Neo was right. If you die in the Matrix, you die in real life.

With everything happening these days, your digital presence is either your most prominent asset or your most obviously-neglected marketing liability for the foreseeable future. People have now been stuck at home or afraid to come see you for months. Many are planning on staying home for a long time. That makes your digital presence more…

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what if that place was... all over the place?

In an earlier SharediDiz article, I just had to admit that I’ve always been a branch hater. When I need to get something done, visiting a branch has always been the absolute last resort. But maybe I was being a little harsh. A lot of people still like branches. They can make people feel more…

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For a lot of your members, a branch is a last resort

I’m a branch hater. There, I said it. When I need to get something done with money, visiting a credit union branch has been the absolute last resort for, well, for pretty much my whole life. Branches are time-consuming, inconvenient, and never open when I need them. How many of your members feel the same way? How many…

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A smooth CU merger depends on member buy-in

If you have been part of the credit union world for any length of time, you know there have been a lot of mergers, even while greatly increasing membership and offering expanded benefits. And it looks like those merger trends will continue. Over the years, we’ve had the honor of helping several credit unions navigate these mergers. And we’ve…

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MX is the new brand marketing

For an industry based on the idea of People Helping People, why aren’t more credit unions laser-focused on Member Experience (MX)? Don’t they know that all those little annoyances add up? Isn’t less hassles supposed to be one of the CU advantage over banks? For example, my CU apparently decided to switch service providers that…

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If you are even considering rebranding, there's likely a good reason

Rebranding a credit union is tough. Everyone has an opinion, and most aren’t afraid to state it. For every member that identifies with their shared history, there are others that see a need to update their brand for the future. And both have a point. But time keeps moving, and credit unions have had to…

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I'm not calling a credit union for fun; I'm calling to get something done.

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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The sludge monster is clogging up your membership growth

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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find a reason to bring people together.

Front porches used to be the ideal gathering places. People used to sit outside to cool off, greeting neighbors walking by and inviting them up for a face-to-face chat. It was a great way to bring people together, catch up on community news, and share some iced tea. Then air conditioning killed the front porch.…

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With all of that potential, the possibilities are almost endless.

A credit union is kind of like a computer. Multiple components interfacing with processes that all have to work together to get anything done. Competing demands for limited resources that are trying to do too many things at once. Lots and lots of data to process, that everyone wants immediately, if not sooner. With all…

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