Even small differences can be key.

Five ways you’re losing deposits

After years in the basement, loan and deposit rates have been rising for a while, and at many credit unions, the deposit pendulum has swung from “Yikes! Deposits are spiking! We need to make loans!” to “Eek, we need deposits!” again. To help you tune up your deposit-fu, here are five ways you might be…

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It’s so hard to get young people’s attention nowadays!

Making content to attract younger members

Whenever the question of how to reach new, young members comes up, you’ll see recommendations like, “Make relevant, valuable and authentic content that displays your values,” and you have to wonder what the writer thinks it actually means. Now, this is actually good advice, but it can feel incredibly generic. I know this because I’m…

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Meatspace Feature

“Meatspace” is a CU superpower

Over the last few months, I’ve been to several in-person events, both professionally and personally. There really is nothing like being in real live “meatspace” with other real live humans when you want to connect, learn, innovate, and just plain have fun. Of course, you can also form real connections and have real, human-to-human experiences…

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ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It (v30)

CU numbers, a social media post idea, Gmail tricks, EDDM options, ancient tweezers, and who knew pickleball was so noisy? Here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it: New Age Direct Mail Sure, email, websites, social media, video, and all the rest are getting most of the attention these days, but good old direct…

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Some ideas for CUs inspired by things that aren’t CUs.

Strategic inspiration to help credit unions mix things up

Have you heard the saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? There’s a lot of power in good branding, authentic messaging and a creative loan campaign, but sometimes you should be looking elsewhere for inspiration. You might be surprised at how many fresh new ideas you can find when…

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Show them, transparently, how it all works.

Let’s get unapologetically, radically transparent

No, I don’t mean transparent as in “invisible” or “see-through,” and I certainly don’t mean “difficult-to-find.” The word transparency could refer to a lot of things inside a credit union, but for our purposes we just have to ask one question:  Do people know how a credit union works? We know that people see “credit…

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It might be a good time to think proactive, rather than reactive.

Is it time for Credit Unions to go Virtual?

The labor market has had 20 consecutive months of sustained job growth. The unemployment rate has been hovering around a 50-year low. It’s really no wonder that employers are having to boost hourly and salaried pay just to compete for workers. Credit unions are in the same boat. It’s harder-than-ever to find new, qualified personnel.…

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Get real with financial education, and you’re going to see real results.

We need Financial Education for those not-so-happy times

When members come to your credit union for a mortgage or a car loan, it often feels amazing. Helping someone start a retirement account feels smart and safe. But there are a lot of life events that don’t give us those warm-fuzzies. If you spend any time on the r/personalfinance subreddit, you’ll see a lot…

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Be seen as a resource about money, not simply as a source of it

How credit unions can be much more than loan retailers

Lots of people make bad decisions about their money simply because they were never taught how to make good ones. Which often gets blamed on their parents, since 83% of US adults say that parents are the most responsible for teaching their kids about finances. Yet 40% of parents claim they talk to their kids…

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Mistakes happen, but this industry is built on customer service

Don’t be like an airline

You might not think that an airline has a lot in common with a credit union. But when you think about it, people come to both airlines and CUs because they want to do something else. No one I know rides commercial airlines or takes out loans because they enjoy doing those things. Both airlines…

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