Top digital marketing trends in 2014

by. Sean McDonald

The world, and thus the credit union industry is going digital.  People can either choose to accept this fact or to try their best to ignore it.  But numbers don’t lie: 2 billion smartphones activated by the end of 2013, 1 billion + Facebook users, 500 + million Tweeters, the same number for Google +, Pinterest, Instagram, large increases in digital marketing budgets, etc.

Credit unions must keep up with the changing landscape and will need to enhance their marketing platforms in order to do so.  In fact, in the not-too-distant future, credit union marketing professionals will need to be educated and trained to use digital marketing tactics (if they are not already.)  But it’s going to have to go deeper than a cursory understanding of what digital marketing is.  Indeed, implementation and use of things like “responsive web design” will have to be part of a credit union marketer’s skill set.  Never heard of “responsive web design?”  It would benefit you to do some research on it!  Marketers also need to get used to collecting data, analyzing it, and using it systematically to reach their target audiences.  Marketers can no longer hide from these realities!!

I humbly suggest that the following 4 trends will be the hottest in 2014:

Content Marketing – no one wants to be sold to anymore.  Consumers want fresh, relevant, and timely informational content.  This means that credit union marketers are going to have to start creating this content themselves.  It will be much more credible if the consumer can see that you didn’t just post a link to someone else’s story.  Don’t worry – you can still use those links but in order to truly position your credit union as an expert, you’ll have to write original content as well.  And remember, people buy from experts.

continue reading »