Signals from the Field

Measuring the success of a digital ad campaign depends on several factors, including the purpose of the campaign, who you’re trying to reach, and the outcomes you want to influence. But one thing it should not be measured by is whether or not you, personally, are seeing the ads.

For credit unions using HubSpot, the path to personalized marketing and automated efficiency often begins with one major roadblock: messy data.

Over time, portals become cluttered with outdated contact records, duplicated properties, and inconsistent information structures. Before you can create smart campaigns, you need clean, structured data that reflects how your members actually engage with your credit union.

In this post, we’ll break down how credit unions can transition from a complex HubSpot setup to a streamlined data model that powers smarter marketing and enhanced member experiences.

 "How hard can it be to send a happy birthday email?"

That’s what most marketers might think. However, in the world of credit union marketing, where legacy systems, complex member relationships, and intricate data structures prevail, even the simplest automations can become unexpected challenges. 

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through a real-world example of how something as seemingly innocuous as a birthday email exposed hidden data issues, and how we solved them.

When a performance dip doesn’t show up in the analytics, it’s time to look beyond the funnel. That’s where AI stepped in and helped us uncover a story that every credit union marketer should know.

If you’ve ever wondered how to effectively report on page-level performance in GA4, especially when juggling multiple domains like your main website and your online banking platform, this guide will help.

I’ve broken down six key GA4 Page Dimensions:

• Explained what each one includes, 
• When to use it, 
• and provided practical examples. 

Plus, I’ve included a helpful visual to clarify how URLs are structured, so you can better understand the difference between a page’s path, location, and query parameters.

Every year, Google Marketing Live (GML) unveils a host of new ad tools and AI-driven capabilities. While the announcements sound exciting - keywordless targeting, smarter automation, and new AI assistants - marketers at credit unions need to approach them with a critical eye.

At WebStrategies, we specialize in digital advertising for credit unions, and we’ve learned that Google’s “default” solutions often optimize for media spend rather than meaningful credit union results. Rather than jumping in headfirst, we’re taking a cautious, data-driven approach, testing what’s new, measuring what works, and scaling only what delivers.

Here’s a breakdown of what we’re watching and how credit unions can benefit responsibly.

Last Month at the Financial Brand Conference (April 2025), Sean Payant, Chief Strategy Officer at Haberfeld, delivered a powerful challenge to credit union leaders: Stop letting outdated assumptions limit your growth potential.

His session, "Overcoming Strategic Contradictions in the Banking C-Suite", exposed several internal beliefs that sound smart on the surface, but in reality, hold credit unions back from achieving sustainable, meaningful growth.

I’ve worked in digital marketing since 2007, and I’ve never seen a technology disrupt the way we do marketing as quickly as AI. The latest innovation, which is flying under the radar, may be one of the biggest steps forward we’ve seen since the launch of ChatGPT. It’s called MCP.

So what is MCP? And why should credit union marketers care? 

Let’s break down what it is, what it can do, and why it makes tools like HubSpot more important than ever for a credit union. 

One of the most impactful sessions at the Financial Brand Conference (April 2025) was led by Sean Payant, Chief Strategy Officer at Haberfeld. His session, Overcoming Strategic Contradictions in the Banking C-Suite, zeroed in on a critical growth opportunity for credit unions: earning and growing the Primary Financial Institution (PFI) relationship.

Here’s why that matters more than ever and how your credit union can win that spot.

The Financial Brand Conference (April 2025) provided powerful insights into the evolving definition of "community" and its implications for credit unions today.

One session that really stood out was, "What Will Save Community Banking?" led by Jean-Pierre Lacroix, President of SLD (Shikatani Lacroix Design). He offered research-backed guidance that every credit union leader needs to hear.

Here's what we learned, and why credit unions are uniquely positioned to thrive.