Marketing styleguideHow to keep your messaging consistent through tone of voice, campaign ideas and industry terminology.

Our handy marketing styleguide for credit unions – Page 2© England Illegal Money Lending Team

WelcomeThis guide has been produced to help you market payroll schemes to employers as a staff benefit. All the information you are likely to require is here, so keep it close at hand and you’ll find it useful now and in the future.

Who are we?The England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) was set up in 2004 with government funding. Today, the IMLT investigates and prosecutes illegal money lenders while supporting those who have borrowed money from a loan shark.

The IMLT has been working with Credit Unions since 2013. We believe that it is crucial that all members of society have choice with their finances and that means not only access to regulated financial institutions but ethical alternatives as well.

Working alongside credit unions across England we have been able to raise awareness to the threats loan sharks present to our communities while offering an alternative in the form of credit unions.

The IMLT encourages people to join credit unions, in order to save regularly or enable them to obtain legal, affordable loans, when emergencies arise.We also use proceeds of crime money as an incentive to encourage people to save, and to raise awareness of the dangers of borrowing from illegal money lenders.

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Why are we helping credit unions?We believe that part of achieving our goal to reduce illegal and harmful forms of lending is to empower the fairest and most compliant lenders.

Credit unions are an excellent example of a responsible lender and this guide is a useful resource at your disposal which can help you develop your union.

The way a credit union communicates plays a crucial part in how it is perceived and how successful it ultimately is. This guide will help you craft your own identity for marketing and other communications.

In here you’ll find:• Tone of voice – a set of guidelines

to point you in the right direction on how to talk to your audience

• Credit union dictionary – a set of useful phrases and phraseology dos and don’ts

• Campaign ideas – concepts on which you can base your next marketing campaign

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Creating a tone of voiceWe want to offer some guidelines for helping you to create your own tone of voice. Your tone of voice may be more defined, but this provides a set of values to build from.

“ The biggest drivers behind your tone of voice should be accessibility and trust.”You may have already mapped out your tone of voice, if so, this offers

additional advice that you can use to review your existing digital and print content, and tone of voice document.

What is tone of voice? In conversation, we think of tone of voice as the way sentences are spoken – aspects like timing and intonation.

In writing, tone of voice is the way the audience is addressed and how subjects are approached.

When setting out your tone of voice, you consider the needs of your audience, the language you’ll be using, the structuring of sentences and the reasons behind these decisions.

What’s the aim of your tone of voice?A credit union’s objective is to serve its members. It is a non-profit organisation, owned and, to an extent, run by its members.

The biggest drivers behind your tone of voice should be accessibility and trust. Your choice of words can be critical in overcoming these and other marketing challenges.

The language a credit union uses needs to work for:

• Its end users, in other words its members

• The businesses that could offer its services as a staff benefit

Everything you write should be written for both audiences. This will mean that, for example, employers can relay your messages to their staff with no need for adjustment.

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Creating a tone of voice (continued)

Write in plain EnglishA credit union needs to be as inclusive as possible. Writing in plain English, with simple, short sentences and paragraphs will allow the most people to understand what you have to say.

As part of this, we recommend avoiding complex words where possible, and keeping use of complex words that are necessary to a minimum.

On that note:Simple language also means that your message is more liekly to be understood by people whose first language is not English. Furthermore, when social media platforms and web browsers translate your text into other languages, simple English will provide the most understandable translations.

Be clear and do not misleadBuilding trust is the most important hurdle to overcome. It helps separate you from loan sharks and other harmful loan services. Clarity and honesty are crucial in developing trust with an audience.

A good example of this would be eligibility. If you imply an applicant will qualify for the most desirable loan you offer, and they are refused, they are unlikely to want to apply for any of your other products.

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Do not exaggerateIn advertising there is a desire to emphasise the benefits of a service or a promotion. However, it is important that credit unions do not exaggerate selling points.

Exaggeration in communications can be problematic for a credit union for a few reasons.

For example, it will make it harder to gain trust with the reader – if they can’t believe you. It may also breach legislation set out by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) www.fca.org.uk.

Do ‘do your research’ and use statisticsStatistics and well-researched writing are also good ways to develop trust with the reader. Being able to back up the statements you make enables you to project a reputable image.

Any statistic you use should be easily understood and, ideally, relatable for the reader.

Stats that are based around percentages rather than large numbers are easier to understand.

This is because people tend to find big stats harder to relate or comprehend – can you imagine what one million people looks like?

Creating a tone of voice (continued)

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Campaign messagesHere are a couple of overarching campaign messages, which you can use when targeting employers to build a stream of marketing materials and communications.

Campaign message 1: Help your employees and they’ll help youThe impact of financial difficulties on the productivity of staff is well-documented.

Up to 90% of people in debt feel anxious or depressed as a result of debt. Anxiety and depression impact directly on someone’s ability to work effectively.

It can be in an employer’s best interests to provide an employee, that is struggling financially, with a manageable plan to help them get their debt under control.

If employees are struggling with money, their mind is often elsewhere, their morale is lower, and it may even be impacting on their mental health.

Campaign message 2: Providing an excellent staff benefit schemeAttracting and retaining staff are some of the biggest challenges for most businesses.

Many employers are seeking to enhance the staff benefits they offer, to develop the relationships they have with their workforce.

If you wish to take a greater responsibility for your staff, a credit union can play an important part.

Through a credit union you can provide access to a comprehensive financial staff benefit scheme.

A credit union doesn’t just provide loans, it offers services for saving and organising your money.

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GlossaryAn employer provides access to the services of a credit union, they do not provide them themselves.

Phrases to use:• Fairer – in finance, it’s better than

“better”. If you are comparing your APR against another that is higher, we recommend a phrase such as “fairer”.

• Ethical

• Local

• Community

• People helping people

• Simple

• Alternative

Phrases to avoid:• Cheap – the idea of something being

“cheap” is quite subjective, and the reader may disagree.

• Free – it’s a word that can be enticing but it can also make the reader wonder – “what’s the catch?” “how do you fund this?”

• Payday loans – you don’t need to avoid the phrase entirely but use it with caution – avoiding negative comment on a form of borrowing that, whilst involving higher interest rates, is legal.

• Bank account

• Current account

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Acronyms explained• FSCS: Financial Services

Compensation Scheme. The FSCS protects customers when authorised financial services firms fail.

• FCA: Financial Conduct Authority. The FCA is the conduct regulator for financial services firms and financial markets in the UK. They ensure financial markets are honest, fair and effective so that consumers get a fair deal.

• PRA: Prudential Regulation Authority. The Bank of England prudentially regulates and supervises financial services firms through the PRA. Prudential regulation rules require financial firms to hold sufficient capital and have adequate risk controls in place.

• KYC: Know Your Customer. KYC is a process by which banks obtain information about the identity and address of the customers. This process helps to ensure that banks’ services are not misused.

• AML: Anti Money Laundering. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requires you to submit a Suspicious Activity Report to the National Crime Agency if you know or suspect that a person is engaged in, or attempting, money laundering. For more information visit: www.fca.org.uk/firms/financial-crime/money-laundering-terrorist-financing

Glossary (continued)

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Further readingGoverning bodies, such as the Financial Conduct Authority, offer additional advice and legislation documents that outline regulations on marketing financial services.

We recommend the below resources as useful points of reference when creating or reviewing your marketing content and strategy.

Financial Conduct Authority – Financial promotion and advertswww.fca.org.uk/firms/financial-promotions-adverts

Financial Conduct Authority – Social Media Guidance (PDF)www.fca.org.uk/publication/finalised-guidance/fg15-04.pdf

Financial Conduct Authority – FCA Handbookwww.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/3/?view=chapter

Get in touch

REPORTING A LOAN SHARK?

24 hour confidential advicewww.stoploansharks.co.uk

Sean LynchLIAISE Officer

(Leads in awareness, intelligence, support and education)

Mobile07742 405 215

Emailsean.lynch@birmingham.gov.uk

England Illegal Money Lending Team – Hosted by Birmingham City CouncilPO Box 16977, Birmingham B2 2AE

Working in partnership with Credit Unions.

0300 555 2222