Branding goes well beyond the colors in your logo or glossybrochures. Branding is everything, from your website to theemployees in your branch. Branding must be part of overallstrategic planning and then that plan must be clearly communicatedand reinforced to all employees every day.

I called the main number of a large credit union this week. Iwas on hold for a couple of minutes, and then a member servicerepresentative transferred me to the line I had requested. I was onhold another five minutes before I got disconnected. I called backand was on hold nearly another eight minutes–the hold music wasawful–before an MSR got to me. This time I was connected. Thisexperience is your brand to me now.

If I were a member of this credit union, I would be livid. Andif it happened again, I'd consider moving my money. Truly puttingthe members first means bottom-up thinking from the top ondown.

Bethpage FCU studied what people thought of the credit union andwhat consumers wanted and surveyed what others were doing foryears. Bethpage fixed what members and nonmembers indicated neededfixing, including employee training, before the credit union gotdown to the minutiae of colors and mascots.

Once that was decided on, the pomp and circumstance of unveilinga new brand promoted a comprehensively rebranded organization. Overthe years this took place, Bethpage and CEO Kirk Kordeleski wererecognized as highly influential in the community.

Doing things right, like ensuring callers don't endure severalminutes of 1980s elevator music and fixing problems when theyoccur, is also branding. It can guide you to your sharp logo andpithy tagline.

As such, those who come second to your members in your creditunion are your frontline employees–whether in-branch, over thephone or online. Invest time and money in mentoring and trainingthem. If they are great with people and want to stay on thatfrontline, help them become the best they can be.

Employees that would like to climb the credit union laddershould be encouraged to work toward that goal without supervisors'egos getting in the way. It can be hard not to feel threatened whensomeone who reports to you receives recognition for good work.Ultimately, however, managers are judged by the performance oftheir staff. The ability to recruit and retain the right people atall levels is crucial to achieving long-term success.

The Wall Street Journal apparently did not have theright people heading up its European operation. The publisher ofWSJ Europe was the subject of an internal probe that found that hehad pushed for favorable articles involving a company that WSJEurope had business relations with and was helping to artificiallyinflate WSJ Europe circulation numbers.

It was incredible brand damage to such a venerable publicationto fail so miserably at the basic tenet of maintaining a soliddivision between editorial content and advertising: Journalism101.

To its credit, WSJ dug in to its own story verycritically. The paper's swift move to right the wrong will helpre-earn the trust of readers.

At Credit Union Times, we provide “Trusted News forCredit Union Leaders.” That means we're ever watchful of the linethe WSJ crossed. We're clear on what we provide and forwhom.

We have steered our editorial content toward trends and bigger picture articles that bring the message home directly tocredit unions. CU Times has also launched Trailblazers 40Below program to recognize up and coming leaders in the creditunion industry so our readers can see what some young executivesare doing to move the credit union community into the future. Don'tmiss out on the talents these bright, energetic people and be sureto mentor them through their career journey.

Credit unions have been female-friendly. CUNA data show that 57%of CEOs are women. However, you see predominantly female CEOs inthe CUs under $50 million in assets, and then it suddenly flips topredominantly men. The ratio is 74% male to 26% female at creditunions with more than $1 billion in assets. Meanwhile 57% ofbachelor's degrees in the U.S. are earned by women along with 58%of graduate degrees, Womenomics states.

But hiring women, or diversifying in anyway, is good business.Catalyst, the New York research group found that companies with thehighest representation of women in their senior management teamsachieved a 35% higher return on equity and a 34% higher return toshareholders than companies with the lowest female representation.Glass Ceiling Research Centre reported that the 25 Fortune 500companies with the best record for promoting women to seniorpositions posted returns 18% higher and returns on investment, 69%percent higher than the median.

CU Times is looking ahead so that you can too. In lightof the shifting demographics, we've launched Women to Watch, aprogram to honor women at all stages in their careers at creditunions of all asset sizes that are being creative and pushing theircredit unions forward. We've named five. Be sure to make yournominations at CUTimes.com/W2W by the Oct. 19 deadline. That'sleadership and that's our brand.