FI GROW Solutions is a partner agency that works with credit unions and community banks to help drive growth and sales. We think bank marketing is broken! We decided to "Hit Record" during our strategic conversations around what's working for our partners, to share with other bank and credit union marketers and executives. If you're looking for best practices for your bank or credit union, join us while we talk all things sales, marketing and strategy for financial institutions!
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Equal parts "Mad Max" and "The Stand," this post apocalyptic saga is set in a world 15 years after the collapse of the world as we know it. A brother and sister grow up in rural Maine and unwittingly embark on a adventure to save the City from the religious zealots and ruthless military fight for control over the fallen world. An epic serialized audio drama adventure with 30+ actors, cinematic sound design and original music. Winner of Mark Time Award for sci-fi audio and finalist in Romania ...
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Episode 75 - Making Lead Capture Successful for Your Bank or Credit Union
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In this podcast, Meredith Olmstead, CEO and Founder of FI GROW Solutions, and Danielle Fancher, the Director of Sales, discuss effective strategies for capturing leads on websites of banks and credit unions. They emphasize the complexity of online financial product applications and the high rate of abandoned applications. The conversation highlight…
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Episode 74 - Using a 3rd Party to Build a Better Website for Your Bank or Credit Union
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In this podcast episode, Meredith Olmstead, the CEO and founder of FI GROW Solutions, discusses the unique challenges and solutions in managing website projects for financial institutions. Joined by inbound marketing strategist Kristin Mock, they explore the critical role of their team in project management and content creation, detailing how their…
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Episode 73 - What Yields More Engagement - Surveys or Contests
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In this podcast episode from FI GROW Solutions, CEO Meredith Olmstead and Senior Vice President of Marketing Nida Ajaz discuss the comparative effectiveness of contests versus surveys for engaging clients. They share results from a recent test involving the same audience and prize but with different formats: a simple contest and a more detailed sur…
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Episode 72 - Would Your Bank or Credit Union Benefit from a Brand Ambassador
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In this podcast episode, Meredith Olmsted, CEO and founder of FI GROW Solutions, has a great conversation with August Mize, the brand ambassador for Carolina Trust Federal Credit Union. August discusses her journey from a communications graduate aiming for a career in journalism to becoming a brand ambassador, emphasizing the strategic shift toward…
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The future is full of epic “what ifs." What if we could read minds? What if a hostile attack took down our nation’s power grid? In every episode of Hyperthetical, host Kerry Bishé asks one of these questions. Then, we explore that question two ways - through speculative science fiction, and through insight from the world’s most brilliant scientists…
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Episode 71 - What Will Work to Drive More Sales Success at Your Bank or Credit Union
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In this episode, Meredith Olmstead, CEO of Fi Grow Solutions, and Danielle Fancher, Director of Sales, delve into innovative strategies for enhancing sales success in banks and credit unions. They discuss the importance of prioritizing service-oriented skills over traditional sales abilities, the benefits of proactive customer engagement through CR…
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Episode 70 - Guest CMO Discusses How Real Content Improved Social Media Ad Results by 50%!!
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In this episode of FI GROW Solutions' inaugural client feature, Meredith Olmstead, CEO and Founder of FI GROW Solutions, discusses with Christin Vaughn, CMO at Allegiance Credit Union, the transformative digital marketing strategies they've implemented. The focus is on leveraging real, engaging content created by Allegiance Credit Union's staff to …
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Episode 69 - How to Set Digital Ad Budgets for Your Bank or Credit Union
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In this information-packed episode, Meredith Olmstead, CEO of FI GROW Solutions, and Ida Burr, Director of Digital Ads Management, dive into the nuances of budgeting for digital ads in the banking and credit union sectors. They discuss the strategic allocation of funds across various types of digital advertising, including social media, pay-per-cli…
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Episode 68 - How Lending & Retail Teams Can Work with Marketing to Reach Everyone's Goals!
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In this episode, Meredith Olmstead, CEO of FI GROW Solutions, and Nida Ajaz, Senior Vice President of Marketing, discuss strategies for integrating marketing and sales within financial institutions. They highlight the importance of Google reviews for enhancing business reputation and SEO, and share effective methods for deepening customer relations…
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Episode 67 - How to Avoid BIG Mistakes with Email Data and Bank or Credit Union Marketing
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In this episode, Meredith Olmstead, CEO of FI GROW Solutions, and Kristin Mock, an inbound marketing strategist at the company, explore real-world challenges and solutions in data management for digital marketing. They discuss a specific incident involving data upload errors at a financial institution and provide practical advice for avoiding simil…
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Episode 66 - Here's a Few Spring 2024 Google Search Tips for Banks & Credit Unions
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In this conversation, Meredith Olmstead, CEO of FI GROW Solutions, and Rebecca Gwaltney, FI Grow's inbound marketing manager, delve into the critical role of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for banks and credit unions. They explore the latest trends in consumer search behavior and discuss strategic SEO practices aimed at boosting the online presen…
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Episode 65 -Believe it or Not...Social Media for Banks & Credit Unions has Really Not Changed Much in the Last 10 Years!
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In this episode, Meredith Olmstead and Sophie Bawany, of FI GROW Solutions, are chatting about how to build trust and credibility through social media specifically for banks and credit unions. The conversation delves into the evolving landscape of social media for financial institutions. Their discussion highlights the enduring importance of social…
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Episode 64 - Idenitifying & Addressing User Experience Problems with Your Bank or Credit Union Website
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Meredith Olmstead and Kristin Mock, of FI GROW Solutions, dive deep into the crux of enhancing user experience on digital platforms for banks and credit unions. Their insightful dialogue sheds light on common pitfalls and strategic maneuvers essential for any financial institution aiming to refine its digital branch. Key Takeaways: Monitor Key Indi…
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Episode 63 -Leveraging YouTube Pre-Roll Ads for Your Bank or Credit Union
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Meredith Olmstead and Ida Burr, of FI GROW Solutions, delve into the evolving landscape of digital marketing for financial institutions, focusing on the impactful role of YouTube Pre-Roll ads. Their discussion sheds light on this innovative strategy, emphasizing its potential to significantly enhance the marketing efforts of banks and credit unions…
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Episode 62 - The Power of User Generated Content for your Bank or Credit Union
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Meredith Olmstead, CEO and founder of FI GROW Solutions, and Dean DeCarlo, President of Mission Disrupt, engage in a discussion about the increasing significance of user-generated content (UGC) in the financial sector, specifically focusing on banks and credit unions. This conversation provides a deep dive into the strategic use of UGC as a tool fo…
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Episode 61 - Using AI to Create Digital Ads that Really Convert
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Meredith Olmstead and Ida Burr, of FI GROW Solutions, explore the dynamic intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital advertising, shedding light on how this technology can be leveraged to enhance marketing strategies. They discuss the practical applications of AI in creating and optimizing digital ad campaigns, emphasizing its role in…
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FI GROW Solutions Episode 60 - Cranking Up Your Bank or Credit Unions Content Campaigns.
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Meredith Olmstead and Rebecca Gwaltney from FI GROW Solutions delve into the world of content creation for your community bank or credit union. Learn more about how to effectively become an authority and trusted resource for your members or customers through effective content campaigns. Key Takeaways: 1. Content Campaigns for Financial Institutions…
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Episode 59 - How To Know if Your Bank or Credit Union Needs Rebranding Help
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Meredith Olmstead and Nida Ajaz from FI GROW Solutions delve into the critical signs that indicate a financial institution’s brand may need rejuvenation, highlighting that a brand extends far beyond mere aesthetics to encompass customer perceptions and company culture. Key Takeaways: 1. Community Connection: If your target audience is unfamiliar wi…
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Episode 58 - How Much Should Your Bank or Credit Union REALLY Spend on a New Website?
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Meredith Olmstead, CEO of FI GROW Solutions, and Duncan Craig, leader of agency Raka, discuss the importance and budgeting for websites, especially for financial institutions. Key Takeaways: A well-budgeted website for financial institutions should range around $150,000 to ensure quality, strategy, and flexibility. Underspending on websites can lea…
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Episode 57 - Is your Bank or Credit Union on TOO Many Social Media Platforms?
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Meredith Olmstead of FI GROW Solutions and Sophie Bawany discuss evolving social media strategies for financial institutions. Three Key Takeaways: Know Your Audience: Different age groups favor different platforms; younger users lean towards TikTok and Instagram, while older ones use Facebook. Tailor Content: Platforms require unique content to mat…
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Episode 56 - Creating Successful Multicultural Marketing Efforts for Banks and Credit Unions
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In a discussion between Meredith Olmsted, CEO of FI GROW Solutions, and Stephanie Chadwick, CEO and COO of Edge, the two experts delve into the complexities and nuances of multicultural marketing for banks and credit unions. They emphasize three key takeaways: the importance of "transcreating" rather than merely translating content to resonate cult…
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Episode 55 - The Do's & Don'ts of Using AI for Your Financial Institution Content
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Meredith Olmstead and Kristin Mock from FI GROW Solutions discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) can benefit and hinder marketing strategies, particularly in the context of banks and credit unions. Three Takeaways: AI can be a valuable tool for generating content ideas and doing keyword research but should not be relied upon to write entire artic…
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Episode 54 - Traditional vs. Digital Ads: Which is Really Better for Financial Institutions
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In a detailed discussion, Meredith Olmstead, CEO of FI GROW Solutions, and Nida Ajaz, VP of Marketing, explore the complexities and strategies involved in combining traditional and digital advertising for banks and credit unions, emphasizing the need for clear messaging and budget balance. Key Takeaways: Importance of Messaging: When it comes to ad…
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Episode 53 - Tips for Leading a Creative Team at your Bank or Credit Union
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15:27
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Meredith Olmstead, CEO of FI GROW Solutions, and Ben Bauer, Executive Director of Exclamation Services, discuss various topics related to leading creative teams at financial institutions, including: Adapting to Change: They talk about how the global pandemic has forced credit unions and community banks to rethink traditional work models, leading to…
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Episode 52 - How to Avoid Getting Scammed by Your Digital Ad Agency
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The FI GROW team discusses crucial factors in choosing a digital marketing agency. Key concerns include maintaining access to your own Google Ads account and avoiding agencies that lock clients into long-term commitments or charge based on ad spend. They emphasize the need for agencies to provide personalized ad strategies and focus on actual conve…
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Episode 51 - What's Better for your Bank or CU a Brand Ambassador or Influencer?
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What is the difference between Brand Ambassadors and Social Media Influencers? A brand ambassador represents the institution they're working for, building their name, and their trust. A brand influencer is someone who is a brand on their own. So when they work with a credit union or a bank, they're coming in as a partner for a short-term campaign a…
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Episode 50 - What Impacts An Influencer Can Have for Your Bank or Credit Union
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Your bank or credit union should be better leveraging the people in your community to spread the word of the quality customer service and community support your institution provides. In this episode we discuss how to: Set a clear expectation of influencer deliverables based on what you need for your financial institution. The different types of con…
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Episode 49 - How to Use NPS Surveys for Your Bank & Credit Union
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What is a NPS Survey? NPS stands for Net Promoter Score, and you survey your customers with this metric to measure the likelihood of retaining those customers. In this episode the FIGROW team discusses how to really leverage those survey results to help improve products and services for banks and credit unions…
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Episode 48 - Fighting Scammers on Your Bank or Credit Union Facebook Page
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Facebook scammers continuously evolve and figure out new ways to attack our clients' Facebook pages. In this episode we discuss what types of scams are currently trending and best practices to mitigate any negative effects it may have on your bank or credit union's social presence.By FI GROW Solutions
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Episode 47 - Better Leveraging Tools, Techniques & Time for Sales at Your Credit Union or Bank
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When it comes to sales enablement there are three areas we try to help our client team members with, those being saving time, being more effective, and more successful in following up with leads that are coming in. So how do we accomplish this? The FI GROW team discusses: Sales tools that are great to use Automating the sales process How to make ti…
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Episode 46 - Content vs. Copywriting for Banks & Credit Unions
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What is the difference between content writing and copywriting? Content writing is used to inform. It is all of the details that you're trying to educate someone on. Versus copywriting, which is meant to persuade. It's going to be your sales and how you grab their attention, speaking to those emotions. In this episode, the FI GROW team discusses be…
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Episode 45 - Facebook vs. Google: How to Leverage Online Reviews for Your Bank or Credit Union
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Online reviews are important when it comes to people researching your institution and are considering applying for a new account or loan. So what are the benefits of Facebook and Google reviews? The FI Grow team discuss current best practices and how to leverage your bank or credit union's online reviews to enable new business.…
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Episode 44 - How to Structure New Website Pages for Successful Organic Search
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11:51
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When building a client's new website, they often suggest to group multiple products on one website page. We don't recommend putting multiple product lines on your pages because it ruins the SEO value. So when a client says, "I want to put RVs, ATVs, boat loans, and UTVs all on one page" -- we start the conversation by trying to explain the SEO valu…
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Episode 43 - Using Image Alt Tags to Drive Search Results for your Bank or Credit Union
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Image alt tags are the image text phrases that go with every image on your website, which describes the content of said image to Google (Google bots) when they crawl your website. Done correctly, image alt tags can make a huge difference for your bank or credit union. Tune in as we cover best practices for: Creating specific image alt text Alt tags…
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Episode 42 - Designing a Digital Onboarding for New Customers that will Definitely Deepen Relationships
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On-boarding programs is not a one-size fits all approach. Your financial institution should have different onboarding programs for the various types of customers including: New Customers Current Customers Direct Customers Indirect Customers The FI GROW team discusses best onboarding practices to get a larger share of customers' wallets.…
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Episode 41 - Top Tips for Making Sure Your Next Website Project Stays On-Time
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One of the biggest challenges with website projects is keeping them moving on time. Typically, we recommend a six-month timeline, which involves creating the content and getting it approved, designed, developed, and launched. To begin, you'll need an understanding of who needs to be involved at which phases of the project and ensure you have the ri…
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Episode 40 - How to Drive & Track New Account and Loan Applications with Google Pay Per Click Ads
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We've shifted the tracking for our Google Ads clients towards a more effective way of tracking and optimizing for concrete conversions - whether it be a customer applying for a new account or a loan product online. The FI GROW team discusses what we're seeing working with third party applications in conjunction with client Google Ad accounts and ho…
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Episode 39 - Managing Successful Teams & Communications in the Remote Work Environment
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Are you considering having your bank or credit union marketing team or sales team start to work remotely or already working remotely? If so, you should first assess tools to make sure they have not only what they need but that they know how to use those tools. Tune in to for best practices on optimizing workflows for your bank or credit union remot…
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Episode 38 - How Your Bank or Credit Union Should Handle Fraud or Spam on Social Media
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A financial institution affiliated with the local college is running a giveaway for football tickets through a social media contest. But a scammer has targeted their social media contest and attempts to hijack this contest by commenting with a copycat page, directing people to a fake website asking for their personal information. The FI GROW team d…
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Episode 37 - How to Foster Marketing Employee Growth at Your Bank or Credit Union
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Financial institution marketers can sometimes struggle getting internal buy-in for certain strategies, which can make them feel undermined. Fostering growth for you bank and credit union marketers can look like: Making sure they feel appreciated necessarily by their peers, and other department heads. Acknowledgement by the executive team. Maintaini…
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Episode 36 - How to Use Digital Ads During Times of Rising Interest Rates
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As interest rates rise, the demand for mortgage products is going down. Naturally that's going to drive up the costs of conversions around mortgage products when it comes to pay-per-click ads. The FI GROW team discusses how to navigate: Less people searching for mortgages Rise of cost for these PPC campaigns Filtering past low quality leads Given t…
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Episode 35 - Target a New Region or Audience for your Bank or Credit Union with Paid Ads
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We focus on how to use pay per click ads to drive reach and engagement in new markets or regions for financial institutions. Important steps you'll want to follow: Create a whole new campaign, only targeting the new area to collect accurate market data. The initial goal of your campaign should be to build brand awareness for your bank or credit uni…
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Episode 34 - How to Get the Most Out of Digital Ads for Your Bank or Credit Union
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What is the most consistent conversions that marketers and executives at a bank or credit union can hope for when they're running digital ads online for their products and services? Products with the less convoluted or complicated buying journeys tend to do better. The buying journey for financial products and services is very long compared with ot…
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Episode 33 - How Project Management can be a Game Changer for Your New Bank or Credit Union Website
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When it comes to managing the development of a new website for your financial institution, we recommend a collaborative effort between: Your Financial Institution Third Party Marketing Agency Web Design & Development Company Although your financial institution could directly partner with a web development company, we've learned how important it is …
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Episode 32 - Why Sales Cannot Be a Four Letter Word at Your Bank or Credit Union
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Sales is very necessary for the growth of your financial institution, but how do we achieve that in a way that is authentic, really meaningful, and led by the buyer? • It starts with employee education on why sales enables your financial institution to give back to your customers and community. • Be authentic and meet customers where they are in th…
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Episode 31 - Using a Robust CRM to Take Your Business Development Efforts to the Next Level
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We discuss how marketing working in tandem with a robust CRM and marketing automation tool can help business development professionals do a better job of reaching their prospects and growing relationships on behalf of their bank or credit union.By FI GROW Solutions
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Episode 30 - How Brand Ambassadors can be a Game Changer for Your Bank or Credit Union
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It's important to humanize your brand and really lean into one of your greatest assets as a smaller financial institution, which is your staff. This is how you differentiate yourself from other bigger institutions competing for the same potential customers and/or your existing customers. While they might be able to beat you on rates, they can't bea…
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