Florence (Ala.) Federal Credit Union’s International Credit Union (ICU) Day giveaway started with a simple idea: celebrate members.

“We’d already anticipated celebrating ICU Day, but it was going to be a simple lobby type of celebration,” says Gwen Crenshaw, marketing director at the $69 million asset credit union. “I wanted to do something that served two purposes: celebrate members and continue the discourse around the credit union difference.”

Members enjoy both the credit union’s highly personalized service and giveaways, Crenshaw says, so she combined the two, centering an award-winning email campaign around ICU Day.

Members entered for a chance to win a $250 gift card by answering a 10-question survey.

Florence Federal used the responses to find new leads, learn what members like about the credit union, and determine what members would like in the future.

“The purpose was to focus on what members want and structure future initiatives around what they find most useful,” Crenshaw says.

The only expense for the ICU Day giveaway was the cost of the $250 prize because all marketing took place through organic posts via Constant Contact and Facebook. It led to more than 1,000 leads from current members.

The effort resulted in a 2023 CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Diamond Award for email marketing.

CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Diamond Awards

The credit union held another ICU Day giveaway in October 2023, with a greater focus on mobile deposit and person-to-person payments. The main purpose again was to celebrate members.

The promotion shows that success doesn’t necessarily require a big budget, Crenshaw says.

“Just because you have a small budget doesn’t mean you can’t get quality information and use the resources available to you,” she says. “Members know we’re in it for them. They enjoy their interactions with us, so they want to follow up and read our emails.

“They’re involved in the credit union because they trust the services we offer.”