November has been a month that seems to have almost ended before it even started. Traditionally it was the month that we finalize our year long planning process for the next year. This is been a different year to say the least. But, regardless of what is going on, we have to plan all the time. For tomorrow, next week, next year and five years. I think that is where some organizations can stumble. They get so caught up in short term thinking and make short term decisions that they never make it to the long term...in planning or as an organization. We planning for all the time periods I mentioned before and it is worthwhile if you take a scenario approach to the process. You have to considered several different futures and have plans for each possible outcome. This is one area that marketers need to get better at in my opinion. We develop a monthly plan for then entire year but we develop it with options so that we can revise it even on a weekly basis if the situation demands it. Even though we didn't think our last 6 months of 2008 would be like this, we had enough options in our marketing plan that we were able to make adjustments as conditions required and help insure that marketing is contributing to the overall success of the credit union...not marketing for marketing sake.
What is a tangible example of this? One very important one is that we are focusing on the CU difference in how it helps us get through these economic times differently than banks. That is not something we had on the marketing agenda last November, but it was now.
Plan long term, execute short term is our motto.
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