It’s time to
rethink
the competition
Most credit unions tell us their fiercest competitor is big banks. We’re here to tell you it isn’t.
What you and your organization are competing against is something far harder to see and far harder to beat: Inertia.
Inertia descends like a fog of familiarity. It settles over financial decisions early, quietly, and permanently, blanketing everything in a haze that keeps people exactly where they are. Not because it’s better, but because it’s what’s there.
Your credit union’s growth isn’t stalling because your competitors are bigger, louder, household names. It’s stalling because most people never see a reason to look beyond what’s already in front of them.
The Problem Isn’t the Market.
It’s the Fog.
Most people didn’t actively choose their primary financial institution. They drifted into it.
Maybe it started with a checking account after a first job, opened at a branch they pass on the way to work. When it was time for a car loan, staying put felt easier than starting over. Later, a credit card. A mortgage. Another product added along the way.
Years pass. The relationship grows, not by intention, but by accumulation. Nothing feels broken. So nothing gets questioned.
That’s habit. That’s how the fog forms.
The Fog Index
Most people didn’t actively choose their primary financial institution. They drifted into it.
This relationship still matches your life.
A Decision is Made
For many people, the decision of where to bank isn’t really a decision at all. It happens early and quietly, sometimes made by a parent or guardian, sometimes by convenience alone. At that age, the relationship feels solid because there’s nothing to compare it to. The account works. The card clears. The app opens. From their perspective, the institution is doing a great job simply by being there.
For credit unions, this prospect can feel like the holy grail: a member gained early, with the promise of long-term loyalty. But these relationships are starting younger and younger, in a digital world where habits form fast and rarely get questioned. Reaching this audience isn’t about rates or features. It’s about relevance before comparison ever begins.
Three ways to reach them:
- Show up where they already are with short-form, social-first video that feels native, not promotional.
- Focus on education and context, helping them understand why financial choices matter.
- Create digital experiences that feel human and timely, not templated.
And if building that kind of connection feels out of reach, JXM is ready to take the reins.
THE HARD
PART FOR
CREDIT UNIONS
Inertia doesn’t respond to shiny offers or catchy rates. It responds to a question that reframes the default. Not “Why switch?” But:
When was the last time your bank changed as your life changed?
Is this account built for who you are now? Or who you were years ago?
If you had to choose today, would you make the same decision?
Lifting the fog.
The fog doesn’t disappear all at once. It thins, just enough for someone to finally see their own needs in front of them.
Remember, in the fog, your future members aren’t unhappy. They aren’t shopping. They aren’t comparing. They’re complacent.
THE DO-IT-YOURSELF FIX
Creating a pause is a system, not a tactic.
At a high level, lifting the fog sounds straightforward. In practice, it isn’t a single tactic. It’s a system. Here’s how to introduce it for yourself.
Tip: click a step to expand.
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You can’t interrupt what you haven’t identified. This means understanding how people ended up at their current institution, where active choice gave way to habit, and which products or relationships anchor inertia. Without this understanding, your messaging will just add to the fog rather than stand out.
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The fog loosens during life transitions. Look for moments of leverage, such as career changes, growing families, downsizing, and retirement planning. Creating a pause in the fog doesn’t introduce doubt. It gives language to questions people are already asking quietly.
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Fog-lifting messages don’t rush people. Instead, they provoke questions rather than making claims, slow the moment rather than accelerate it, and create space for reconsideration without fear. This restraint may feel counterintuitive, but it’s what restores clarity.
Questions beat claims. -
Most campaigns lead with: offer → rate → CTA
A fog lifting strategy reverses the order: clarity → reflection → permission → action
It may not look flashy. But it’s how switching actually happens. -
The pause only works if trust stays intact. That means avoiding alarmist language, resisting oversimplification and respecting existing relationships.
Your goal isn’t to criticize past choices. It’s to make a different future visible.
Fog Buster: 5-Step Method
Surveying the Fog
for Opportunities
Before you can lift the fog, you have to understand where it’s thickest. It doesn’t blanket the market evenly. It settles into predictable places.
Opportunity tends to emerge where:
Financial relationships were inherited, not consciously chosen
Convenience quietly replaced intention
Life changed, but banking didn’t
“Good enough” went unexamined
These are your opportunity zones, moments where restoring clarity is possible because complacency is already fragile.
Everywhere else, the fog holds.
THAT FOG CAN BE THICK. WANT A FOG HORN?
We’ll explore what’s driving your numbers, what you’ve already tried, and where clarity could create the biggest lift. No pressure. No obligation. Just a perspective you can use, whether you work with us or not.
Key signs
the fog
is lifting.
A successful campaign brings the pause that clears the weather. It only takes a little sliver of sunshine for the fog to lift, just enough for people to notice what once blended into the background:
A checking account that never evolved
Fees that went unquestioned
Products that made sense once, but no longer fit
Values that no longer align
Through this process, no one, no decision, no institution has been attacked. Nothing has been broken, but all of a sudden, questions start to form. When questions arise, staying in the default is no longer automatic.
Once clarity returns, default becomes an active decision. That’s the moment the fog loses its hold, and your future members have agency over their choices.
Marketin’ Ain’t What it Used to Be
every dollar demand$ proof
In today’s environment, every marketing dollar has to earn its keep. Strategies around knowing your CPMA, and lifting the fog aren’t just smart; they’re necessary. And if the numbers still feel uncertain, that fog still lingers in your FOM, that’s where we can help bring focus. Plus, it’s exactly the kind of problem we love solving.
At JXM, we’ve seen what happens when CMOs move from reactive to proactive. That’s when marketing stops feeling like defense and starts driving measurable growth.
THREE WAYS JXM CAN HELP YOUR CREDIT UNION:
Leverage
precise
member data
TO target
high‑value
opportunities
Craft
authentic,
purpose‑driven
messages
that reflect
BRAND values
Measure
ROI with
clear analysis
and reporting,
for all
STAKEHOLDERS
WE HELP CREDIT UNIONS
solve for X
There’s a lot you could say about X. It’s a factor. It comes before why. It’s gonna give it to ya. It’s how you jump in most PlayStation games. But around here, X is the power that forms when strategy, creativity, media, and ops come together with purpose.
The partners at JXM have been building together for over a decade, forming a tightly integrated leadership core across business strategy, media, creative, and operations. Each of us owns our domain, but the combination makes the magic.
Like an 1980s team-up robot anime, we lock into place to form the X in JXM.
We’re not interchangeable. We’re interdependent. That’s how we’ve grown this firm and kept it scrappy, hungry, and fiercely effective.
Jim Pond
Co-Founder
Laurie Busby
Managing Partner
John Cain
Partner/Financial Director
Matt Maguy
Co-Founder
Trusted by industry-leading brands
Featured in:
If you’re curious what that could look like for your organization, a 15-minute strategy call is a simple place to start.
We’ll explore what’s driving your numbers, what you’ve already tried, and where clarity could create the biggest lift. No pressure. No obligation. Just a perspective you can use, whether you work with us or not.
WHAT IF YOU CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION?
We’re confident in what we do because we’ve been doing it for two decades. Our campaigns have delivered results across the spectrum of credit union sizes and challenges. We don’t stop until we get it right. Think of us as the marketing equivalent of The Rolling Stones, still playing and adapting after all these years.
Your investment is virtually risk‑free in a sense (let’s be real; no investment is without any risk) because if you don’t see measurable improvement in campaign performance in the first 90 days, we don’t stop until you do. That’s how confident we are in our process.
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We’ll explore what’s driving your numbers, what you’ve already tried, and where clarity could create the biggest lift. No pressure. No obligation. Just a perspective you can use, whether you work with us or not.