Be Aspirational Yet Realistic: Branding Advice

We are working with Virtuojo, a local Dayton design company, to create a new design template for my credit union. He provided a great exercise for our marketing team to rethink our brand.

Of course, the exercise included:

Vision: What do you hold sacred? How do you act when no one is looking?

Mission: What do you do and who do you do it for?

Mission Statement Cheat Sheet:

We are the only __(What)__ that __(Does)__ for __(Who)__ who want to __(Goals)__ during a __(When)__.

But we really were challenged to define our X-Factor: What makes you stand out.

The exercise then provided 22 sliding scales where we detailed where our credit union’s brand should stand in categories like:

• Fun to Serious

• Casual to Formal

• Economy to Luxury

• Feminine to Masculine

• Quiet to Loud

• Mainstream to Maverick

I think every credit union should run through an exercise like this! It generated great conversation. It made us ask difficult questions about ourselves. It made us relook at ourselves.

The key … Be aspirational yet realistic!

Your answers need to reflect where you expect to be in a few years. But, like any goal, it needs to be reality-based.

I would LOVE for our credit union to be uber-fun and casual … but the reality is that we’re lucky to dress business casual with logo apparel.

I would love to have our credit union be loud and bold … but the reality is that this simply doesn’t suit our current culture.

If, in the last few years, you haven’t dedicated a few hours to look at your credit union in the mirror, please send out a calendar invite NOW to your decision makers. Get the appointment in writing so you don’t forget. Then, create your own sliding scales.

I would recommend having each individual run through the exercise on their own, then come together to create one master, consensus document.

Being aspirational yet realistic, how far are you, today, from where you want to be? What areas do you need to focus on the most? Do you need to adjust your communication or your entire culture?