
CASE
Study

Seismic Shift in
Marketing Strategy
Company: Turtleford Credit Union
Representatives: Ian Heggstrom, General Manager
and Jessica Scott, Marketing Officer
Industry: Financial Services
Asset size: $101+ million
Branches: 1 location
Website: www.turtlefordcu.ca

A Case Study Interview with Turtleford Credit Union. Meet Ian and Jessica, understand their marketing challenge, why they chose blue dragonfly Marketing Strategies Ltd., the results, as well as what it was like to work with Lyanne.
01
MEET
IAN & JESSICA



Ian is the General Manager at the Turtleford Credit Union, having served in the credit union industry for 28 years. Among his numerous responsibilities, the key one is bridging the gap between the board’s strategic direction and the day-to-day operations of the company.
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Jessica has been in the credit union industry for a year and is currently filling the marketing role in a 0.6 part-time capacity. Jessica is responsible for planning, executing, and managing all marketing initiatives.
02

THEIR CHALLENGE
“We wanted and needed some marketing expertise to help us not start from square
one unnecessarily when we know there’s experts out there with a lot of deep history
in marketing.” - Ian
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As a newcomer to marketing, understanding the marketing function and how it can help grow and maintain our business is a challenge. We would benefit from an experienced marketing
leader to help guide me and the marketing for our organization. (Jessica)
​
Marketing has historically been that of managing basic advertising and donations. We have long been trying to shift to a more proactive approach. Rather than let a marketing person try to figure this out on their own, we thought it would make a lot more sense to get some input from somebody with more experience. (Ian)
03
WHY BLUE DRAGONFLY?

It very much appealed that you (Lyanne) had a credit union history, so we would not be having to explain to some marketing firm what a credit union is.
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When you had presented the initial proposal with the various levels we could choose from for consultative support, I was leaning towards the middle option. However, my board thought it over and decided if we’re going to pursue something proactive like this, it was worth going all in.
Hindsight being 20-20, I’m very happy that we picked the higher level with more of your services. You did a lot of work and deep dives into some of our data to customize a plan for us, and I found those efforts to be greatly helpful. What you did for us was not a canned product. (Ian)
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“I am very happy to be able to say with confidence when I go back to my board that it has been worth every penny.” - Ian
04

HOW BLUE DRAGONFLY RESPONDED
An initial meeting was held to outline the strategic marketing plan and timelines to completion.
Secure sharing of information and a weekly meeting with Jessica (and occasionally Ian) was scheduled to take place over a 3-month period. Over this timeframe the foundation of the strategic plan was established, which helped ensure Jessica understood the ‘why’ behind the initiatives, as well as to begin to see some of the ‘how’. This step involved gathering corporate information as well as research of the market.
We used this foundation to define the marketing goals which align to the corporate goals. We then set the marketing strategies, defined the audience, conducted a competitive analysis, and understood how marketing supports the retail departments as well as partners. Following this, we outlined the campaigns and timelines for execution, metrics of achievement, along with the budget to support each initiative.
It’s important to note that tactical items (i.e., an ad messages or social posts) are not a part of this strategic plan, they are defined outside of the strategy as separate and focused campaign plans.
“There is a lot of detail and organized, useful information that we’re going to be able to use for our credit union; how marketing can help grow and maintain our business, as well as how we can evolve from here in marketing.”
- Jessica
05
THE
RESULTS

In only a few short months, a thorough plan was collaboratively developed which will become a playbook and resource for the marketing of Turtleford Credit Union. Not only will this guide the marketing function, but it will also create a base of understanding with the leaders of the
organization, fostering the culture of marketing.
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“Marketing really can, in a lot of ways, touch most every corner of the organization.” - Ian
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Next steps will involve defining tasks for the year to ensure all elements of the plan will be thought through and actioned. This crucial step ensures the strategic marketing plan is living, evolving, and most importantly, effective.
06

WORKING WITH BLUE DRAGONFLY
If your credit union is resource strapped – either by time, experience, knowledge, and/or attracting and hiring an experienced marketer is not viable, consider connecting with Lyanne at blue dragonfly to see what’s possible.
"I’ve found you, Lyanne, to be very experienced and knowledgeable about what you do, and very willing and passionate about sharing it. The extra cherry on top for us is you have that deep credit union background which really helps leverage marketing knowledge into our organization.”
- Ian
"You have a lot of experience, expertise, and connections in the marketing industry which you were always willing to share and connect us with. You always took the time to explain why and how the information we are looking at connects to marketing and I would highly recommend you to anybody.”
- Jessica
Get in touch today to chat about what's possible for your business.
This could be the first step of an incredible relationship.