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Brand Lessons from Pike Brewing Company
Earlier this month I wrote about my experience (and privilege) of serving as one of the lead instructors at the CUES School of Strategic Marketing in Seattle a few weeks ago. I shared our experience as a class in touring the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and credit union...
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Brand Lessons from the Starbucks Reserve Roastery
Last month I had the honor and privilege of serving as one of the lead instructors at the annual CUES School of Strategic Marketing held in Seattle. We talked all things credit union branding and marketing for credit unions. It was a terrific week of fun and...
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Your Marketing Mission…..Should You Choose to Accept It…..
Cue the Mission Impossible theme song. One of the blockbuster movies this summer is Mission Impossible: Fallout. If you haven’t seen it yet, get to a theatre near you for an absolute blast of a thrill ride movie. But enough of the movie review. What does Mission...
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7 Tips to Wow Your Members
Last week I taught at Southwest CUNA Management School. I’ve been on faculty there for more than 10 years, and let me tell you: these students are amazing. We talked about branding and how credit union employees living a brand involves more...
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Avoiding a Marketing Debacle of Build-a-Bear Magnitude
It was the shot heard ‘round the world last week when Build-a-Bear Workshop posted an urgent message on social media that it was closing lines on its Pay Your Age marketing campaign just an hour or two after most shops opened. Some in different times zones still had...
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On The Mark Strategies welcomes third generation credit union influencer
On The Mark Strategies recently welcomed Elizabeth Arnold to the team. Elizabeth is the daughter of Mark Arnold, founder of On The Mark Strategies, and granddaughter of the late John Arnold, founder of Catalyst Corporate Federal Credit Union, formerly Southwest...
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How To Make Your Strategic Planning Goals SMART
Like the swallows coming back to Capistrano in the spring, the return of 100 degree days in Texas in the summer and yet another terrible Transformers movie (for Pete's sake, Hollywood, please just stop it) sometime during the year, it will soon be time for your annual...
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Daring Questions and Your Strategic Planning Session
History and tradition can serve as great comforters. They can also serve as detriments to your bank or credit union strategic planning session. Far too many financial institutions simply go through the paces when it comes to strategic planning, assuming the same...
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The Magic Wand Effect at Your Bank or Credit Union
Plenty of childhood stories and moral tales involve the use of a magic wand (or some other instrument of supernatural power). With it, a character can, with a simple wave of the hand, go back in time to right all wrongs and re-plot the course of history. Of course,...
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A Good Brand Allows for Occasional Promotions
At this year's Financial Brand Forum a few weeks ago, keynote speaker and brand guru Guy Kawasaki had a terrific offering of wisdom for attendees. One that really stuck with me went a little something like this: Your brand is the thing that earns your credit union the...
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Four Competitors to Compare
Whether you are conducting a strategic planning session, developing your marketing plan or creating your brand, knowing your competitors is a key to success. As Sun Tzu said in The Art of War, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a...
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1 Knowing/Doing Gap in Strategic Planning
Check out his third entry in our latest vlog series on strategic planning!
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