Survey Results: Small Credit Union Marketing Challenges and 2025 Goals

As part of our 2024 Small Credit Union Grant initiative, we surveyed 27 credit unions, all based in the US, to get a feel for their biggest marketing hurdles. The participating credit unions had assets ranging from 4 million to 134 million.

We asked small credit unions two main questions:

• Describe your Credit Union's current marketing challenges

• What are your Credit Union's primary marketing goals for the next year (2025)?

They're all facing similar struggles—mainly around limited resources, brand visibility, and maintaining a solid digital presence. Competing with big banks, keeping members engaged, and standing out in a crowded market are tough battles. By sharing these common issues, we hope to spark some collaboration to help tackle these things together.  

The top Marketing Challenge reported...  

Resource Constraints. Credit unions surveyed have small teams and tight budgets, making it challenging to execute marketing campaigns and adopt new tech.

Summary of Marketing Challenges Faced by Small Credit Unions:

Limited Resources & Budget Constraints: Limited budgets make it difficult to execute marketing campaigns or adopt new technologies. Limited staffing means marketing responsibilities are often spread thin across teams or managed by a single individual.

Brand Awareness & Visibility: Competing with larger financial institutions and fintech companies that have more extensive marketing resources. Many potential members need to know the credit union's existence or understand its offerings.

Digital Presence & Marketing Knowledge: There are challenges in keeping up with the latest digital marketing trends, managing social media, maintaining an engaging website, and lacking in-house expertise in social media strategy, ad design, data analysis, and member journey techniques.

Member Engagement & Retention: It's challenging to keep current members engaged and informed. Onboarding new members and effectively cross-selling are often left undone.  Reaching underserved communities or niche membership groups is a challenge due to limited channels or misconceptions about membership eligibility.

Compliance & Regulations:  Navigating the complex landscape of financial regulations is time-consuming and requires specialized knowledge, which can be lacking in small marketing teams.

Content Creation & Strategy Development: Struggles to develop and distribute relevant, engaging content that resonates with current and potential members. Difficulty balancing day-to-day tasks with the need to focus on strategic marketing initiatives.

Community Outreach & Relationship Building: Engaging with local communities is essential but can be limited by the number of events one person can attend or manage. 

Technology Adoption & Utilization: Implementing new marketing tools and technologies to streamline processes is hindered by budget constraints and the need for technical skills. Marketing automation tools and templates are needed to help optimize limited resources and time.

The top Goals for 2025 reported...

Membership / Loan / Deposit Growth

Financial Education and Member Engagement 

Technology Updates

Summary of 2025 goals and needs for Small Credit Unions: 

Grow Membership: Reported ideas include: Targeted Outreach to focus on younger demographics through targeted campaigns. Referral Programs to encourage current members to refer new members. Increase presence at community events, local fairs, employer events, etc to build awareness

Drive Loan and Credit Applications: Reported ideas include: Improve Member Journey: Simplify the loan application process and showcase product benefits. Use member data to tailor loan product marketing based on specific needs.

Increase Deposit Account Volume: Reported ideas include Incentive Programs: Offer rewards for opening new accounts, direct deposit  or increasing balances.

Enhance Member Relationships: Reported ideas include: Identify opportunities to offer additional products based on current member needs. Create personalized communication to meet member needs versus wide broadcast messages. Create tailored communication for different income levels to promote financial inclusion.

Expand Digital Marketing Efforts: Find a balance between traditional advertising (radio, newspaper) & digital marketing. Develop a digital marketing strategy to better reach and engage current and potential members.

Support Community Outreach and Financial Literacy: Engage with the community to raise awareness of financial products and services. Create educational content and workshops to increase financial literacy among younger and underserved populations.

Improve Brand Awareness and Recognition: Develop a unified and professional look for all marketing campaigns to stand out against larger competitors. Strengthen the brand's position as a trusted financial partner in the community.

Facilitate Smooth Transitions During Core Changes: Communicate clearly with members about changes to core systems and new digital services. 

Utilize Marketing Resources Efficiently: Leverage marketing tools and compliance support to streamline marketing efforts. Focus on strategic planning and consistent messaging to improve member engagement and outreach effectiveness.

What about your credit union?  Do you have similar goals and challenges? 

How can CuCurator Help?

The similar challenges that credit unions are facing, including lack of resources, are exactly why we created CuCurator. 

We help you overcome limited resources: CuCurator is a game-changer for small teams, enabling you to run professional marketing campaigns without needing a big budget.  With Guided Marketing Campaigns, our content editable in Canva.  We provide Monthly Social Post Packs & Digital Guidance + plus you have access to our growing library of content. 

Discover how our marketing hub helps credit unions reach their goals! Schedule a demo.