Felipe Gil has seen technology cause some hesitancy among credit unions. The CEO/co-founder at Prisma Campaigns wants to ease that reluctance by ensuring mature platforms exist to deepen relationships between credit unions and their members.

Prisma Campaigns automates member outreach and allows credit unions to meet members where they are. The CUNA Strategic Services alliance provider works with about 35 credit unions ranging from $200 million to $5 billion in assets.

We recently caught up with Gil to learn more about marketing automation.

CUNA News: Tell me about Prisma Campaigns.

Felipe Gil: It's a marketing automation platform that allows credit unions to automate member outreach based on data and through a variety of channels.

The traditional way of viewing marketing automation is orchestrating email journeys and so on. We have mixed this idea by using data, allowing credit unions to deliver personalized communications across their own online banking and mobile apps.

Q: What are the components of marketing automation?

A: The obvious component is automating low-value, repetitive tasks, like moving files from one system to another. It's also about increasing the number of touchpoints the credit union has with members and increasing the value and relevance of the touchpoints.

By using data and knowing their members, credit unions can deliver relevant messages.

It's about meeting members where they are. We think of email as the main way of contacting members. But credit unions are using other channels like online banking and mobile apps, so you need the capability to use these channels to communicate what you offer.

It’s not just about doing the same things you were doing before in an automated way. It's about being able to do things you could never do without technology and data.

Q: How does marketing automation deepen member relationships?

A: It's a way of bringing more opportunities to members. It’s important for credit unions to match their members' needs and what’s relevant to them at that specific moment.

Credit unions can use marketing automation to fill the void left by the change from day-to-day in-branch contact. We want to provide credit unions with similar capabilities in the digital world—knowing their members, interacting with them, talking to them about relevant issues, and seeing their reactions.

Q: How has marketing automation changed over the years?

A: The vision is basically the same, but the implementation has changed.

It's good to have specialized solutions. But if they only solve one problem and they don't interact with the rest of the tech stack, it's complicated.

It doesn't make sense to have one solution for email, one for sending text messages, and another for uploading banners. They’re not in sync, and members may have already dismissed an offer on one channel and are still receiving emails offering them the same product.

We are seeing more interest from credit unions on solutions that have an open architecture and can integrate with what they already have.

Q: What’s a good starting point for adopting automated marketing?

A: A good starting point is to understand where you are in terms of data. Who owns it? Is there a data plan in place? How can I pull data from my core? What are other data sources I should consider?

Prioritizing is the second thing I would recommend—finding one campaign that is easy enough to start with and getting it right. It will teach you how easy it is to use your data and system.

Pick a campaign you can put into production, make it happen, and learn from it.

Q: What are some automated marketing best practices?

A: Here are five:

1. Personalize messages. You are showing members you know them and you’re offering an opportunity.
2. Take a multichannel or omnichannel approach.
3. Don’t bombard members with too many emails or repeating the same message.
4. Partner with your information technology (IT) team. Don't think of this as a marketing-only initiative. You will need IT’s participation in the process because data is critical.
5. Don't try too much too soon. Go step by step, understand where you are, and don't get blinded by all the possibilities.

Be ready to invest time before you save time. Some people think this is easy or it will solve all of their problems in one day. It’s not that way.

The benefits will come. It is worth it, but don't confuse this with pressing a button and having everything ready.

Don't think of marketing automation as a technology. It’s a journey. Always think about more effective ways to communicate with members.

This article is part of Marketing22, a CUNA News special report on marketing innovations, sponsored by Prisma Campaigns. Follow the conversation on Twitter via #Marketing22.