Strategy

Bump, Don’t Butcher Your Marketing Budget

During slowdowns, most institutions start cutting their marketing budgets. But is that the right strategy?

All-Aboard! How to Get Maximum Participation During Planning Sessions

You want as many ideas as possible during strategic planning. But sometimes, all you get are crickets instead.

Time’s Ticking…Don’t Forget to Succession Plan!

Who’ll steer your institution’s future? Do you know? If not, you’re entering dangerous waters.

Know Your Competition’s Next Move

If you’re going to play the game, it’s important you know your competition’s strategy.

We’re Halfway to 2023. Are You Ready?

Yes, we’re asking you to think about the new year in the middle of summer vacations and backyard BBQs.

Up Your Game to Beat Walmart

For decades, Walmart has prided itself on its low prices. They’re virtually unbeatable.

Top Four Hazards Your CU Needs To Avoid Now

COVID-19 is one of the biggest challenges of our time. The pandemic’s health threat and death rate are the likes of…

Tips for Executing Your Strategic Plan from the Top

If you need tips for executing your strategic plan, let’s first look at the wrong way to do it.

Three Ways to Broaden Your Revenue Stream

In the wake of economic instability and shifting financial winds, you’ve likely been a part of several discussions…

Three Keys to Strategic Planning for 2021

2020 will certainly go down as a year to remember (or forget, depending on your perspective). This T-shirt I saw on Amazon says it well: As we enter the last weeks of the year and look to 2021, successful strategic planning is a must. Starting your new year without a...

Strategic Questions to Ask at This Year’s Planning Session

Questions and answers. They are a key part to developing any strategy. Ask the wrong strategic questions and it doesn’t matter what your answer is. Answer the right questions the wrong way and it doesn’t matter what the question is. With On the Mark Strategies’...

Seven Ways To Immediately Improve Your Strategic Planning Process

Strategic planning—now there are two words that can strike cynicism and frustration into the hearts of any bank or…

Revisit Your Strategic Plan

This article originally appeared on cuna.org. When the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit, unemployment skyrocketed, the economy suffered, and the strategic plans credit unions put in place at the beginning of the year were no longer relevant.“Your strategic plan is...

Planting Trees and Strategic Plans at Your CU or Community Bank

An old adage goes, "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the next best time is today." You could easily say the same for strategic planning (although we certainly hope the strategic plans at your credit unions or community banks aren't 20 years old!). [bctt...

Marking the Halfway Point of 2021

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Is Your Strategic Plan “Snackable?”

Do you like M&Ms? They’re definitely a favorite snack of mine – small, easy to swallow and you’re able to finish a…

Ideas To Adjust Your Strategic Planning

Strategic planning ideas are a second thought for many this year.For example, a financial institution executive was recently discussing with me the severe impacts from the pandemic: earnings are tanking, investment income is negligible, fee income is dropping...

How to Seize Advantages During An Economic Downturn

If you look at current economic downturn data and projections for too long, you’ll get depressed quickly. McKinsey & Company is projecting it will take most business sectors more than five years to get back to their 2019 GDP levels. Bancography recently said...

How to Grow Business During a Pandemic

How do you grow business during a pandemic? Not to mention sinking oil prices, rising unemployment and a trade war with China. It’s enough to depress every credit union or community bank executive. As Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chair, said recently, “This is the...

How to Grow Loans in the Second Half of the Year

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Don Arkell, owner of CU Lending Advice.

How To Adjust Your Strategic Plan With the Four S’s

Your strategic plan created last fall is more than likely in a trashcan somewhere. Thank you, COVID-19. Strategic plans are one of the many casualties left in the pandemic’s wake. While situations have certainly changed, the need for a strategic plan has not. [bctt...

How Allied FCU Jumpstarted Loan Growth

How do we grow loans? When’s the best time to plan for the future? How do we go beyond simply making money?

Four Ways to Turn Mergers into Partnerships

“Mergers.” They can sound cold, and there’s a tendency to treat credit union mergers or mergers between community…

Focus: Strategy’s Secret Weapon

Strategic initiatives. Action plans. Timelines. Every credit union or community bank in some form or fashion has…

Focus Like a Barn Swallow

A Barn Swallow is a little bird found abundantly across North America…and it has a strategic focus unlike any other.

Everyone Talks or Your Strategic Plan Flops

How many people attend your credit union or bank’s strategic planning session? Ten? Twelve? More?

Don’t Let Coronavirus Deliver a Knockout Blow to Your Strategic Plan

Boxing legend Mike Tyson once famously said "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Sound familiar for your community bank or credit union strategic plan? For most credit unions and community banks, this thought is extremely poignant when thinking...