Visions Federal Credit Union is one of the largest credit unions in the Northeast and the country with more than 230,000 members and $5.5 billion in assets. Visions wanted to make a bigger push to business owners and feed their growing base of members and assets, not to mention some outstanding business products that we dubbed the “Business Services Suite.”
Research showed us, however, that the business services were not unique and we would need to develop messaging focused on banking local. Under the tagline “A True Partner for Your Business and Your Community,” messaging was rooted in Visions’ signature commitment to community and delivered to small businesses of no more than 15 employees. We wanted to emphasize that by backing local businesses, Visions helps strengthen the communities these businesses call home. To illustrate this, Visions made a substantial donation to local Chambers of Commerce for each new signup.
We created a web page that explained all the components of our Business Services Suite, made the connection between business and Visions’ community support and also offered an easy connection with a dedicated branch consultant (“Business Expert”).
We took a two-prong approach to get people to that page, creating mailers that went to the actual businesses, but the homes of the owners as well. This was complemented with print ads in local business journals as well as retargeted digital ads aimed at those who visited the page.
The campaign, which influenced a 24 percent increase in member (163 new accounts) businesses compared to the previous year, was recognized by the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) with a prestigious Diamond Award.