The Power of Crafting & Using Stories

About ten years ago, the economy was faltering and the mood of consumers was impacted by anxiety over losing money. People were seeing foreclosures on homes and our clients were losing loans due to the bankruptcies of members who had gotten hit with foreclosure as well as a pullback by members who were just afraid to borrow in turbulent times. On the flipside, there was a liquidity concern as members wanted to have their savings “safe,” so deposits flowed in …

Crafting Your Success Story

When you meet a new person, what is the usual question?  Most people will ask each other, “What do you do?” It is the way we network in social or professional events. It is a way to find common ground and provide a way to pave the way for new opportunities. Since you passed the age of 18, you have focused on how to make a living and build a lifestyle through a job or career path. Yet, the best …

Branding As a Relevant Financial Partner to Younger Generation

As a marketer or manager responsible for the marketing of your organization, it is critical to understand what options you may have in communicating brand to attract younger generations in this fractured time for financial institutions. Here are three things to consider to be more successful: To attract young adults, keep in front of parents, the younger Boomers and Gen X. Because younger adults turn to parents for advice, understanding that they are comfortable using online services, you have to …

Making Your Personal Brand Relevant

Because technology and social trends are changing almost daily, it is important to review your Success Network to see how it can help you be more relevant. Here are some key tips to consider: How many of your contacts are in the generation below yours? For example, if you are a Gen X, check your success network contacts for Millennials or individuals at least 10 years younger. As humans, we have a tendency to stay in our comfort zone which …

Positioning for the Future

Things continue to change, in the economy, in technology and even socially, with the continued increase in social media. You have to take charge of your career success in a manageable way. One is to do a personal marketing audit each year. It is easy to spend a short amount of time assessing how well your personal marketing is helping achieve your vision of success. Here are a few starters: Have you done a personal SWOT analysis in the last …

Where to Focus Marketing Dollars for 2018

With limited marketing budgets and personnel, it is so important to make sure you are making the best decisions for marketing planning.  While every market is different and every organization has its own strengths and weaknesses, the questions below help you focus on the credit union’s goals. Equally as important, in our datamining for clients we have found that less than 20 percent of their customers/members were profitable.  In fact, some clients had ten percent or less contributing 120% of …

Questions to Help You Achieve a Goal in 2018

If you have a goal like travel, additional education, starting a side business, taking lessons, or other idea for next year, it is likely to require some funds!  So, here are some questions to make sure you set the framework for easily achieving it: How does this goal fit into your personal vision of your future success? For this new goal, will you be able to easily save/spend dollars out of your current budget or will it require a savings …

Creating Focus for 2018 Planning

This is the time of year when planning sessions typically are held for boards and senior management teams to review the year’s progress and determine future goals. Often teams go on a retreat to focus on the planning session while others conduct the sessions in their own board rooms. The most important part of holding a planning session is to realign the members of the team for the challenges and opportunities in the next year and beyond. Both Dennis Koepke, …

7 Key Questions for Your Tune-up

The strategic planning process is all about making sure you organization has a well-defined path to thrive and grow.  Here are some questions that we have used to start the process of understanding where our clients may have gaps and what strengths you have to build upon: What is your competitive advantage for why a member/customer should do business with your organization? How do you compete in the marketplace for attracting members/customers? Where are the growth opportunities that you see? …

7 Questions to Update Your Personal Marketing

To be prepared for new opportunities as well as achieve your goals, here are some questions to determine if you have the self-promotion mindset about You, Inc.: Do you know your competitive edge? Have you updated your resume in the last six months and have a current publicity photo? Do you have your Success Network on the computer? Have you sent a personal note to someone in the past month to keep in touch (not email or a phone call)? …