Posts by Brian Wringer
Why you’re crazy if your head marketer isn’t a VP
I’m just going to come right out and say it for all the credit union CEOs and Boards out there: If the person in charge of Marketing and Brand is not at least a Vice President level executive reporting directly to the CEO, you’re doing it wrong. We’ve worked with hundreds of credit unions over…
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Culture vs. cost: how to find the right CU partners
A good fit between your credit union’s culture and your agency’s culture is the single biggest factor in success – far more than pricing. In fact, compatible cultures will minimize your costs and maximize marketing and brand effectiveness. There are lots of good companies out there doing great work for credit unions. While none of…
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How many seconds to get a human?
Two extraordinary things just happened to me: An actual human picked up the phone when I called a large corporation with a technical problem. The human quickly resolved my problem. A few days ago, I found myself locked out of my Square account. (Among other things, Square allows regular folks to accept credit cards.) I…
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Why credit unions should simplify absolutely everything
We already know that you should pay attention to simplifying copy to lower the reading level on your credit union’s website. It’ll make your site more understandable to everyone, not just brainiacs, and could even give your site an SEO boost. But that’s just a start. Simplifying the language you use shouldn’t begin and end…
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Slaying the Sludge Monster
He’s covered in sticky tentacles of frustration, endless inescapable globs of pointless paperwork, ridiculous rules, and cruel barbs of rejection and fees. The Sludge Monster is clogging up your membership growth, and he’s costing your credit union members and money left and right. So what is sludge, anyway? Sludge is anything that creates friction, frustration,…
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CU Website Best Practices: Be Nice to Bookmarkers
One odd trait we’ve seen on the credit union websites we build is that most have quite a few – sometimes thousands of – visitors who repeatedly arrive via bookmarks. Obviously, you want to be very, very nice to frequent visitors, especially ones who care enough to bookmark something on your site and return regularly.…
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Your members want more shortcuts
Your credit union needs to become a shortcut. A life hack. A pro tip. People love that feeling of skipping the line, of getting the most out of minimum effort. And credit unions are perfectly positioned to deliver. Words like “convenience” or “24-hour access” don’t mean much any more. They’re cheesy, misused, and tired. But…
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Digital Marketing Best Practices: Landing page or Microsite?
When you’re creating and planning digital marketing, one of the simplest but most important questions is, “What, exactly, are we asking people to do? And what’s the best way to get them to do it?” There are tons of possibilities, and the right answer depends on your goals. We’ll discuss two very different directions: landing…
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Where do you get great content for great content marketing?
Content marketing is a great way to move away from interruption marketing and build relationships and trust. But where does all the content come from?
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Career lessons from the funny farm
I’ve had an unusual career. After the watermelon farm, and while I was in college and playing in a classic rock band, I also worked full time at a psychiatric hospital for four and a half years. (I didn’t get much sleep, either…) Like anyone who’s worked in a hospital, I also have an endless…
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