Tell me a Story

Credit unions are brilliant at marketing that the owners are their members.

What psychological impact does that have? Well... A lot.

True Ownership= Real Loyalty

Often in the banking world customers often hear about "shareholders". This is often an either foreign or meaningless word to most people. Then when something goes wrong, people often find it easy to switch rather than working a situation out.

Think about your first purchase as a youth, that thing that you saved up months for. How did you treat the item? Or remember how you asked that special someone to be yours forever after a lot of time and money invested in him or her?

Generally, most people treated that relationship or item very well. When there is ownership there is an increase of positive behaviors and stronger relationships.

Think about it, this is why the U.S. Government stepped in to offer 30 year mortgages. The science showed that homeownership meant less crime, more productive people, and a better society.

There are more studies where employee stock plans (ESP's) have been shown to create greater loyalty and ownership of their respective jobs.

What people in general fail to realize about "shareholders" is that they themselves are just that! Any company offering a 401k or some sort of retirement plan are investing in mutual funds that more often than not have a bank holding company in it.

But still explaining this to customers would be worthless because just telling someone that does not engender feelings of loyalty.

So how should banks compete with the message that members are owners?

Stay tuned for strange and bizarre thoughts from a deranged banker.