CU Conference Shout-Outs

The “sixth principle” of credit unions is cooperation among cooperatives. And we feel a similar spirit should apply to those of us who serve the credit union movement. Here are just a few quick shout-outs to just a few of the innovative companies and CUSOs we’ve seen at NACUSO in Las Vegas in April, and…

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ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

In Case You Missed It (v29)

Misinformation and bots are everywhere, but at least there’s one baseball team with a lot of heart. Should you hop on the AI train, or wait until it’s a smoother ride? Who actually gets the tip when you order out? Here’s what we noticed, in case you missed it: Join the fight against misinformation Students…

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Eight reasons why small CUs have so much value

The big value in small credit unions

Here’s my bold prediction for the near future: small and de novo (new) credit unions will play a key part in revitalizing and re-energizing the entire credit union movement. Small credit unions (or call them “boutique” or “specialty” credit unions if you prefer) obviously have tremendous value to their members. But we’re only just beginning…

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Set yourself up for success in the new year!

Five things CU marketers can get done before 2023

Only a few weeks to go until 2023, and so it’s time for credit union marketers to relax a bit with a cup of hot chocolate and get firmly into holiday mode, right? Well… sort of. With just a little time and effort before the January whirlwind, you can get a head start on 2023,…

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There's a lot you can learn from the haters, the not-so-greaters, and the merely lukewarm. And you can use these lessons to spark joy in the people you can delight. Grumps are a great source of valuable market research.

Learn to love your haters

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but… not everyone is five stars, A++++, bonkers crazy in love with your credit union. No matter how awesome you are, not everyone will agree. But here’s the good news: that’s OK. Really. There’s a lot you can learn from the haters, the not-so-greaters, and the…

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Time to Panic? There will certainly be some lunch-nibbling.

Is it time to panic about alternate financial providers?

As Kent mentioned last week in his post-Financial-Brand-Forum recap, there seems to be a certain amount of indecision about whether it’s time to panic, and exactly what we should panic about. Should credit unions panic about Walmart sticking their very large toes into our personal financial services turf? Or Amazon, Apple, or Costco? All the…

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Think Beyond The Rate

Bread and butter car loans don’t have to be boring

Here’s a product idea for car loans I’ve had kicking around my head for years. It’s yours, free of charge. (Of course we’d certainly love to help with marketing strategy and creative.) The plain old car loan is every credit union’s bread and butter. It’s also kind of boring. No wonder your members look at your…

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Credit Union Science Fiction

Forget next year’s media budget or your five-year strategy. Let’s gaze deeper into that CU crystal ball than we ever have before. What’s the distant future of finance? What are credit unions going to be doing 25, 50, or 100 years from now? Virtual CUs Correct me if this has already happened, but is there…

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No pop-ups, no forms, no logging in. Just download and enjoy.

Free Shared iDiz Books

Back when we started Shared iDiz in 2007, our concept was simply to chat with those working in credit union marketing. We wanted to provide insights, share expertise, challenge unproductive thinking, celebrate fresh viewpoints, and hopefully keep it interesting and fun to read. It’s apparently a long conversation, since we are headed into our 10th year of Shared…

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Which sounds more like your credit union?

Are you an Amazonian or a Walmartian?

It’s always interesting to compare credit unions to well-known “disruption” companies to see if there’s anything we can learn from their examples. Walmart and Amazon have massively disrupted retail, along with entire industries and communities. Love them or hate them (or both), their effect on the world has been huge. In addition, they are direct competitors…

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