the best way to understand what is important is by asking questions

OMG! Budget season is coming up!

You’re already juggling loan campaigns, maintaining a website, writing press releases, newsletters and emails, posting social media, designing posters and brochures, updating branch signage, planning your next community event, etc., etc. You know, those everyday expectations that keep you busily bouncing between tasks all day long.

Then all of a sudden it’s Budget Season.

As if you need even more to do right now, your CEO/CFO has just asked you to give them a budget for your plans for next year (and basically justify what you have spent last year.)

Gulp!

The process of coming up with a proposed marketing budget to present to your CEO and CFO can be both exciting and exhausting. Comparing past campaign components and results against new ideas and opportunities can be particularly overwhelming.

So what’s an Overwhelmed Marketer to do?

First of all, be thankful you work for a boss who wants your input. Too much of the time, a CEO/CFO will simply look at last year’s numbers and decide to trim a little fat off of the Marketing budget – especially when they see Marketing as a line item expense instead of a worthwhile investment in the future. And of course, then they simply expect Marketing to suck it up, do their routine, and stick the landing by the end of the fiscal year. (Okay, maybe I’ve watched a bit too much of the Olympics lately, but I still like the analogy.) By asking for your input, your boss is giving you the opportunity to refine your targeting and expand your impact.

But it’s hard to make recommendations, much less ask for more funding, if you have no idea of what the expectations are for next year. There is no good way to second-guess what is more important to Management, so you may need to change your approach.

Start by asking questions.

The best way to understand what is important is by asking questions. During budget season, that means asking questions that review the past while focusing on the future:

How do the numbers look and where do they need to go?
Are loans or membership up or down? What numbers have improved, and what numbers need to improve? Where does your Board want the numbers to go in the next five years? Understanding the bottom line goes a long way toward building a strategy to reach those goals.

What is the overall opinion of our website?
The majority of your members go online more often than they go to a branch, and those numbers are only going to increase in the future. Your website is the public face of your brand, the backbone of your marketing, and a primary communication tool with both members and potential members. So why is your website not given the same respect (and budget) as your branches? What can be done to turn it into your CU’s main branch?

Are there any big transformations coming up?
Any mergers, or rebranding, or exciting new products/services under consideration? Big opportunities have the potential of changing the focus of your entire marketing and branding approaches, so you need to be in on the discussions.

How much flexibility do I have to change where time and money is spent?
It’s easy to always do the same thing year after year, just because you always have. But do you really need a printed newsletter these days, when email might be more cost-effective? Should you be paying for Adwords or more SEO? Are you trying to do everything yourself because there isn’t a budget for extra staff? Is there enough to hire virtual help for some of the work, so that you can finally focus on the work you are best at?

Don’t just react to Budget Season. Act.

Budget season is a great opportunity to demonstrate your willingness to be part of the team. When Marketing starts showing interest in how the credit union is doing, Management tends to show more interest in Marketing. By showing your interest in producing the best results possible, you start to gain their trust, while allowing you to demonstrate your expertise.

Kent Dicken
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