Posts by Sam Dicken
How to make your credit union’s Board of Directors cool
We’ve seen a lot of conversation in the past few years about the member aging problem and its impact on the future of the credit union movement. Yes, it’s undeniably an obstacle, but more than a few credit unions could benefit from examining themselves, particularly the Board of Directors, along with their membership. To put…
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The creepy side of web-crawling critters
‘Tis the season to be spooky, but don’t worry, this article doesn’t contain any actual spiders. Sorry to any arachnophile readers that got their hopes up. Big data is a monumental and plentiful resource to be found among the mountains of the Internet, and there’s plenty of gold in them there hills if you’ve got…
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How credit unions fit into the digital marketplace
Most credit unions have a heartwarming story about putting cash into the communal cigar box. That mental image is great, and it resonates with people who want to be community-focused. But how many people under the age of 35 remember the last time they paid for something with cash? We’re living in a world where finance…
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3 steps to change what people say about your CU
We know credit unions to be helpful, community-oriented and compassionate. We know they keep their members’ financial interests close to their hearts. But what do people really say about your CU? A lot of people (and I mean A LOT) have largely experienced financial services as punishment, as trauma. And they feel this way for the…
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How to get started with Google Ads
Google offers you some excellent tools for tracking your site traffic and bidding on keywords. But let’s be honest, these interfaces aren’t the most user-friendly. In fact, at first glance they can be overwhelming and incomprehensible. The good news is you don’t have to be a tech guru to get started. Trust me, I’ve helped…
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Making content to attract younger members
Whenever the question of how to reach new, young members comes up, you’ll see recommendations like, “Make relevant, valuable and authentic content that displays your values,” and you have to wonder what the writer thinks it actually means. Now, this is actually good advice, but it can feel incredibly generic. I know this because I’m…
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Is AI a good fit for credit union marketing?
AI (and AI marketing) is the brand-spanking-new tool that everyone seems to be excited about. If the internet is to be believed, it’s either a miraculous new tool that will save corporations BIG $$$, the end of artistic integrity and creativity as we know it, or both. But that’s kind of par for the course…
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3 superpowers of the Friendly Neighborhood Credit Union
When you think of ‘credit unions’, you might not immediately think of ‘superheroes.’ It might be difficult to imagine a superhero that would convincingly represent something like a credit union. People tend to be interested in superheroes that defeat supervillains and repel alien invasions, not ones that save people from high interest rates. But why…
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Strategic inspiration to help credit unions mix things up
Have you heard the saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? There’s a lot of power in good branding, authentic messaging and a creative loan campaign, but sometimes you should be looking elsewhere for inspiration. You might be surprised at how many fresh new ideas you can find when…
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3 ways to earn your members’ trust
There’s an old saying, “May you live in interesting times,” which supposedly refers back to an old curse. If you’ve not heard of it before, the gist is that it’s better to live in a “boring” time of peace and prosperity instead of an “interesting” time of conflict and change. And when it comes to…
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