c2Future.com says it is starting to develop a strong CU member reader following

DALLAS - It's hard enough for a new printed publication to gain a large following, but a Net-based finance publication faces even greater challenges. The Web is an easy and cheap way to reach people with an editorial product, but at all times those people are just a click away from leaving. So how do you keep them interested? "We wanted to build an editorial base on consumer finance and deliver it through a channel that had the right nodus and integrity-and that is credit unions," said Thomas White, CEO of c2future.com, the publisher of eMoney Digest, a weekly online personal finance magazine for credit union members. "Banks are just not customer driven. They're more like large corporate goliaths. They're faceless and nameless, whereas credit unions have a personal relationship with their members," said White. So step one was down. They found the conduit (credit unions) to deliver the product. But once you get there, you need to get and keep credit union members' attention, said White. Afterall members can go to any one of the hundreds of personal finance sites that have cropped up as the Web has empowered Americans to become their own financial advisors and stock brokers. So c2future.com did a number of focus groups to find out what CU members were looking for in personal finance editorial. For one, the company found out that personalizing the information by region is a plus. Also, the magazine is geared to be more digestive than a Money magazine said White. White said financial magazines like Money can intimidate readers with its large editorial whole. He said eMoney Digest is geared to be "digested" in five minutes if that's all the time a member has. "Right now we have great read through. Twenty-five percent of our audience reads through. That's a pretty loyal following," said White. c2future.com said approximately a half a million credit union members are reading eMoney Digest, which they get to via their credit union's Web site. White said the goal of eMoneyDigest is to educate members, while also helping the credit union with one of the cheapest marketing channels-e-mail. "The FDIC came out with a report that 98% of the 50 largest banks are capturing customer e-mail addresses. E-mail marketing is 98% cheaper than other avenues, and besides being cheaper it can be targeted to the people you know are driving your business. Credit unions are behind the game in this area," said White. When members register for eMoney Digest they submit their e-mail address, allowing c2future.com to track who is reading the magazine. White said privacy isn't an issue because e-mail addresses aren't being sold to third-parties-they are only available to its credit union clients. White said besides the ability to market to their members, the credit union can use the e-mail channel to alert members when a key credit union political issue arises. eMoney Digest runs six stories per week, including three feature stories, and three columns. It also has an agreement with Knight Ridder to pick out relevant feeds on personal finance issues. To sweeten the pot for readers, c2future.com has just announced that it will be giving away $5,000 a week to a credit union member who reads eMoney Digest. "We have created a unique technology that allows us to do an instant click and win similar to the way you twist off the cap of a bottle and see if you're a winner," said White. Basically a random number is put into a c2future.com database. When a reader launches eMoney Digest they are assigned a number, if it matches they receive a pop up message alerting them that they have won a prize. The member is then sent an e-mail with the details. "We're not sure how long we're going to be doing it, but it will be for a while. In the scheme of things $5,000 a week isn't that much considering all of our readers," said White. c2future.com is planning on unveiling two more online magazines later this year that will be focused on specific age groups. -pgentile@cutimes.com