The credit union hopes that by pairing two popular offerings, adoption of each will continue to increase. The Buzz Points program provides extra award points for shopping at local merchants, as well as debit card transactions and the use of other credit union services.

FCCU launched its mobile app a year and a half ago with the idea that it did not want members to employ different apps for its services.

"We want them to be able to log into the FCCU mobile app and take care of their business," Frawley explained.

By integrating the Buzz Points program into the mobile app, members can go to a drop-down menu to view their activity and accumulated points. They can redeem points for gift certificates or donate to local charities. Members can redeem points via e-gift certificates sent to their smartphone or print them from email.

The credit union is able to promote local organizations through the program.

"We reward them more highly when they shop locally rather than the national chain," Frawley explained.

"Fort Community is yet another example of a community financial institution looking to serve its local market through innovation," Robb Gaynor, Malauzai's chief product officer, said. "Their decision to integrate the Buzz Points program into the new FCCU mobile app is the perfect way to connect community financial institutions with Main Street businesses owners. This integration should drive adoption of both programs, benefiting the credit union, its members and local businesses."

Being able to pull together local small businesses with members seems a natural fit for credit unions. "There is a benefit to them playing that intermediary banking roll," Gaynor said.

Utilizing Buzz Points helps credit unions increase debit card usage and overall engagement, Gaynor pointed out.

Read more: The program offers income opportunities for credit unions …

"The credit union is pretty aggressive to do something like this. There is some real innovation here. It our job to enable them to do things like this," he said.

Gaynor also emphasized that utilizing such a program was a potential revenue generating play for credit unions and banks hungry for income opportunities.

"Anything to increase interchange fees and debit card usage is potentially a big deal," he said, adding, "We like that community local angle that Buzz developed."

Local merchants see the benefit as well.

"They really saw the value in it because it cost significantly less than what they would pay for just one newspaper advertisement," Frawley said. "With that they can get targeted emails to the members that shop with them. And they are exposed to analytics that small local businesses are not usually able to receive."

For example, one local store was frustrated because people were driving 30 minutes away to find a better deal at a big box store.

"We were able to do a data search within our members' transactions, find which members were going to those [big box] stores, and send them an email offer with a coupon for that small local business to encourage them to shop locally," Frawley noted.

That created an opportunity for local merchants to experience what other marketing channels could do for them. When members produced cards with the Buzz Points logo merchants became aware of the brand recognition with their own loyal customers.

"It's been a big win-win for our community," Frawley said.

"A lot of legacy players are not as focused on the customers, they are not leveraging new technology, and they are not rewarding customers for engaging with local brands or local merchants. Buzz Points is really focused on the local community," said Mark Johnson, CEO/CMO of Loyalty360, a clearinghouse committed to bringing loyalty to the forefront as a critical marketing strategy.

Johnson emphasized that loyalty programs are about generating experiences that create emotional connections with the customer.

"When you look at community financial institutions, they have a different relationship than the big banks. It all centers on making it simple, making it engaging to the consumer."

The integration of rewards points and mobile banking fit right into FCCU's grand plan.

"We're moving to more of a retail focus with sales and service, and more holistic approach to serving our members," Frawley explained.