During our 2014 strategic planning, we began with this quote from Lewis Carroll: "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." There is no getting around it – without a good strategic plan, you can get lost. Sometimes, good plans are created but are not always followed. It is critical that management and the board diligently track the plan's progress. Even if you are a small credit union, find a way to utilize an outside facilitator because they can ask questions that you or your Board either doesn't know to ask, or are afraid to ask.

Takeaway: No matter how you create your plan (SWOT analysis, economic environment etc.), the process should produce an action plan outlining strategic initiatives, the person responsible and dates. To keep everyone focused, the action plan must be shared with your board once each quarter.

"Everything Speaks"

Years ago, a co-worker who attended the Disney Institute returned from Orlando with two simple words: "everything speaks." What it means is that everything you do collectively, defines who you are as a company; all of your actions define your credit union's brand. Every employee needs to understand the brand. Starting from the top, bring it to them live and in person over and over again so they can truly understand your brand.

Takeaway: You can either actively manage your brand or ignore it and let your brand define itself; the latter is not advisable. While big data, mobile payments and virtual branches dominate your marketing agenda today, do not forget how important a well-managed brand can be to your company in the long run. Strong brands provide a good foundation for success. Weak ones usually do not.

Member Value Exchange

Driving membership and assets higher requires more than creating a set of products and services that will make your credit union money. To grow, you must focus on satisfying member needs (offering relevant, unique and well-defined benefits) through a mutually beneficial value exchange.

Takeaway: I define our unique value exchange at Point Breeze Credit Union as building and nurturing a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with our members. Put simply, if we take care of the member, they will take care of us.

Marketing as a Profit Center

When times are tough, cost cutting is needed. In many cases, marketing is the first place the board or management looks. However, no matter what stage the business cycle is in, strategic marketing is a long-term investment. Marketing can provide a positive return on investment and is actually a profit center, not a cost center.

Takeaway: Spend time measuring your marketing results and translate them into an understandable ROI. This will enable everyone to see that marketing is an investment you make, not just an expense.

Direct Marketing: A Huge Opportunity

If you are a large credit union and you've finished this article, you already know the huge benefits of direct marketing. However, smaller credit unions have the same access to member aggregated data and supplemental outside lists (merged against your own data) to drive results.

Takeaway: Direct marketing is controllable, scalable and measureable. Small credit unions can deselect larger lists to manage their overall costs. Opportunities are everywhere and the lists are nearly endless. For example, find out which of you mortgage members have home equity loans at another institution and offer incentives to bring that business to you.

Bernard McLaughlin is president/CEO of Point Breeze Credit Union. He can be reached at 443-589-0444 or [email protected].