Why Your PR Strategy Matters More Than You Think (And How to Actually Do It)

When was the last time someone outside your organization wrote something positive about your credit union?

Not your marketing team. Not your internal newsletter. An actual third party – a journalist, an industry publication, a respected voice in the financial services world.

If you’re drawing a blank, you’re not alone. Most Community Financial Institutions (CFIs) treat public relations as either an afterthought or something reserved for the big players. But that’s a missed opportunity that’s getting more costly by the day.

The Problem With Being Invisible

Your credit union is probably doing amazing things. You’re approving loans that help families buy homes. Your employees are volunteering at local schools. You’re offering financial literacy programs that change lives. Your members trust you in ways they’d never trust a megabank.

But if no one outside your existing membership knows about it, how much does it matter?

Here’s what most credit union leaders miss: PR isn’t just about feeling good or seeing your name in print. It’s about building the kind of visibility and credibility that influences the people who influence your industry. It’s about reaching future members before they even know they need you. And increasingly, it’s about making sure you show up when someone searches for solutions you provide – whether they’re searching on Google or asking their favorite AI tool.

Starting Simple: You Already Have Stories Worth Telling

The good news? You don’t need a PR agency on retainer to get started. You need to recognize that you already have newsworthy material sitting in your files.

Did your lending team just help a small business survive a rough quarter? That’s a story. Did you recently update your mobile banking platform? That’s news to your members and prospects. Is your CEO thinking differently about AI in banking, or has your institution figured out how to serve a traditionally underbanked community? Those are topics people want to read about.

The simplest PR move you can make is writing about these things and sharing them. Draft a straightforward press release (keep it to one page, lead with the most important information, and skip the corporate speak). Then, send it to relevant publications by email or submit it on their website. For credit unions, that means outlets like news@cuinsight.com, editors at Credit Union Times, or even your local business journal.

Will every pitch get picked up? No. But here’s what happens when one does: you get a third-party validation that paid advertising can’t match. You get a backlink to your website that helps your search rankings. And you get in front of people who don’t already know you exist.

The Multiplier Effect of Third-Party Credibility

When your marketing department says, “We’re great,” people expect that. When American Banker or CUInsight or your regional business publication says it, people pay attention.

This is why PR matters more than most credit unions realize. Every piece of earned media – every article, interview, or mention – creates compound value through: 

• Industry influence: The analysts, consultants, and vendors who shape the future of financial services are reading the same publications you should be trying to get into. Being visible in these spaces means being part of the conversation.
• Member acquisition: Prospective members researching “best credit unions near me” or “credit union vs. bank” increasingly come across AI-generated summaries that pull from published content. If you’re not creating that content – and getting third parties to reference it – you’re invisible in those searches.
• Search engine value: Every quality publication that links back to your website sends a signal to Google that you’re a credible source. Over time, this is how smaller institutions compete with larger ones online.
• Employee and board morale: Never underestimate the value of your team seeing external validation of the work they do. It matters.

Using AI Without Letting It Use You

Let’s address the obvious question: Can you use AI tools to help with PR? 

Yes, but carefully.

AI can help you draft initial versions of press releases or blog posts. It can analyze which topics are getting traction in your industry. It can even help you identify which journalists or outlets cover your space. What it can’t do is understand the specific story that makes your credit union different, or write in a voice that sounds quite like an actual human who cares about what they’re saying.

I’ve seen too many press releases that were clearly written by AI and then sent out unchanged. They’re full of phrases like “rapidly evolving industry landscape”, “groundbreaking solution”, and “thrilled to announce.” They sound like every other release, which means they sound like nothing.

If you use AI to help draft something, treat it as a very rough first draft. Ask the AI tool to remove the buzzy, overused terms. Then, rewrite it in your own voice, with specific details, real examples, and language that doesn’t sound like it came from a corporate template. The publications you’re pitching can tell the difference, and so can their readers.

(Full transparency: I used AI to help draft this article. But I fed it my own thinking, examples from my work, and specific guidance on tone and content. Then I went through every sentence to make sure the final piece reflected my actual perspective and voice, not generic AI output. That’s the responsible way to use these tools.)

Beyond the Basics

Once you’ve gotten comfortable with press releases and earned media, there’s more you can do. Contributed articles position your leadership as voices worth listening to (and they’re free!). Event PR around industry conferences can multiply your visibility because you’re getting to know influencers face-to-face. One-on-one relationship-building with key journalists pays dividends over time.

But start with the fundamentals. Tell your stories. Get them in front of the right people. Be consistent about it.

The Bottom Line

Most credit unions are sitting on stories worth telling and aren’t telling them. They’re doing good work in their communities, serving their members well, and figuring out how to compete in an increasingly digital world (yes, that phrase borders on AI-sounding!) – but they’re doing it quietly.

That might have been fine twenty years ago. It’s not fine now.

Starting doesn’t require a massive budget or a dedicated PR team. It requires recognizing that you have stories worth sharing, taking the time to tell them well, and being consistent about getting them in front of the right audiences. That visibility compounds over time in ways that few other marketing investments (like traditional advertising) can match. 

You’re already doing work worth talking about. Why not let others outside your walls hear about it?