"When the Wells Fargo news broke, it's been funny listening to the individual reactions from the 34 credit unions we work with," Bo McDonald, president of Your Marketing Co. in Greenville, S.C., said. "Some of them said they are going to stay far away this and others said let the banks deal with it."

Credit unions like the $118 million Inspire Credit Union didn't want to point fingers at the Wells Fargo mess directly, but in a more indirect and humorous way. The Bristol, Pa.-based credit union posted a message to members and nonmembers on its Facebook page about the enduring value proposition and difference of the cooperative movement.

"We posted something like this on Inspire Federal Credit Union's Facebook page and it's been one of the most popular posts on the credit union's site," McDonald said. "It wasn't a direct slam on Wells Fargo, but it was more of a reminder that we know a lot of members and nonmembers have accounts at other banks, but at Inspire Federal Credit Union we're here to help you. I think it's a good opportunity to just restate the value propositions of the individual credit union and the industry as a whole."

Meredith Olmstead, inbound marketing consultant and cofounder of Social Stairway, holds a different view.

"In my industry [Inbound Marketing] this is referred to as "news-jacking" and it can be seen as opportunistic for sure, especially if the situation is sad in nature," Olmstead said. "In the case of Wells Fargo, maybe a funny meme here or there on social media would be fine and engaging for followers, but I think designing an entire campaign around Wells Fargo's misbehavior would be a mistake. Really, I wouldn't advise credit unions to associate themselves with the story in any way that is serious or relates to their own products or services."

Samantha Strickland, owner and CEO of ThePodAdvertising.com in Tallahassee, Fla., said from a marketing standpoint, she believes there's an appropriate credit union way to respond to the Wells Fargo situation – and that's to focus on the positive message that credit unions are about – people before profit.

"Messages like, 'We'll never sell you a product you don't need' and 'Our staff is trained to listen to your needs,' will go a long way to differentiate your culture from the 'Wells Fargo way,'" Strickland said. "Also, it's a great opportunity to look internally at training and incentive practices. Is your credit union really training staff to assess member needs? Take this moment to reaffirm the credit union's commitment to selling through educating and helping people versus pushing products to enhance the bottom line."

Strickland pointed out that credit unions should not be afraid of a sales culture simply because Wells Fargo made a mistake in their "sell or sink" culture.

"It all comes down to training," she said. "Sales should be based on members' needs assessment, not what score an employee needs in order to meet a quota. Credit unions must to empower staff to listen and respond, not require them to be product pushers."

Filene's research shows, however, that while busy consumers are online searching for loans, they are very product driven. That presents a challenge for credit unions on how to distinguish its products from banks to help time-constrained and impatient consumers understand the credit union difference in a quick, effective way.

One of the value propositions of credit unions is that it charges members less fees and lower interest rates than banks.

Tansley Stearns, Filene's chief impact officer, offered an example of showing consumers how much they can save in interest rates and fees by selecting the credit union's credit card over the other bank in town.

"So on the product pages, it's how we tie in the crisp and clear messages about the credit union difference and impact that are tied into the products, and even on the financial literacy side that is really short and sweet, and not, 'Come spend an hour with us at a seminar,'" Stearns said.

The messages can be communicated through short videos or other brief print messages that can quickly guide consumers through a simplified process of applying for loans that demonstrates the credit union difference of helping, not selling.

Still, it seems, the home pages of randomly selected credit unions are dominated by product promotions, gimmicks and superlative marketing clichés, which signal to consumers that cooperatives are not different than banks, credit union marketers argue.

Some credit unions, like the $659 million Tropical Credit Union in Miramar, Fla., and the $267 million Dogwood Federal Credit Union in Beaumont, Texas, have transformed their websites to appeal to the emotional goodness of financial well-being that can help members feel positive about credit union banking. More importantly, these sites demonstrate how the credit union can help people advance their financial interests.

"We're banking on South Florida to help you feel good about banking. The same way a warm cup of coffee makes you feel," reads the copy on Tropical Financial's home page. "How can we help you feel good about banking?"

On the DuGood home page, the copy reads, "We do good for Southeast Texas by helping our friends and families FEEL Good about saving money. How can we do good for you?"

"You'll notice that there are no products being promoted on their home pages," James Robert Lay, CEO of CU Grow in Houston, said, who helped the credit unions develop these new sites. "It's a simple message of how can we help you. It's all about help. It's not about selling. That's a big paradigm shift but I think this is a wake-up call for the industry."

Lay believes today's consumers, especially young consumers, have become mostly impervious to direct marketing and hard selling. Instead, they want a "financial Yoda," Lay explained, that can help navigate them through important decisions that can enhance their financial lives.

For example, Tropical Financial's auto loan product page doesn't just blast a new and lower interest rate, it guides the consumer through a simple four-step process of comparing auto loan rates, calculating monthly car payments, getting a preapproval that can save thousands of dollars and facilitating a haggle-free car shopping experience with the credit union's trusted auto advisors.

Tropical Financial's marketing approach, Lay said, is not about promoting the product per se, it's about what the consumer needs to know to make a good car-buying decision and have a good experience.

"That's completely different from 90% of financial institutions' websites that list the product features and nothing else," Lay said.

Matt Purvis, president of Purvis Management in Eugene, Ore., finds that the No. 1 challenge for many credit unions is establishing its differentiation.

"The playing field of differentiation isn't marketing, it's consumer experience," Purvis said. "Professor Michael Porter from Harvard University, undoubtedly one of the best gurus about business strategy, and one of his quotes about strategy is choosing to perform your activities differently than your rivals do. Pretty simple, pretty elegant."

He pointed out that the single most defining activity to consumers is the sales process and if credit unions don't do that differently, then consumers will sensibly conclude that you're just another bank.

"The way I try to communicate this is in the credit union space is to say, listen, you are a co-op. You are here to serve the best interests of your member," Purvis explained. "That's the brand story. People find it really compelling. Let's sell that. Our people will love selling that. They believe in it. If you sell the brand, the products and services sell themselves. We know the public wants high integrity, honest, straightforward financial products and services. The public has never been better primed for this."