When you started in marketing, you may have been attracted to it so you could manage creative projects. With the fast evolution of technology, especially the social media networks and digital advertising, the marketing mix has continued to change and become harder to show direct results. In a Financial Brand article about how financial marketers are not ready for the future, there was a chart that showed “Budget” was the biggest marketing challenge followed by “Measuring performance and/or proving results …

If an opportunity presented itself to you today, are you ready to showcase yourself? How do you currently present your accomplishments in your career? Having an updated resume is a good start yet the best tool for talking easily about your successes is a Personal Portfolio. Why a Personal Portfolio?  Three key reasons to create one, both physical and online: The personal portfolio is a great tool to use during an interview, enabling the interviewer to see your work and …

A benefit of big data is the ability to use pieces of information that is collected to personalize e-marketing or direct mail. Case studies have shown that people will respond better when the message is tailored to them rather than generic. It is especially effective when trying to make an emotional connection with the target. However, it is very important not to rely on automated personalization straight from your data pull. For example, social media platforms and vendors who allow …

Are you feeling overwhelmed with all the different marketing channels to manage to help your credit union achieve the goals set for the year?  Here is a quick review of 6 digital ways to help you jumpstart your membership growth since I figure it is on your credit union’s list of goals! It’s is becoming crazy how many things are being discussed from “big data” to “mobile” to “digital ads” and more. And the key is to get your credit …

Let’s say you are happy with your website design and have all your applications online. You believe the navigation helps your website visitor to find their way. Your copy is interesting and updated. And, you have carefully linked an e-card to a landing page to be even more helpful. But wait, when the person comes to your site, looks around and leaves, what then? A missing link is a retargeting pixel and digital ad campaign to remind the visitor that …

Because you want to make sure your digital ad campaign works the best it can to attract people to click through, your ads have to grab eyeballs. Here are 5 important ideas to get you started: Start with the ad sizes that are the most effective. According to Google AdSense, these are the 336×280 large rectangle, the 300×250 medium rectangle, the 728×90 leaderboard, the 300×600 half page, and on mobile the 320×100 large mobile banner. Keep to your brand colors with a value proposition and/or special offer, …

A constant topic in marketing blogs, e-newsletters and podcasts is how to reach people on the screens of their mobile devices.  One important point to consider is that we are reading our email on our devices, not just a computer. The key then, is to make it personal! Evaluate the online experience by going through the steps that you ask your customers to follow. Use names in email marketing, especially when it is a targeted broadcast to customer/members of a specific demographic, product mix or behavioral aspect. Track …

One of the most important channels in today’s hectic world is e-marketing to your customer’s/member’s inbox. Perceived as an inexpensive way to market, often executives will question whether to only use it and stop other marketing channels that seemingly cost more. Take a step back and ask yourself these questions to help you assess how you are doing with e-marketing. Here is a great way to assess your e-marketing as part of the entire mix: Do you know the most …

“On average, marketers need one new idea per working day to fuel their marketing efforts. That’s 251 ideas per year.” —Jean Spencer, Content Marketer and Writer for Kapost Working in a career that requires the nimbleness to jump from project to project, and then brilliantly come up with the newest campaign or product or offer, keeping up creative energy can be tough. With management teams demanding more statistics on the results of marketing and the tracking of numbers for validating choices …

“Creativity is intelligence having fun!” —Albert Einstein When you are online, you often see things that inspire or prompt a new idea. The key to creativity is the ability to capture those fleeting thoughts, ideas and images. Yet, to stay on task, you need options to quickly capture them and keep moving. Here are my favorite two ways: Notepad (Microsoft) – When working at your computer or laptop, it’s easy to pull up Notepad to jot down ideas that pop …