What Does it Take for Credit Unions to Drive Digital Growth?
New book says there are no shortcuts, only commitment that will lead to failures as "the cost of tuition" to achieve successes.
Published in May, James Robert Lay’s book, Banking on Digital Growth, may have arrived just in time.
If anything, the COVID-19 health and economic crisis has clearly demonstrated how critically important digital banking is after credit unions were forced to close or partially close their branches. Sure, there will always be a place for the branch, but while many employees are still working from home, credit unions are rethinking their branch positions and some of them have already decided to permanently close a portion of their branches and invest more resources into digital banking to drive growth now and into the future.
According to a new article to be published in the Aug. 12 of CU Times, Lay’s book focuses on how financial brands can leverage their digital banking channels to execute short-term and long-term digital marketing strategies. As the founder of the Digital Growth Institute in Houston, Lay holds 18 years of professional experience in working on many digital marketing projects with more than 520 credit unions and banks,
He has found that many financial brands get stuck and stifled when pursuing digital marketing strategies because they only dabble in it or they do it piecemeal, which always creates overwhelming frustration and confusion.
A reviewer of Lay’s book may have put it best when she posted these thoughts on Amazon: “As a professional in the field of financial marketing, and as one who prides herself on always looking to learn and grow in the ever-changing world of marketing – James Robert Lay’s book Banking on Digital Growth is exactly what this industry and all of its executives need – and need to read.”
Apparently, Lay’s book is getting noticed by credit union professionals who are looking for expertise on how to navigate through the complexities of digital marketing. On May 19, when his book was released, it rocketed to the No. 1 spot on Amazon’s Best Sellers List among sales and selling management books.
“If you really want exponential digital growth —- which is what is needed for financial brands – you’re going to have to transform your entire way of thinking, your marketing and sales strategic models, and all the habits that go along with it,” Lay wrote.
The book defines digital growth as a systematic process centered on the modern consumer journey that unites marketing, sales, operations and IT teams around the following goals, increasing website traffic, generating and nurturing leads and converting those leads into loans and deposits.
Sounds simple enough, but as Lay points out, it takes time, commitment, resources, and a lot of hard work that will lead to failures “as the cost of tuition” to achieve successes.
Read the entire article in the Aug. 12 edition of CU Times.