Credit Union Branding
CU Conference Shout-Outs
The “sixth principle” of credit unions is cooperation among cooperatives. And we feel a similar spirit should apply to those of us who serve the credit union movement. Here are just a few quick shout-outs to just a few of the innovative companies and CUSOs we’ve seen at NACUSO in Las Vegas in April, and…
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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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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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Why love needs CU marketing love, too.
When you think about it, credit unions and the whole credit union movement are pure love in action. I’m serious. Sure, the eight cooperative principles use fancier language, but when you get down to it, these core principles of the credit union movement are all just practical ways humans make the world a better place…
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Let’s get unapologetically, radically transparent
No, I don’t mean transparent as in “invisible” or “see-through,” and I certainly don’t mean “difficult-to-find.” The word transparency could refer to a lot of things inside a credit union, but for our purposes we just have to ask one question: Do people know how a credit union works? We know that people see “credit…
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How credit unions can be much more than loan retailers
Lots of people make bad decisions about their money simply because they were never taught how to make good ones. Which often gets blamed on their parents, since 83% of US adults say that parents are the most responsible for teaching their kids about finances. Yet 40% of parents claim they talk to their kids…
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Don’t be like an airline
You might not think that an airline has a lot in common with a credit union. But when you think about it, people come to both airlines and CUs because they want to do something else. No one I know rides commercial airlines or takes out loans because they enjoy doing those things. Both airlines…
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Mission is your credit union’s not-so-secret weapon
“Why are you here?” It’s a small question. And it’s a big question, too – the biggest, really. The answer, and more importantly the truth of that answer, will determine whether a credit union thrives and survives. “No, why are you really here?” We’re not talking about a slogan, a tag line, or the boring,…
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Why good credit union branding is never done
Just like people, every credit union wants to be well-known and popular. They want to portray an image or persona that everyone knows, understands, and likes. Kind of like my brother. When my brother was in high school, he always wanted to be like the “cool kids.” Because the “in-crowd” seemed to have all the…
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HR needs marketing and brand love, too.
Obviously your job as a Masterful Marketing Maven and Boffo Brand Boss is to bring in those new members and pump up those loan and deposit numbers. Staffing isn’t anywhere near your wheelhouse, so it’s best to leave all of that up to those Human Resources folks at the other end of the hall –…
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