Author: Michael DiLuccio

While consumer brands can lean on the experiences their products deliver to tell their story, services firms don’t have that luxury. They must build their reputation on expertise and relationships. The way forward isn’t found in flashy campaigns or clever taglines—the creation of a successful professional services brand comes from understanding, and addressing, what truly drives client decisions.

In the push for growth, many professional services firms lose sight of what matters to clients. Selection isn’t made solely on the basis of cost or capabilities. Today’s clients want to know what makes your firm tick: what you value and what gets your people excited to come to work each day.  A strong professional services brand is grounded in what makes you, you—the people, understanding of client priorities and purpose behind every engagement. This will drive an approach that speaks to your market in an authentic and tangible way.

People

Your brand lives and breathes through your people, leadership, as well as employees. Without genuine and enduring buy-in at every level from the corner office on down, even the most vigorous branding effort can fade into little more than a short-lived marketing exercise. Senior leaders need to do more than simply approve: they must set the tone by actively championing the brand development process and weaving it into their strategic thinking and internal messaging. Knowing that leaders are personally invested in the brand inspires and motivates those on the front line every day, selling and delivering work. It’s also a two-way street—when you tap into and value your team’s insights, experiences, and contributions, you get better solutions while also naturally creating champions who will deliver on your brand promise for years to come.

Understanding

How well do you really know your prospective clients? A key challenge many firms face is the lack of comprehensive market data. Unlike consumer brands, professional services don’t have extensive syndicated research to rely upon. Each firm must build its own fact base, but the effort and investment can be well worth it. While qualitative insights help identify issues, quantitative research becomes critical to truly understand what drives client decisions. Demonstrating an in-depth understanding can be the crucial point of differentiation that wins a contract.

Purpose

Clients today look for firms whose values and approach align with their own. They’re looking to hire a team of experts they can trust and work with. This is why strong professional services brands aren’t built through marketing campaigns—they’re built through countless small interactions between your people and your clients. When you align these moments with a clear sense of purpose and strong leadership support, your brand becomes more than a logo: it becomes a true competitive advantage that drives growth and attracts both talent and clients. This means moving beyond capability statements and credentials presentations to reveal what truly sets your firm apart. When you can articulate not just what you do, but why you do it, you create deeper connections that lead to lasting relationships.

The path to a stronger brand starts with honest conversations—with your leaders, your people, and your market. It demands recognition that your brand isn’t something you create once and finish. It’s something you nurture and strengthen constantly, through every aspect of your firm’s operations.

Credit unions—by definition member-owned, not-for-profit organizations—are charter-bound to put the interests of customers and communities first. That’s an extraordinarily powerful promise that goes far beyond mere marketing.

For customers, knowing that a financial institution is truly on your side and looking out for you is a compelling value proposition that, arguably, should be a cornerstone of a credit union’s brand. However, in today’s fast-evolving financial services landscape, that may no longer be enough for a credit union to capture and retain market share. As mainstream banks and agile, non-traditional financial technology companies (fintechs) continue to reshape the industry, credit unions must adapt to remain competitive and grow.

In our ongoing work with credit unions as well as traditional banks, Tenet Partners has identified four critical areas where credit unions can focus their efforts to scale successfully. If you’re part of the team charged with making your credit union grow, making the most of these opportunities opens the door to a new brand narrative that combines traditional credit union strengths with a bold, forward-looking point of view that can secure your place in the future of finance.

1. Lay the groundwork for scaling your credit union—and your brand

Credit unions, especially smaller ones, often struggle to match the resources of larger financial institutions when it comes to technology, marketing and product development. However, this doesn’t mean they can’t compete effectively.

To grow efficiently, make the most of what’s available to you:

• Instead of going head-to-head, focus growth initiatives on niche markets or specialized services where you can differentiate, and make that part of your brand story

• Forge strategic partnerships with fintechs to gain access to leading technology without massive capital investment; this can help position your brand as a leader

• Consider mergers or collaborations with other credit unions to pool resources; a merger is a great opportunity to rebrand and raise awareness

• Invest in solutions that can scale efficiently as you grow, such as cloud-based offerings

By finding ways to do an end run around scalability challenges—and more importantly, make them part of the conversation—you can punch above your weight class and compete with larger institutions.

2. Embrace personalization to differentiate your brand

Today’s consumers expect service providers to provide an experience that aligns with their needs and expectations: a trend set by tech-driven enterprises and embraced by fintechs, and one that’s raising the bar. For credit unions, personalization is not just a feature—it’s a necessity for attracting and retaining members, especially younger, digital-native customers who may never set foot in a branch at all. A focus on meeting members where they are can also be a powerful part of your brand story.

To build strong relationships, make personalization a central part of your brand offering:

• Leverage AI and machine learning to analyze member data and offer tailored product recommendations

• Implement predictive models to anticipate member needs and offer proactive solutions

• Create personalized financial wellness programs based on individual member goals and behaviors

• Use data analytics to customize brand communication and marketing efforts for different member segments

By offering more personalized experiences and leaning into them as part of your brand, you can deepen relationships with existing members and appeal to new ones who value individualized attention.

3. Boost member engagement to build your brand

Engagement is crucial, particularly as younger consumers—whose relationship with a credit union may exist entirely online—show a willingness to switch financial institutions. To stay at top of mind, credit unions must strengthen their brands. That means finding effective ways to build loyalty, increase product adoption, and turn members into advocates.

To show that you’re an invested, caring financial partner, stay close to your members:

• Look beyond the technology table stakes of “me too” mobile and online banking experiences by branding around financial insights, education and interactive planning tools that help members visualize and achieve their goals

• Use gamification elements such as dashboards and progress trackers to make financial management more engaging, especially for younger members

• Improve the online banking experience with responsive, effective AI-driven chatbots and efficient, easy-to-use self-service account management tools

• Strengthen the human side of your brand by fostering a culture of service, collaboration and personal relationships

• Be present in local communities by creating programs that align with your members’ values and interests, to raise local awareness of your brand

By focusing on engagement as a key brand differentiator, you can get closer to your members and become an integral part of their financial lives.

4. Take inspiration from fintech brands

Fintechs have set new user experience standards in financial services, emphasizing simplicity, speed, and innovation. In a very real sense, they’re changing the way people think about working with money. To scale successfully, credit unions should consider adopting a similar mindset while leveraging their unique strengths to tell a brand story that stands apart.

To compete in a fast-changing landscape, create a streamlined experience:

• Foster a culture of customer-focused innovation within your organization to continually improve and adapt, while remaining focused on member needs

• Streamline processes to offer quick loan approvals and account openings, and use those advantages in brand communications

• Develop intuitive, user-friendly branded digital interfaces for all your services

• Implement features such as peer-to-peer payments, budgeting tools, and automated savings programs, and associate them with your brand

• Explore emerging technologies such as blockchain for more efficient operations

By aligning fintech-style experiences with traditional values, you can offer the best of both worlds to your members—a unique brand value proposition that can set you apart.

The bottom line: Stay grounded as you grow

Scaling to succeed is not just about getting bigger—it’s about becoming better at serving your members and community. With the right strategies and a commitment to your brand’s core values, you can turn the challenge of scaling your credit union into an opportunity for growth, impact, and most importantly, differentiation.

The future belongs to financial institution brands that can offer the efficiency and innovation of a fintech with the trust and community focus advantages of a credit union—and tell a compelling story about why that matters for customers. By striking the right balance you can stand apart, attract new generations of members, and continue to fulfill your vital role in the financial ecosystem—and not just survive, but thrive.