I got to fill in for a speaker that fell ill at the CUES Convention in Montreal earlier this week. Since I was “punting” so to speak, Christopher Stevenson let me speak on anything I wanted. I decided to bring out the controversial Marketing to Gen Y piece I debuted last month. This session creates quite a stir and I love it!
I believe that this recession is going to cause no less than a revolution in the way we view marketing. I feel like old marketing is on one side of the river and new marketing on the the other and no one has figured out a way to build a bridge to connect the two.
So we just stay on our side and defend it.
And those on the other side of the river, (the Trey Reemes, Tim McAlpines and Jonathan Gowins of the CU world) are seen as well, not really marketing. They’re social media dudes.
Three things I know for sure:
1. The average age of a credit union member is 48. If we don’t young-it-up soon we will literally die.
2. Generation Y is not going to respond to your direct mail, come into a branch and read your brochures or listen to you radio ad.
3. We have to stop STALKING our members and need to start TALKING to them.
Many people claim that Twitter is the new black. I think Twitter is the “it tool” for sure. And a great way to cut your teeth on this new way of marketing.
The biggest “push back” I get from audiences when I talk about Tweeting and Blogging is “Well, how much TIME does it take?”
My answer is “As much time as you want.”
This was an older group in Montreal. I know cuz I asked them. Three from the greatest generation, one from Gen X, zero from Gen Y and the rest, Boomers. No surprise.
So I asked “How many of you still read the newspaper every day.” Almost every hand went up. Then I followed up with “How much time does that take?” One guy answered “It depends if the Red Sox won or not and if anything interesting happened in the world.” Exactly. That’s how much time you will spend on social media. It depends. How interested are you?
I was online during the presentation and just for fun kicked it out to live Twitter. My network never disappoints. CUNA had posted a news bulletin, I clicked on the link, it was definitely relevant information for these volunteers. The big point I was able to make. In the “newspaper” world you MIGHT read about this in a month or two when the CU Times or CU Journal finally made its way to your In box. Am I right? All agreed. In the social media world – blammo. You got it now.
Markets are getting smarter, faster. There’s no excuse for being ignorant anymore.
The only way we can MAKE time for this new way of communicating is by giving up some of our old ways. My preference would be to just rip that band-aid off and stop ALL direct mail, radio, newspaper, television……..but I think that would kill some people.
So how do we bridge that gap between what has always been and where we need to go?
5 comments
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June 29, 2009 at 4:30 pm
James Robert Lay
Hey Denise… just wanted to drop you a line. Your thoughts above freekin’ rock. We have worked on some CU Gen Y projects that are starting to see results. We have actually lowered the average age of the CU member (which was 48) down to 42. And the cool thing is it was done cheaper than what traditional marketing costs. Nice to show a BOD a kick ass ROI.
One thought though we are seeing with Twitter is that it has not caught on yet in the Gen Y High arena. This is more of a Gen Y U and even more of a a Gen Y Pro thing.
There are ton’s of debates going on about this right now but you said it perfect above: We have to stop STALKING our members and need to start TALKING to them.
It’s all about connecting, communicating and growing relationships with them.
I did see an interesting stat today. Forgot where as Twitter streams and RSS feeds push new data and info through out the day and sometimes it’s hard to keep up.
Anyway, it says that boomers make up the biggest demo online now. Interesting thought to think about when developing a social web marketing strategy.
June 30, 2009 at 5:08 am
Denise Wymore
James,
Thanks so much for chiming in. I’m a big fan of your work!
That doesn’t surprise me about Twitter usage among Gen Y. Until twitter can be easily accessed on ANY cell phone, Gen Y High can’t afford it (the iPhone made a huge mistake by partnering with AT&T IMHO).
I’m sure Boomers are the biggest demo online right now, compared to Gen Xers because of their size. That was one of the points I was trying to make here – Boomers have cast this cloud of complacency on us. There are so many of them that we get a sense that “we’ll be okay” if we continue to serve them well.
We only KNOW how to serve them. So I have no concerns about “being okay” for now…..but as they age. And oh yes, it happens to all of us – even boomers, WE will die. Literally…….and to make that jump from what a boomer needs to what a Gen Yers needs – that’s science fiction.
My fear is not that we will lose this crowd to the banks. In fact, I’m sure we won’t. My fear is that there is a Steve Jobs or a Jeff Bezos out there looking at this thing we call “banking” and saying, “Jheeez, why does this have to be so hard?” They are going to iPod or Kindle the banking world. And we’ll be sitting in our board planning sessions still debating whether or not we should open a branch on a Saturday or expand our weekday hours until 6pm.
It’s not a demographic problem – it’s psychographic. Demographic refers to their age – to really win in the psychographic world we need to solve a problem.
One of the problems GenY is going to face – getting a loan. I think Zopa was before its time in the CU space. Now more than ever Gen Y is going to need access to micro lending. A small loan to fix their car, for example. . And not in the form of Pay Day lending, VISA limit increase or worse yet “Courtesy Pay.” The good old fashioned one-time line of credit. We forgot how to do those.
Whew – anyway. you’ve inspired another post…thanks James!
June 30, 2009 at 6:47 am
James Robert Lay
Hi Denise. Thx for your kind words!
You make a good point about mobile access for Twitter. Taking a slice out of our office, there are 5 active twitter users and 2 inactive twitter users. The five all have mobile access via our BB (3 users) and iPhone (2 users). I agree with you about ATT. I run BB simply for the fact that i was not going to jump ship for the phone.
You are point on again with your thoughts about Boomers. I guess the point that I was trying to make is that SM can be thought about now for three markets (Gen Y, X and Boomers).
I gotta say that i was super stoked and excited to see: http://www.spendsavelive.com. There is huge potential here for this across multiple markets and generations.
It really is a tricky mix when you break things down. Gen Y is the future of the credit union. My feel from conversations and meetings is there are alot of old school BODs and CEOs out there who don’t know or don’t care about the future of their credit union.
They see Gen Y as a bunch of punk ass kids as opposed to the future of the credit union. They see Gen Y as a liability (in terms of marketing dollars) as opposed to an asset (like boomers).
Yes… boomers have money in the here and now. That’s nice but you can’t look at the here and now… you must look up and out.
Going back to your thoughts, you are correct that this is not a demographic issue but a pyschographic issue that i touched on above: FEAR.
Fear of the unknown, fear of the future, fear of “losing money and not getting a return”. The thing is… have they thought about fear of an entire movement failing. The fear of conversation.
Yes… these may be harsh words (and could be much stronger). However, I have seen credit unions make publishing Gen Y content an act of congress. We manage content for alot of Gen Y blogs and some credit unions give us full freedom and TRUST us.
Some, the content must go through a simple review process… no biggie, i am cool with that.
Some, the content must go through five sets of eyes, compliance, legal and this is just a simple blog post we wrote or 3-4 minute podcast script. Talk about killing ROI from increasing internal costs. But… there is a lot more being killed here.
I believe that it is in this process that many things happen. Creativity is crushed, ideas are lost, communication is canned and the true member relationship no longer matters.
What we are doing is not rocket science… it’s simply about doing the right thing, not selling a product or service and just being good people who want to talk. Another fear I think some have is communication. The time it takes… what they might say and what they really think… do we want to know this?
Finally, from a Gen Y perspective, we have been doing a lot of things offline for credit unions. Not direct mail pieces, but simply getting out in the community and building relationships. Not selling a product but listening and conversing. Not talking about rates but talking about life.
July 2, 2009 at 5:19 am
Denise Wymore
James,
I twittered your comments hoping to get more people to join this conversation. I got a few direct tweets saying “good stuff” but it’s funny that no one was willing to JOIN this conversation. That was your biggest and greatest point IMHO.
I think most marketers are used to the “campaign zone.” A start and a finish and a tidy little ROI (using some of the most creative math I’ve ever seen).
But Generation Y requires a long term commitment – like any relationship it takes time to build. In most cases we no longer have the advantage of common bond among an employer. So if we DO get a Gen Y in the house, they’ve likely heard about us from a friend. And they are not going to plunk down and give us 3.2 services per household on the first date. It’s gonna take time to build that trust.
You’re so right about listening. That’s why I think credit scoring as the be all end all to risk management will not work with this group. We’re going to have to get back to the three C’s. Character, capacity, collateral. Character was about that gut feeling – listening to their situation and in many cases taking a chance.
I could go on and on. This has really become my passion. Thanks for playing!
July 2, 2009 at 5:48 am
James Robert Lay
Interesting that no one else wants to play and chime in. I love this stuff.
The one month and three month campaign are no longer as effective. Everyone does them in all kinds of markets. just listen to the radio (oh wait i don’t… i have sirius), turn on the TV (um… DVR), read a newspaper (no thank you… i prefer to save trees), look in the mailbox (i recycle mail faster than you can say… stamp), or look at outdoor signage (i drive 100mph while texting).
Once again, this is just me and i do not represent the entire Gen Y market. I am too the extreme. For example, my wife does not Facebook or Twitter (probably never will). She is first generation American and technology was not a major part of growing up (but was for me). I would say she is on the opposite end but like me, everything is about relationships for her. From where she shops, eats and went to school. Yes… she may not be uber connected but trust is everything.
The point is, marketing channels are constantly sending messages out. And typically in the same fashion. One month we do this. The next quarter we do that. But… what if we take that idea and trash it.
Instead of sending messages out, what if we stay quite and listen. You may hear a whole lot more and be able to adapt quicker, move faster and become more efficient through relationships.
I believe a very successful marketing strategy, though hard to sell, is a life long campaign. This may be hard to grasp for 70 – 80 year old BODs b/c they will be dead in 10 – 15 years and it won’t matter to them. Once again, it’s the hereand now principal (not really that different to what Gen Y wants… maybe just human nature).
BTW… thank for the follow on Twitter. That just came in.
Like you said, Gen Y is a long term commitment and takes time to earn trust, gain respect and build confidence. However, all those things must be loved and cared for b/c like any relationship, once you blow it (lose the trust and respect)… it’s over.
The common bond of employer has been replaced by community. I truly believe this presents great opportunities for credit unions to connect with the community and build relationships. Credit unions must get outside their comfort zones, out of their branches and into the streets.
We have a very exciting project coming up to help start another gen Y initiative for a credit union. While we have started and are working on a few, they are focused on the Gen Y high market and open to the community. However, the upcoming project is targeting Gen Y Pro and is for a large credit union that is SEG based. I am very excited about the challenges this will bring and we have a focus group planned for mid July. Can’t wait to start the conversation with them.