The Case For Marketing That Doesn’t Lead With The Credit Union

Marketing for Whitefish Credit Union ($2.1B, Whitefish, MT) doesn’t always lead with products and services. In fact, in some of its content, they barely shows up at all. But through a long-running series of credit union member stories featuring professionally produced short films and companion articles, the Montana-based cooperative is spotlighting the lives of its members with the credit union playing a supporting role.

“The credit union story is caring about members’ stories, their lives, their goals,” says Josh Wilson, senior vice president of marketing at Whitefish. “How do you tell someone’s story where the credit union is part of it but not the center? It’s about showing how the credit union fits into their life and helps them accomplish what matters to them.”

Today, the credit union has produced 30 of these stories, each focusing on an individual or business that makes the Whitefish field of membership stand out in the market.

“Frankly, the most interesting stories often come from people who are a little quirky or have unique perspectives,” Wilson says.

Some examples include the story of a historic ranch that might or might not have a ghost and a local woman known fondly as Sanders County’s “Plant Lady.”

Over time, this strategy has positioned Whitefish as not only a place to bank but also an active participant in its community. Wilson describes the videos as a love letter to its members and their engagement with the credit union versus something that’s explicitly about Whitefish Credit Union.

Where Do Stories Come From?

To make these stories possible, Whitefish hires an outside videographer that specializes in documentaries. Such a videographer brings a story-first lens to the end product. The credit union’s in-house team serves as producer.

As for where stories originate, that starts in the branches.

“Who shows up often?” Wilson says. “Who tells stories? Who stands out? We built a list of members who branch staff know personally pretty quickly.”

Part of what makes these member stories stand out is the distinct, strong identities of each community.

“These are tight-knit communities, the kind where people come out of their businesses to cheer on the high school football team as the bus heads to an away game,” Wilson says. “People know each other.”

When Whitefish started the project, it referenced brands like Yeti to explain to sources the style of storytelling it was hoping to capture. Today, the credit union leans on its own library of previous examples. Still, some people decline the request, and that’s okay. But when a member does say yes, the credit union and videographer take special care to make sure the process is comfortable.

“We do a pre-interview with the videographer and producer,” the marketing leader says. “It helps them understand it’s just a conversation, even with a camera present, and reassures them that we’ll treat their story with dignity and respect.”

Beyond surfacing story ideas, producing stories from start to release requires approximately a year.

“We collect stories at the end of the year, spend two to three months vetting them, then produce seven or eight stories over a two-and-a-half-week period when the videographer flies out,” Wilson says.

The credit union spends the back half of the year editing and building the production calendar. At the beginning of the following year, Wilson’s team executes the distribution strategy as part of Whitefish’s marketing plan.

Where Do Stories Go?

According to Wilson, the biggest challenge has proven to be distribution.

“Having a firm game plan from the beginning on how you’ll distribute the content is probably the biggest lesson,” he says.

When a member’s story is ready to share, Whitefish publishes the full version on its website with an accompanying written article and still photography. It also cuts short-form videos for platforms like Instagram and Facebook in addition to paid advertisements at local broadcast stations and movie theaters.

The credit union’s most unconventional distribution channel, however, is film festivals.

“We sponsor them and ask if they’ll play our stories instead of traditional commercials,” Wilson says. “Audiences often think they’re part of the festival lineup. They applaud and engage. Now, film festivals actually reach out to us asking to include our stories because they want that local connection.”

Whitefish also uses member story videos in conversations with policymakers, with Wilson serving as the credit union’s representative for state-level advocacy.

“As the largest credit union in the state, we’re active legislatively, but we’ve found that many lawmakers don’t fully understand what credit unions are or how we’re different from banks,” he says.

These member stories help humanize the work Whitefish does by connecting it to real, everyday Montanans —  otherwise known as voters and constituents. The videos also help explain things like commercial lending and how Whitefish’s approach differs from that of large, nationwide competitors.

“For us, it might mean helping a bakery on Main Street buy a couple extra ovens or a brewery purchase a property to create workforce housing,” Wilson says. “That’s the kind of commercial lending we do. Not massive out-of-state developments but homegrown businesses serving their communities. These stories show that.”

All of this is why high-quality production matters.

“This isn’t content meant to go viral or hit a million views,” Wilson says. “We’re focused on meaningful interactions, and that’s how we’ve led with this strategy.”

The result is a body of work that compounds in value, with each new story adding to the credit union’s broader narrative.

Returns That Reflect Mission

For Wilson, that long‑term payoff matters more than quick metrics.

“I teach data marketing at the graduate level,” Wilson says. “As someone who’s data-driven, this started as an experiment.”

Whitefish intentionally carves out small parts of its budget to test theories and concepts without attaching a direct ROI. The idea is to learn what works and use those insights to influence larger marketing campaigns.

“There wasn’t a direct ROI component to this, and there still isn’t because it’s difficult to directly attribute video content, whether paid or organic, to loan applications, mortgages, or deposit accounts,” Wilson says. “What we have seen is that when we target these stories to specific audience segments and share them through social media, film festivals, and our partners, something tangible happens.”

That something tangible is a mixture of strong brand differentiation, member engagement, and community trust. Visibility from these stories attracts both new members and new hires, each citing the work the credit union does as the reason they came in.

“We own that space in a way traditional banks and other businesses don’t,” Wilson says. “I received a job application this week from someone who referenced seeing our member story at a film festival this month and wrote in their cover letter ‘this is the type of place I want to work.’”

The impact of storytelling like this doesn’t always show up in traditional KPIs, and for credit unions accustomed to measurable outcomes, this approach can feel uncomfortable.

“This is qualitative data, but it’s essential to demonstrate the real-world effect your credit union has in its community, whether you’re in a large metro area or you’re a SEG-based credit union,” Wilson says. “You have to humanize what a credit union does in a very competitive industry.”

Your members’ stories belong here. Join fellow credit unions in uplifting the everyday moments that define the movement. Add your member story and help spark a ripple of inspiration across the industry. Submit a story today.