Culture and marketing. Employee development and branding. Leadership and consumer experience. These words don’t often get used in tandem, especially during professional development seminars. But I’ve got to hand it to the folks at the Missouri Credit Union Association. They know that marketing isn’t just about pretty postcards and having a friendly staff. Marketing isn’t anything without a healthy, unique organizational culture. And even the most awesome-cultured company won’t achieve sustainable growth if it doesn’t harness culture with its marketing and branding efforts.
On May 23, I will have the esteemed honor of working alongside my friend and fellow Culture Evangelist, Matt Monge, to co-present at the Missouri Credit Union Association’s annual marketing conference. It’s the first of its kind because we are teaming up to talk about the love affair between marketing and culture and how it is as unique to a credit union as its own DNA. We’ll talk about the history of marketing and culture, provide roadmaps for employee and culture development, and lead discussions and exercises on how to begin defining a unique culture for anyone who wants to become a culture evangelist at their own credit union.
I have really enjoyed working with Matt over the last couple of months because he has taught me a lot about employee empowerment and development and their role in organizational culture. Furthermore, it’s exciting because, just as marketing doesn’t operate in its own vacuum, but rather permeates every part of an organization, culture is the very same. A healthy organizational culture has to be the same from top down, bottom up, department to department and any other way you can draw an arrow through the org chart. Matt and I make a great team because we share a passion for what he calls “marketing & culture: two sides of the same coin.”
Culture IS your organization’s identity, and the marketing is what drives culture and translates it to sustainable growth for your credit union. I am very much looking forward to presenting with Matt, learning more about the “people” side of culture from his presentations, and sharing my passion for culture and marketing with the attendees in Missouri. Let’s do this!
As the Marketing & Business Development Manager for Members First Credit Union, Amanda has a passion for marketing and brand strategy, building relationships via niche markets and social media, and continually evolving her credit union’s culture for sustainable future growth.
Amanda is a 2004, 2009, and 2010 recipient of the Cutting Edge Marketing Brilliance Award from the Ohio Credit Union League, was named a Trailblazer 40 Below by Credit Union Times, and was the 2011 Midwest Regional Finalist in the Credit Union Executives Society Next Top Credit Union Exec competition.
She has also been a contributing writer for Credit Union Times, is active in the Cooperative Trust network, has been a featured blogger on CU Water Cooler, and has spoken around the country on topics such as social media, business development, and marketing strategies, and developing organizational culture.
Amanda has a Bachelor of Arts in English and creative writing fromWittenbergUniversity, loves hosting dinner parties, and spoiling those close to her with baked goods.
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