three steps you need to take in order to start managing your boss.

Meh boss? Maybe it’s you.

You may actually have a lousy boss and work in a toxic environment. If so, then you should run, not walk, to the nearest job exit. But if your Boss is basically okay, yet your job seems to be going nowhere and you don’t seem to get the opportunities you say you want, then it may not be the…

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Think of your department as a client, and develop a marketing plan

Does your marketing department deserve more respect?

Your in-house marketing department is likely made up of capable, well-qualified and talented people, yet it may feel that you never get any respect from management or the rest of the company. You seem to get stuck doing all the small, tedious jobs while outsiders are brought in for the big, important projects. You obviously…

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nothing lasts forever – especially not web sites.

Five uncommon reasons to rebuild your web site

It’s sad to say, but nothing lasts forever – especially not web sites. Even if nothing is particularly wrong or broken, changes in technology and usage make it worthwhile to revisit your online “front door” every few years. In our experience, web sites need to be refreshed every three to five years. You can probably think…

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To most people, excellence in financial services is invisible.

Invisible excellence

Last week, I spent a few days motorcycling with some good friends in the beautiful hills of southern Missouri. The Ozarks contain some of the finest riding on the planet — this area is absolutely stuffed with thousands of deliciously sinuous roads. If you’re not a rider, this next bit may seem odd… What impressed us above all else…

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how can we break our horrible stock photo habit?

If everyone hates stock photos, why do we see so many of them?

I see three reasons why “shiny, happy people” stock photos are so prevalent: 1. Because they solve a problem quickly. You need a visual image that helps to communicate an idea, there seem to be mass quantities of them available, and if you ignore the time it takes to find the “right” one, they are a speedy way to complete your layout…

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It's their training, not their fault.

How to turn your CFO into Marketing’s BFF

Be honest. Are you BFFs with your CFO? Or do you have to fight for every penny and justify every expenditure? Ever been blindsided by a budget cut? The struggle between Marketing and Finance goes back to the days of cave painting, but it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s not that CFOs are bad people.…

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Every credit union has a unique local flavor

Can you taste the local difference?

Last week, I noticed a cool new package in the freezer at the grocery store. No-nonsense, retro-yet-high-tech, and irresistible next to the generic plastic bags. Priced only a little bit higher than the generic sweet corn from who-knows-where. What it contained was sweet corn. Indiana bicolor sweet corn. I visited the company’s web site (huskfoods.com),…

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GREAT marketing is an INCREDIBLE investment.

CEO to CEO: Marketing is either your baby or your fault

The Boss’ attitude and approach towards Marketing is usually the biggest difference-maker in obtaining highly successful results. Those that understand that good marketing is a wise investment, not an expense, do pretty well. Those that understand that GREAT marketing is an INCREDIBLE investment do even better. That’s why I wanted to share my recommendations on…

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Everyone can provide a plain old ordinary checking account or car loan for plain old ordinary average people.

Go find some weirdos

Quick, tell me about your members. No, not the average members. They’re boring. And you already know plenty about them. And so does everyone else. Find some weirdos. People out on the fringe. The ones who were in New Guinea last week, and are currently somewhere in Kazakhstan. The family thinking seriously about what kinds…

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What will you always do, no matter what?

Mission Statements are boring. What’s your Manifesto?

When we start on a branding project, one of the first things we usually see is the credit union’s “Mission Statement”. About 99.999% of the time, a committee has very carefully stripped it of any concrete meaning or use and it says the exact same things as every other mission statement. What I’m more interested…

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