Elevating marketing

by. Theresa Witham

I watch a lot of competitive cooking shows. On them, the chefs frequently talk about elevating a dish—for example, taking mac and cheese and elevating it to a gourmet level. I personally enjoyed the nacho challenge on a recent show. Who would think that nachos could be elevated? They seem pretty darn perfect already. But I have to admit the successful chefs were able to recreate nachos into something even more interesting.

At the CUES School of Strategic Marketing I and II, held recently in Seattle, there was a lot of talk about elevating marketing.

Like nachos, credit union marketing is already pretty awesome. See this year’s CUES Golden Mirror Awards winners for proof of that. But just because something is already awesome, doesn’t mean it can’t, or shouldn’t, get better.

The CUES GMA competition is different from other marketing awards because results are an important part of the judging. To win, the entries have to show that the campaigns accomplished the CU’s goals and were a good return on investment. That they were more than just pretty brochures, crisp ad copy or a clever TV commercial.

And that’s what we talked about at CUES School of Strategic Marketing. Speakers, led by Mark Weber of CUES Supplier member Weber Marketing Group, Seattle, and attendees talked about what marketing needs to do in order to be a strategic player in the credit union. (Last year, I wrote about how strategic marketers should be spending their time.)

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