Watch Now - Nook's CEO & Co-founder, Austin Wentzlaff on CUbroadcast

Austin Wentzlaff–CEO and Co-Founder of Nook–was featured in this recent CUbroadcast interview, where he spoke about the official launch of Nook on January 9, 2024.

Nook’s Niche Experience Platform builds communities around core member groups, using a niche, lifestyle approach to enhance trust, loyalty, and engagement. This marketing strategy takes a different approach to niche banking by building our own brands around a credit union’s existing brand, serving as a co-branded extension or subsidiary brand. The Niche Experience Platform, exemplified by our first brand, Living50+, tailors digital content and product offerings for specific age demographics within credit union memberships, promoting frequent member engagement through relevant, educational, and entertaining content.

In this interview, Wentzlaff emphasizes the importance of moving away from traditional product-focused marketing in the credit union industry. Instead, Nook's Niche Experience Platform aims to deliver curated content related to members' interests, such as housing, travel, health, and relationships. The strategy enhances the member experience and facilitates increased product sales for credit unions. By strategically placing call-to-actions within lifestyle posts, Nook allows credit unions to "sell without selling," showcasing success in attracting members who, after engaging with lifestyle content, proceed to open accounts with the credit union. Nook's long-term goal is to revolutionize credit union marketing by expanding niche experiences to reach wider audiences and specialize products based on individual member needs.

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Full Transcript:

Part 1: Introduction to Nook

Intro (Michael Lawson): On the show today we have Nooks' very own Austin Wentzlaff. He is here talking to us about the launch of Nook. I'm sure a lot of you have seen their big media blitz on all the social media platforms, but Austin is here to tell us all about Nook and their niche experiences for credit union members. Pretty cool stuff here that they've come up with, and Austin is here to tell us all about it, so check it out. 

Michael Lawson: Hey everybody, Mike Lawson here with CUbroadcast. Welcome to our show, and on today's program, look who we have in our virtual studios: Mr. Austin Wentzlaff from Nook. I am very impressed with not only the name, but what you guys have put together here, Austin. So, share with us real quickly, what in the world is Nook? because I've been seeing all the social media posts and news stories and stuff, so you guys are kind of the talk of the town right now. So what's going on here?

Austin Wentzlaff: Yeah. Well first off, thanks for having me. It's been a while, so l'm glad to be back on the show. I've done a handful of these over the years, but yeah, we made our big splash finally this week, and it seems to be going pretty well and making the rounds across the industry, so we're pretty excited about that. So Nook really is an idea that kind of came about from my experience in this industry. I just crossed 10 years in the industry, so I joined the credit union world right out of college with not a single idea of what a credit union was. Very similar story to most people I talked to: They're like, “What the heck's a credit union?” And they get into the industry and you can't get out because you ultimately fall in love with the people and the mission and what we're working towards. But over the last 10 years that l've been working with credit unions, one of the things that l've recognized is this repeat theme over and over again is that getting our messaging out there is kind of difficult. It's difficult to really differentiate ourselves and be able to show that you should come to my credit union because l'm offering these products and services. And what ultimately happens is, as credit unions have grown bigger and bigger and expanded our field of memberships and expanded our geographical regions, we've kind of got lost in the clutter of everything every other financial institution is doing. So we all have a 5% CD today, and that's kind of what a lot of the marketing is geared towards, is that everybody is putting products and rates and terms in front of people, but what makes that different?  Because I just got an email this morning from a big bank–they have a 5% 12 month CD. And that's all they send and it's the same thing that I've seen from other credit unions, kind of the same marketing around products and terms and rates. And my realization and “AHA” was really that the credit union differentiator was the fact that they were niche. The fact that they set themselves apart by saying, “We understand you at a very deep level because we're built around you, we're built around teachers, we're built around firefighters, we're built around X, Y, Z community,” whatever it might be. But as we've grown bigger and bigger and bigger, that voice has kind of been lost, if you will. So our goal is really about “How do we get credit unions back to that?” Back to the roots of how the credit union industry started, which is getting back into the niche focus. So we developed a platform which we call the “Niche Experience Platform.” I can definitely share more on that, but really, the whole goal here is “How do we make sure that we set ourselves apart and build deep trust and build deep relationships with these members?” And we don't think that's possible with the product-style marketing that's happening. We need to go back to really building community and building focus and doing that around people. And the best way to do that is kind of segment them out as niches is what we're doing here.

Part 2: How does Nook’s niche experience platform work?

00:04:07

Michael: Okay, so let's get to the how here because you alluded to it at the tail end of your previous response there, the niche experience platform. So how does it work? How do credit unions get this message out there to be really effective? How are you guys gonna help credit unions do that?

Austin: Yeah, for sure. So I guess I'll take a step back and kind of explain a little bit about the history of niche banking a little bit. Because that's one thing I wanted to clarify and make sure that we don't confuse the industry around niche banking and niche experiences. So niche experience is kind of something new that we're kind of inventing the term around, if you will, to try and separate those two things because niche banking is a concept that exists. And when you say that to most people, most people think a niche bank is an actual separate institution that was built around a core niche. So like, we are eco-conscious, we're firefighters, we're military, whatever. But you have to go build an entirely new brand, an entirely new website, you gotta get a new core system, a new LOS, pretty much the whole nine yards. It's truly a new institution. What we want it to do is leverage that same concept because we think the niche banking concept is extremely novel and very powerful, but what we didn't want to do is go to credit unions and say, “You need to throw the baby out with the bathwater” and the baby is their brand. Because a lot of these credit units have had really well-trusted, established brands within their community for a very long time where they have multi-generational families that bank with them and do their transactions with them. So how do we still enable the same strategy of niche banking without reinventing the entire credit unit and trying to start a new institution from scratch? So that's where we came up with the concept of building niche experiences, and what it is, is Nook actually builds these niches out. So we build our own brands, and one of the first ones is what we call Living50+. And Living50+ is our niche that is designed to focus on people in their 50s and beyond in terms of age. So we build that out and then we work with credit unions to attach that to their brand. So think of it as like a co-branding extension or subsidiary brand, if you will, but it's around their existing brand. So like, Dort is one of our clients in Michigan. So they have Dort/Living50+. That is their 50 plus niche. And again, it's really about, we didn't wanna get rid of Dort. We think Dort is an amazing client, they're an amazing credit union, they have an amazing brand and reputation.  So how do we still differentiate around that niche, but without throwing away the brand and trying to start from scratch.

Michael: So are you segmenting the membership so to speak? Is that kind of what you're doing? I mean, part of what you're doing? It kind of sounds like you're segmenting a little bit, which is cool, which is great because you want to individualize, that's kind of the whole personalization buzzword, all that type of stuff that we're all hearing, obviously. So is that kind of it in a nutshell? I know there's way more to it, but sounds like that.

Austin: Yeah, I would say we're executing on the customers or the member segmentation, and what I mean by that is a lot of credit unions out there have done their analysis and said, “Here's our core target groups” and they've built their personas and all that stuff. The challenge though is how do you actually build consistent content and information and build this community and this experience around them? Because the challenge with credit unions right now is that, you know, I don't envy any credit union marketers because they have to try and serve all of the different business units. They all care about different things. They’re all trying to go after different demographics or maybe all demographics. So even if you do say, “Hey, 50 plus is an important niche for us, or millennials, or Gen Z or firefighters or whatever it's an important niche for us,” you still have to build the discipline and the platform and the community and the experience around that group of people. And that's what we're doing. So we're actually building out this entire microsite, if you will, building the content and then putting focus and effort behind establishing that for the credit union. And then they don't have to really do anything other than just turn Nook on. And one of the beauties of Nook is that with no tech integration, we can get you up and running–like we did with Dort–in two weeks. It's very, very simple. And then you're off and running. You have your own niche brand to put up.

Part 3: Why does Nook use a niche experience platform for credit union marketing?

00:08:34

Michael: Wow. So, let's get to the why now. Because again, you've alluded to it in both your responses here, but it sounds like that, obviously marketing has gotten so complicated. I mean, like you said, I don't know if I wanna be a marketer today, and I don't know if I would wanna be either because marketing 20 years ago compared to today is a whole new ball of wax, my gosh. All the demographics, all the channels that you have to get the messaging out there, all the personalization tasks that you gotta do. So yeah, it's a science for sure. So, was it just, I don't wanna say simplify the marketing process, but again, I keep going back to the segmentation of it, the segmentation of your membership. So is that kind of the why here is to kind of help marketers out in this area and to really getting that niche experience out there and getting that message out there on a consistent basis?

Austin: Yeah, I would say the one word answer to that is focus. That's what we're trying to accomplish is creating this focus, and I think that is honestly the biggest challenge that credit unions are facing right now, in my opinion, is that we do have this very diverse group of demographics, we have every age group under the sun, we’re now expanding communities. And all of that creates its own complexity and nuances and all of that stuff. So how do you create focus? And what one of the things that we want to do is say, “Go to the credit union, don't tell them to stop doing anything they're already doing, keep chugging along, keep going.” But then on top of that, you spin off, or kind of put these extensions of your brand with a very specific focus to say, “We also really care and really understand you [people in their 50s and beyond], or you [Gen Z] or you [whatever group we go to next]. So these aren't trivial brands and things that we stand up–it takes a lot to put into it. So right now we just have Living50+, which is our 50 plus demographic niche, but we're very much focused on going into the next one very soon, which we're kind of leaning towards probably a young, professional, millennial type of group, but the possibilities are endless, really. It could be pet owners, it could be homeowners, it could be whatever we ultimately decide should be a niche, we can build an experience around that group. And the goal is really just to build frequency and touchpoints and also build trust and engagement. And one of the other core, I guess “whys” is one of the challenges I think that credit union marketers are facing too, is what I said earlier about being too product focused. And there's a reason for it. It's like we have very limited amounts of time to get in front of these people, so we can't just be talking about whatever and say, “Hey, we have a 5% CD or 4% CD”, or whatever it is. I think what we've done is we've actually said “We want to adjust the strategy in credit union marketing to not be about products anymore, but to instead be about lifestyle.” And when I say experience, that's what we're trying to accomplish is talk about what that person, in their core niche, in their demographic group or whatever their group is, what do they actually care about in life?  Health, wellness, travel, relationships, recipes, you know, who knows. It could be a lot of different things, but building content around them that they actually want to engage with because it's not about financial transactions, it's about life. And I think one of the challenges with product marketing is really around timing. I've used this example to a lot of credit unions I've talked to: We're using our data more and more and that's awesome. And “next best product” is a good example of one of those use cases, but I can say that Mike's next best product is an auto loan, but I can't tell you when Mike's next best product is an auto loan. So if I send you an email today to say you need to get an auto loan, it might not work because you're not going to buy a car today, but six months from now, you might be. So what we're doing with the lifestyle content instead of product marketing is just being in front of Mike constantly to say, “We care about you, we understand you.”  And by doing that, you build trust in that relationship. So when you are ready to go to the lot and pick up your car, you think of that credit union that's built that relationship with you.

Michael: Yeah, it seems like the message that I'm getting is that allowing your credit union to really know your member, and then the member reacting to that, it's like, “Oh my gosh, my credit union gets me, they know me.” So therefore there's that trust that you were talking about, that loyalty, and “I'm gonna do business with these people cause they get me, they know me, they know my lifestyle, they know where I am in life, and they know what I need.” That type of stuff, all based on the data like you referred to.

Part 4: How will Nook’s niche experience platform benefit credit unions? 

00:13:20

Michael: Austin, share with me some of the benefits here. Obviously the messaging, the niche, all that type of stuff, the consistency, getting the right message out at the right time. So share with me some of the benefits here. Obviously the messaging, the niche, all that type of stuff. The consistency, getting the right message out at the right time. So share with me some of the benefits here that this has for credit unions out there, and then ultimately the members.

Austin: Yeah, so there’s kind of two key things that we’ve talked to credit unions about. The first of which is this kind of fridge benefit, if you will. We’re providing this rich content that’s educational and entertaining and helpful that is a value added service to your membership that you can put on top of what you already provide to your members. But really at the end of the day, what we’re trying to do too with the credit union is help them sell more products, increase their products per member, increase that wallet share. And what we like to call, the phrase I’ve always used for this is we call it “selling without selling” because I’m getting in front of you because I know that you might be interested in traveling, so I’m giving you helping educational content about those topics that bring you in and you say, “Yes, I am interested in learning more about 10 Tips for a Staycation, which is one of our recent articles. And when you’re doing that, you’re engaging with the credit union, and within that, we are also able to sprinkle in very strategic call-to-actions that might be about that credit card programmer, or might be about the CDs there. And we’ve actually seen a lot of success with that already with our early clients to show that people come in for a completely random reason, like one of our product conversions where we helped one of our credit union clients get a CD because a lady clicked on our article that was 8 Tips to Be More Grateful After 50 and this went out around Thanksgiving and had nothing to do with the CD, didn’t mention financial products whatsoever, but at the very bottom of it, when she got done reading the entire article, there was a CD 5% offer that she clicked on and opened an account. And that’s what we’re trying to facilitate here is “How do we sell more products but do it through the lens of being a member benefit?” And it truly is a member benefit, so you’re getting kind of both sides of the coin of increasing the member experience, but also selling more products and services at the end of the day.

Michael: I like that. It’s serving and then selling for sure. That’s a good recipe for sure.

Part 5: What is Nook’s Goal?

00:15:43

So what's the big audacious goal here, Austin? What do you guys want to achieve with Nook? Obviously, helping credit unions in their marketing efforts, getting more niched, more personalized, all that type of stuff. So, from you being a co-founder here, what do you guys want to achieve here with this?

Austin: Yeah, we have a lot of ideas. My big goal here is really to kind of revolutionize credit union marketing in the sense of how we're talking about it. So right now we just have the 50 plus niche, but what we plan to do, like I said earlier, is build a bunch of those, and I like to think about that as this credit union kind of hub and spoke model, where you have this central brand, like Dort Credit Union, and that's a well-trusted entity, but on top of it you have all of these extensions, these subsidiary brands, and that's really where the focus element comes into play is that we got a ton of products and services that sit centrally to us, but on top of that, we know you very well by focusing on these niches out there. So that's my longer term goal is to be able to go to a credit union and say, “We can help you focus on all of your niches and start to turn those on.”  And then also getting the experience to be more seamless and embedded and kind of improving the member flow too. Because right now it's like they'll come into our experience and then they'll click on the button and they'll go into the product that is probably pretty generic right now, like just a CD.  But I would like to work with credit unions and say, “You need a 50 plus CD” or “You need a Gen Z CD” or whatever it is, like specializing the products to really take it that step further because that's really where the niche banking takes this another level higher than this is that it's a truly defined experience where every single thing was built around that person, and we think that's a phenomenal long-term aspirational goal. There's a lot of risk and challenge to get there, so this is kind of like the stepping stone to get started. And then if you determine 50 plus is a really good niche, then maybe we do take it that step further and we start to build more products around them and tailor more technology around it and all that good stuff.

Michael: Gotcha. Yeah, because the reasons why a 20-something would want a CD are completely different than a 50-something who wants a CD. So I kind of get the messaging.

Austin: Yeah. Or the rewards on your credit cards. Like maybe you make those different for someone that's in their fifties and somebody's in their twenties because they care about different types of cashback, or the savings account has a special perk that if you're in your fifties, you get x discount because of whatever reason. There's a lot of different things to… I don't have a good example off the top of my head, but there's a lot of things that you can think of and say, “Sure, I know this group of people care about these things that the rest of the world does not care about.” So why don't we build a product that allows them to accomplish that and build that more tailored experience kind of from start to finish with them.

Michael: Love This. Love this.

Michael: All right, Austin, last question for you: Where can folks find out more about Nook? Where do they go to check out websites or wherever else you guys are online to check you out, to get some background information on you guys?

Austin: Yeah, so we’re spending most of our time on our LinkedIn page right now, so just you can find us there if you search for Nook. Also, our website is www.nook-inc.com, so you can find us there. We'll hopefully be getting out to all of the different events out there, maybe not all of them, but I'II be at GAC for sure. You can also find me personally on LinkedIn if you search my name. I'm the only Austin Welock on the planet that I'm aware of, so it should be easy to find. But yeah, we're super excited about it. Like I said earlier, we have amazing early clients and we appreciate them taking that first step with us and saying this is our really good idea, and then taking it from an idea to actually showing that it works. We've started to see that with finally launching our first few clients here and getting some early wins in there, and very happy about it. Our clients were also very happy about it, too, so it's a good time to get things rolling.

Michael: Yeah, no doubt. Well, here's an invitation for you, sir. Let's bring you on, have you back on in about six to eight months. Bring on one of those credit unions, one of your early adopters, and have them come on and share their experience, and you guys come on with them. That would be a lot of fun to get their perspective too once they get rolling and get some results and things like that. That'd be a lot of fun to talk to.

Austin: Yeah, I would love that. I think we're actually more like six to eight weeks out.

Michael: Oh, even better!

Austin: Yeah, exactly. But yeah, for sure we'll be back on, with a client. I would love to do that.

Michael: Good deal. Alright, Austin, anything else to add to wrap up here before I let you get back to work?

Part 6: Why did Nook choose 50+ as their first niche?

00:20:47

Austin: No, I think I covered it. I mean the only thing I was going to cover a little bit more about is why we picked 50 plus to begin with.

Michael: Well it's probably a major age range in credit unions right now. Because what's the average age; 48 or something like that? That's what I was thinking.

Austin: Yeah, we don't have to spend much time on it, but the two big reasons for it are (1) you just hit the nail on the head–that is where our members already are. So it's the low hanging fruit and it's ignored, and it's ignored for incorrect reasons. We're all focusing on Gen Z, millennials, getting fresh blood in, if you will, but if you look at some of the demographic trends out there, the consumer spending trends, the 50 plus group is off the charts. It's like a hockey stick rocket ship into space, whereas millennials and Gen Zs are kind of flatlining in terms of what they're spending. And a lot of what they're doing are , the 50 plus group are major financial purchases, like buying a second home, getting an RV, getting a jet ski, aboat, ATVs, they're getting life insurance, they're planning for retirement, they're doing a ton of different things that require a financial partner like a credit union. So we think credit unions across the industry are sitting on an absolute gold mine right now, but it's about “How do you focus on them and show them that you actually understand them so that they will take all that consumer spending they're doing and put it with your credit union?” So yeah, I just wanted to make sure I hit on that one because I get that question a lot. Like, “Why'd you start with 50 plus because we care about Gen Z or millennials?” or whatever.

Michael: Sure. Well that's where a lot of the money there is: 50 plus, 60 plus.

Austin: It's who pays the bills right now.

Michael: Exactly. That wealth transfer hasn't quite happened yet, so it's still there with the fifties and sixties for sure.

Austin: And the best way to get to that wealth transfer is through the parents actually. Because that's where it happens is, “Hey, dad, who should I bank with?” Yeah, “Oh, I love my credit union, here's why.” Yep. They understand the inside and out, and that's the trust that we're trying to build so that when the money does get passed down, it's to the son or daughter that already trusts that credit union because of the multigenerational brand development exercise we want to do.

Michael: Got it. You got it. Well said, sir. That's a good message to end on. All right, Austin, thank you so much again for your time today, sir. I know you are a busy, busy man, but I always appreciate your insights and congrats on the successful launch of Nook. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more from you guys and, yeah, I look forward to having you guys back on too when you bring on a credit union. It’ll be a lot of fun.

Austin: Absolutely. We'll do that. I appreciate it. This is definitely a lot of fun and I look forward to updating you here in the future.

Michael: You got it, man. All right. Thanks again, Austin.