Affinity Plus

Opportunity

Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union is a Minnesota-based, not-for-profit financial cooperative with 30 branches across the state and over 250,000 members. Inspired by the motto “For individuals and communities that require a more meaningful banking relationship, Affinity Plus offers the services and products that prioritize people,” Affinity Plus is strongly community-oriented. With services and products like checking and savings accounts, consumer loans, mortgages, credit cards, investment and retirement accounts, and more, Affinity Plus brings a personalized approach to membership and finances.

The Affinity Plus team was looking for a long-term, relationship-oriented partner who could translate their financial expertise to the digital space while retaining the human feel their members expect. Equally as important, they wanted to make sure their digital marketing strategy was flexible, collaborative, and proactive. Previous marketing partners had provided reactive strategies and tactics that met Affinity Plus’ baseline needs, but the team was looking for more innovation and collaboration from their partner.

Discovery + Analysis

Br8kthru's Discovery + Strategy process reviews the online footprint of our Clients to better understand their current pain points and areas of opportunity. Affinity Plus wanted to prioritize members throughout their digital marketing activities, so we focused on opportunities for service expansion and new member conversion using paid media and search marketing efforts.

Using a “foundation, acceleration, expansion” approach — or a “crawl, walk, run” approach — we were able to make suggestions for both low-hanging improvements to Affinity Plus’ existing paid media account structure, as well as long-term opportunities for collaborative improvement to continue to drive user engagement and generate brand visibility throughout Minnesota. This strategy was designed to not only optimize existing work, but also facilitate consistency and flexibility.

Strategies + Tactics

Knowing some of Affinity Plus’ business is seasonal — for example, people are more interested in boat loans in the spring and summer than in the winter — we created a seasonality chart to guide and optimize our work. Similarly, Affinity Plus focuses on community-specific initiatives and events, which they share with Br8kthru as they arise. Having an avenue for open collaboration helps us better align our paid efforts with Affinity Plus’ monthly, quarterly, and annual goals on organizational and product levels.

After gaining initial alignment, we began our foundational activities: optimization. Existing activities were inconsistent and outdated. To address this, Br8kthru conducted a full account organization process to ensure consistency across keyword lists, targeting lists, campaign objectives, and ad extensions. We also implemented new tracking and reporting tactics to ensure organizational-critical conversions were being properly tracked and attributed. Finally, we tailored targeting based on the seasonality chart we’d created and Affinity Plus’ audiences, so ads remained relevant to the season and geographic areas in which Affinity Plus has branches.

To accelerate and expand our work, we reintroduced programmatic ads to generate brand and product awareness outside the confines of Google or Microsoft. By expanding our channels, we reached new audiences and markets, continuing to spread awareness about Affinity Plus and the membership benefits it provides. Simultaneously, we continued to test and improve existing efforts, continuing to optimize and report on our findings.

Results + Measurements

By implementing a responsive, flexible strategy, we were able to boost awareness and conversions for Affinity Plus campaigns. The result of that work was higher average reach and engagement across campaigns compared to the previous year, including above-average click through rates (CTR) for some campaigns. This indicates not only that more individuals are aware of Affinity Plus, but also that they’re getting involved in the campaigns and activities.

Campaigns like Coins for a Cause and the Fillmore Sounds of Summer Sweepstakes experienced an influx of participants and entrants after the paid media efforts launched, while the Polar Plunge paid media campaigns led to the number of promotional registrations for Plungers being exhausted after only two weeks. Throughout the year, reach and engagement more than doubled compared to the previous year.

Perhaps most importantly, we continued to build a collaborative, trusting relationship with the Affinity Plus team. As the second largest credit union in Minnesota, Affinity Plus is adept at understanding the current climate statewide and pivoting to address community needs. As an award-winning digital marketing agency, Br8kthru is equally adept at understanding industry trends and best practices, and applying them to Client work for innovative strategies and effective outcomes. Together, we elevated Affinity Plus’ paid media efforts to achieve meaningful results.

Elevate Your Brand with Br8kthru

Br8kthru is committed to collaborating with Clients to create not only a Michelin-Star experience, but also Michelin-Star results. With Affinity Plus, we implemented a flexible, comprehensive paid media strategy to boost brand awareness, increase membership, and convert users on company activities.

If you’re looking for ways to elevate your brand, consider our complimentary Digital Marketing Gap Audit. Based on three areas of digital activity of your choosing, Br8kthru will put together recommendations for ways you can advance your work, achieve your desired results, and holistically improve your digital marketing efforts.