Reinvent Your Public Relations Strategy

With the economy beginning to show signs of a resurgence, now is the time to reinvent your credit union or community bank public relations strategy. Why now? With more than a year of navigating the unfamiliar territories of the pandemic, we are now transitioning to life post-COVID. People’s needs, desires, and day-to-day routines are changing. Are you meeting these new needs?

To meet your members and customers where they are today, start by developing a PR game plan. It does not have to be difficult nor time intensive. Here are ways to help your credit union or community bank public relations strategy be more relevant, resonate better with your members/customers, and build a stronger reputation:

Start listening

This is the foundation of your PR efforts. What are your employees hearing from members/customers? What service lines and products are people leaning into now? What social media content are people engaging in more? What pages on your website are being visited most? What are your customer service surveys telling you? How are new members/customers finding you? Where is your key audience spending its time?

The more you listen, the more relevant you become in your messaging. It’s time to say goodbye to COVID buzzwords like “unprecedent times,” “new normal,” “pivot,” and “we’re all in this together.” Use what you’re hearing from your members/customers to tailor a message that meets them where they are today.

Focus on people

Develop a PR game plan that provides solutions to peoples’ problems, answers to their questions, offers guidance and builds trust. What’s trending in your community and in the news? What challenges are your members/customers experiencing? The answers to these questions will help you develop a people-centric strategy. Consider establishing direct channels of communication with your team, members/customers and the community. This can include Q&A blogs, regular video messages, securing morning show interviews with a local radio or TV station, presenting to community groups and Chambers of Commerce, and more. Remember, be strategic in where you place your message, so it hits the right audience at the right time.

Create a splash

How you share your message and who to share it with will make an impact on your business. For example, take a blog that answers a question and provides a solution and kick it up a notch. Use the blog to pitch a story to the local media to share the solution with your entire community. Develop it into a video blog so people can better connect with your team members. Develop social media posts around the topic so you can create online conversations and gain additional insight from your members/customers. You get the point. Don’t rely on a one hit wonder. Create a splash by leveraging the content in various ways so more people directly benefit from your message. In turn, you will benefit too.

Your success is about people, so take the time today to reinvent your public relations strategies. Ensure you listen – a lot – to continually meet the needs of your members, customers and the community. If you need help reinventing your financial institution’s marketing strategy, contact us at Chartwell Agency. We can help you get the right message out to the right audience at the right time.