ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It – 10.25.23

There are credit union monsters running amok! Monstrous mortgage payments, brainless budgeting, dreadful data sharing, hairy hacks and scary scams. For all things creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky, here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it: We’re Haunting the ICUL convention this week! Stop by our booth at the Indiana Credit Union League’s Annual…

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You can do anything, but what should you do?

3 ways to get BIG results from your tiny social media budget

It seems like budget is the Achilles’ heel of social media managers, regardless of industry. In my experience, this is equally true at credit unions. The reality is that your social media budget has to compete with the rest of your marketing goals, and might get ignored as a result.  The good news is that…

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What good is a marketing budget that never changes?

It’s budget season once again. Time to dust off last year’s marketing budget, tweak the product promotions to match what lending wants to focus on this year, push the numbers as much as you think you can get away with, turn it in and hope that it doesn’t get trimmed too far back. Sound about…

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A few tips for balancing strategy with resources to get the biggest bang

Bracing yourself for CU budget season

All across the land, credit union marketers are polishing up their crystal balls, sharpening their pencils, and gearing up to face the most fearsome beast of all: next year. Following are a few tips for balancing strategy with resources to get the biggest bang for your members’ hard-earned bucks — and your time and energy.…

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marketing must be a core component of planning any merger.

CU mergers need marketing love, too

Even the smoothest credit union merger is a whirlwind of details. Of course, making sure the accounts transition smoothly is job #1, but merger partners also have to pay close attention to personnel, cultures, regulatory requirements and all the rest. No wonder it’s so easy to forget something very important – your members. Communicating with…

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small CUs have a secret weapon

How small credit unions can start thinking big

Small credit unions have a special set of marketing and brand challenges. Budget and time limitations are pretty obvious, and keeping up with technology is always challenging. If you’re a one-person marketing department, or even a part-time marketer wearing a few other hats, here’s how to start thinking about your growth strategy, marketing, and brand…

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Weird is what credit unions are made for

Taming the Weird Times Monster

The Weird Times monster is hairy, scary, and totally unpredictable, constantly sprouting freaky new tentacles to worry about. Whatever your personal, political, or economic beliefs, we can all agree on one thing: the Weird Times monster has been tromping all over the place for the last few years, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be…

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Budget Season: Different is your best investment

CU Budgeting for Weird Times: Double Down on Different

It’s budget season for credit unions, but it’s also silly season in politics and wacky times in finance. Even the weather is off-the-charts odd, and strange growth-eating monsters are creeping over the horizon in every direction. In times like these, how do you even begin to make your plans for the strange and stranger times…

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Monsters are problems that keep you from growing.

CU Budgets in Strange Days: Put Your Money Where Your Monsters Are

You can’t just build a CU budget for your marketing and website based on “oh, whatever we did last year“, and that goes double when times are getting Strange.* *(In last week’s article, we pointed out that strange days and weird times are here, and things are only going to get Weirder in 2020.) Fortunately,…

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Time + attention + money = total resources

Money isn’t everything – budget time and attention too

What’s your total marketing resources? No, not just the number of dollars you spend on media, services, and clicky pens. I’m talking about the other parts of the equation: time and attention. Time + attention + money = total resources. Time, of course, is a combination of staff time (how much time can and should you…

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