Great New Posts on CDFI Branding at CDFIbrand.com

by Jeff on May 23, 2013

Have you taken a moment to check out our new website, www.CDFIbrand.com? It’s the first and only blog covering all the branding and marketing topics relevant to community development financial institutions. Here are some of our great recent posts–check them out!

Introduction to Word of Mouth Marketing for CDFIs

CDFI Brand Awareness vs. Brand Clarity

Is ‘Marketing’ a Bad Word to CDFIs?

 

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Download Our White Paper: The Affluent Branding Cookbook

by Jeff on May 20, 2013

We are excited to release a new white paper today, in collaboration with our partner firm Clientific, called “The Affluent Branding Cookbook.” The white paper is available for free instant download at www.creative-brand.com/cookbook and www.clientific.net/cookbook.

wealth management financial services brandingIn the Affluent Branding Cookbook, authors Jeff Stephens (CBC CEO) and JP Nicols (Clientific CEO) discuss nine unique and challenging issues that financial companies–from wealth management firms to banks and credit unions with investment products–face when branding themselves for the affluent market, including:

  • You Are (Probably) Not Your Client
  • Your Brand Positioning Is Too Similar To Your Competition’s

Jeff and JP propose solutions to these challenges, and offer discussion about best practices and keys to success.

Jeff Says: “The affluent market segment offers so much branding potential to wealth management firms, but it takes a strong understanding of brand, differentiation and segmentation to really get the most out of the market and avoid commoditization.”

JP Says: “Financial institutions of all sizes are increasing their emphasis on affluent clients, and over the course of our careers, we have seen a lot of examples of what works and what doesn’t in reaching these clients. We believe this is a timely and important topic for financial marketers.”

Download The Affluent Branding Cookbook today!

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Introducing www.CDFIbrand.com: a Branding and Marketing Blog for CDFIs

April 17, 2013

After the great response we had to our white paper, “The 7 Special Challenges of Branding For Community Development Financial Institutions—And What to Do About Them“, and our subsequent webinar on the same topic, we realized that the unique challenges of CDFI marketing and branding deserved their own separate home for discussion. So today we are [...]

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A Culture Worth Admiring: Zappos.com

March 13, 2013

Earlier this week, I had the fortunate opportunity to do a tour of the Zappos.com headquarters in Henderson, Nevada. Zappos offers free tours of its offices (not the warehouse, which is located in Kentucky for shipping purposes), and it’s a great, fun experience. Most importantly, the tour gives you a chance to see behind-the-scenes at [...]

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Banks and Credit Unions Can Learn An Important Branding Lesson from the Oregon Zoo

February 28, 2013

Here’s the lesson: Even when you need them more than they need you, you can–and should–communicate and enforce your expectations of them. Who is the “they” I refer to? Well, for you banks and credit unions, the “they” I am referring to are your customers and members. For the Oregon Zoo, the “they” I mean [...]

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Are You Taking for Granted The Fundamentals of Your Banking Business Model

February 13, 2013

I’ve recently been revisiting a book called Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder, as I’m working on some new entrepreneurial endeavors related to CBC. But as I was re-reading it, I began to wonder: “how many bank and credit union marketing folks or executives have read this? I’m guessing the answer is ‘very, very few.’ [...]

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Poking the Box: Financial Services Innovation in 2013

January 21, 2013

This post is another installment in my series of posts about reconnecting with my previous sources of inspiration. Just like the first post, “Pick Someone to Disappoint,” this one also is inspired by my re-reading of Seth Godin‘s work. Another of Seth’s books I recently re-familiarized myself with was Poke the Box, a book about [...]

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Pick Someone to Disappoint

January 2, 2013

Over the recent holiday break, I spent some time reconnecting with some of my previous sources of inspiration. In doing so, I read some old books, picked up some new ones, and got reacquainted with thought leaders like Seth Godin who have long inspired me to help bank, credit unions and CDFIs to think about [...]

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What are you going to do to compete with Costco in banking?

December 5, 2012

This morning on NPR there was a piece called “More Large Retailers Ease Customers’ Path To Credit,” about the way retailers like Costco are using their scale, distribution channels and bargaining power to get into the consumer financial services industry. You’ve probably already heard of Bluebird by Walmart and American Express, and you may or [...]

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Free White Paper: The 7 Special Challenges of Branding For Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI)

November 27, 2012

Almost two years ago, we received a very fortunate request for an estimate for financial branding services through our website. The request was from Enterprise Cascadia (now Craft3)–a community development financial institution. Don’t know what that is? Well, you’re not alone. We had to bone up on it too. In short it’s a sub-category of [...]

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