From Benny Goodman to Credit Union Leaders: Breaking the Noise Barrier and Embracing the Future

“I guess people used to think my music was noise.” Toward the end of his career the “King of Swing” Benny Goodman was due to record at a studio. Just down the hall a punk rock band was recording. Benny’s manager arrived at the studio first and heard the other band playing and kindly asked […]

Selfish Credit Unions Kill Opportunities

When credit union leaders and board members resist change in favor of the comfort of the familiar past, all in the name of love of the credit union, I ask one question:  “What is your credit union story from when you first joined?” I tend to hear emotional and moving stories about the many firsts […]

The Pandemic of Nice is Not Working Out

I’ve had a recurring theme in conversations with credit union leaders this year. “Bo, I just don’t know if all my staff is on board. I don’t know if they are a good fit to take us to the next level, where we’re going.” OUCH! That is a touchy conversation. But the fact that these […]

The Magic Formula to Credit Union Marketing

I love interacting with people who make me think. Recently, a fellow credit union marketing person, who remembered my background as a radio broadcaster, and I were conversing, and he said something like this to me: “Now that targeting is all but dead on Facebook and Instagram, I believe that the rules of reach and […]

Why Great Things Aren’t Happening At Your Credit Union

Try, try, try again. You’re working your credit union’s strategic plan; you’re spending money marketing, but nothing seems to generate the growth you’re looking for at your credit union. Why? Things don’t happen when you stand still, or even worse, when you try half-heartedly. I write from experience. Let me share my story and see […]

Where Will New Members Learn About Your Credit Union?

So, where do you think you should be fishing when it comes to finding new members? Social media. It’s not my opinion. It’s a fact based on a study from GWI that found that 31% of social media users in the US in Q1 2020 said they typically find out about new brands/products via ads on social […]

Big Banks and Fintechs are Fighting it Out. What About Credit Unions?

A recent Forbes article titled, “The checking account war is over: The fintechs have won” certainly caught my attention. Of course, once I clicked and saw the author was Ron Shevlin I shouldn’t have been surprised. Shevlin quickly pointed out the success of Chime, PayPal and Square in mega growth and the decline of the big banks […]

3 Tips to Get the Most out of Your Credit Union Strategic Plan

As we enter the time when we start looking ahead to the next year, your credit union strategic plan might be complete, or you plan to work on it very soon. Regardless, you want it to be more than a dusty document on the shelf or a forgotten file in your digital folder. Having gaining perspective from […]

5 Reasons Your Credit Union Marketing Must Target an Ideal Member Persona

If the internet quote is true, Confucius once said, “The man who chases two rabbits, catches neither.” The same is true for the credit union that chases too many ideal members. You will catch none of them. I didn’t have to go looking for national data to back up my theory. I only had to look […]

You Are the Reason Your Team Can’t Make Decisions

“Why can’t my team handle anything without me?” This is a question I hear a lot in my work with credit union leaders and through credit union strategic planning events. It’s a question and frustration many leaders deal with but there’s a question behind that question. “What is holding my team back from being able […]