Jeff