The brain seems to work best thinking in threes.

The Rule of Three Rules

Your focus group and creative team has come up with 47 different ways why your your credit union/your product is superior to the competition. Your eyes glaze over at all the possibilities, that by using this amazing list in your marketing, you will astound the world with its obviousness, bring in monster results, and probably…

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Marketing can be seen as telling your brand's story to an audience that wants to listen.

Is Your Marketing Worthy of a Sequel?

I recently watched 3 movies in a row (the only way to fill time flying across an ocean), and the best one was Despicable Me 2. It was simple, mindless entertainment that made me laugh out loud (which meant I got some funny looks from other passengers.) I assume it was my memories of the…

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Just by their overuse, the lack of original thought BECOMES OBVIOUS.

7 cliches way past their expiration date

I understand that when a phrase gets repeated enough, it can become a cliche. It can also become part of company’s culture – serving as a form of shorthand for CEOs and office managers – especially when anyone is talking about branding and marketing. And while cliches may have started out as a new way…

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It's creative, kitschy, classy, unorthodox, and I loved every grass-roots moment of it.

Dream big for your next community event

ArtPrize is a chaotic, jumbled mess of classic and pop, amateur and professional art surrounded by mobs of people and spread out over (mostly) downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s creative, kitschy, classy, unorthodox, and I loved every grass-roots moment of it. For 19 days every year, Grand Rapids turns their downtown into an oversized art…

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next time you want to "teach" your members, try being a storyteller instead. 

Are you telling stories or storytelling?

My brother-in-law tended to exaggerate things a bit when he was a kid. From what I hear, there was always some truth behind his tales, but it was the embellishments that made everyone grin and shake their head. His family knew he wasn’t lying, he was “telling stories” – which, of course, isn’t the same thing…

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together, they form a whole greater than each individual part

The epic battle between Marketing and Accounting

Some things just don’t mix:  Light and dark. Fire and Ice. Marketing and Accounting. But why has there always been this constant struggle between the two sides? Why does Marketing see Accounting as a miser with an iron grip on the budget, while Accounting sees Marketing as a wasteful spendthrift with no sense of ROI?…

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It’s easy to assume that what you want is what other people want.

You assume too much

You have a wonderful product that is going to revolutionize the way things are done. It’s fun to use, easy to use, and doesn’t cost a lot. You’ve been talking about it with all of your friends, and they’re super-excited about it. So you refine the product, put as many resources as you can behind…

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No one gets the toxic title until it becomes a pattern

Taming the toxic client

In my last two articles, I discussed iDiz Inc’s perspective on Building the ideal credit union marketer and Helping the not-so-ideal credit union marketer. Now it’s time to dish up some dirt! With some people, it’s almost impossible to develop a productive business relationship. I’m sorry to say we’ve encountered all the red flags below,…

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Are you sure you know what you know?

Marketers often don’t know what they don’t know

Those heart-warming, emotionally-moving ads you are running? Only about 19% of consumers notice them. You say your ads are more thought-provoking? 33% of the people may have paid attention. Are you more focused on creating well-designed, eye-catching visuals? You reached about 50% of your audience. If you truly want to get their attention, you have…

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marketers who get the best results have a lot in common.

Building the ideal credit union marketer

Over the years, I’ve noticed that our most successful clients — the credit union marketers who get the best results and make this job a lot of fun — have a lot in common. In fact, several years back, I started compiling a list of traits for our ideal client as a way to define…

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