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 is tromping all over the place right now. From election antics, freaky weather, and oh yeah, that little virus…

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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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