5 Ways to Market Loans

While credit unions are certainly facing ALM challenges when it comes to deposits, the reality is we grow income by growing loans. But loan growth doesn’t happen by osmosis. It takes intentionality. And it often takes marketing.

You can’t grow loans if you don’t market loans. As Alex Goldfayn, CEO of The Revenue Growth Consultancy, says in his book “The Revenue Growth Habit,” “Revenue is proactive work.” Marketing loans takes a great deal of proactivity.

Here are five ways to market loans:

1. Be Conversational and Use Visual Vocabulary

When marketing loans to your members, write to them like you’d talk to them. Don’t be afraid to use phrases like, “So what’s next?” Avoid any type of formality in your lending marketing.

It’s so easy to “feature dump” when talking about your loans. For example, by going right to the rate. Bur remember: Features tell and benefits sell. Members don’t read, they scan. So make sure your marketing is “scannable.”

It’s not just your words: The images are extremely important as well. Use emojis, memes and infographics in your loan material. The graphics and visuals are far more important than the actual copy.

As The Marketing Machine notes, “Graphic design not only makes something look good, it organizes information to help deliver a message in the most impactful way possible. When you combine the right image, a well-written headline, professionally executed in a well-established package, then BOOM! The message hits its target.”

Review your loan promotions and ask, “How quickly and clearly have we communicated why our members should choose our credit union for their next loan?”

2. Tell Stories

Marketing is about story telling. Especially when it comes to marketing your loans. But here’s the key: Don’t tell your story. Tell your members’ stories.

More than likely, your credit union has made a loan for a member that was turned down at other financial institutions. They heard “no” somewhere else but heard “yes” from you. Those are powerful stories.

Make the member the hero of your story, not your credit union. You are the guide. As small business author and speaker Donald Miller famously says, “When we position our customer {member} as the hero and ourselves as the guide, we will be recognized as a trusted resource to help them overcome their challenges. Positioning the customer {member} as the hero in the story is more than just good manners; it’s also good business.”

Take a look at your lending marketing. How much storytelling are you doing? Here’s a bonus tip: Tell stories that are unique, humorous, emotional and relatable.

3. Get Real With Your Website and Digital Experience

Service is no longer how friendly you are. It’s, “How fast can I get a loan on your mobile app?” Members expect a seamless digital experience.

In other words, simplicity wins. Think of it this way: How many taps does it take to get a loan at your credit union? What is the time from application to underwriting to funding? For an Apple credit card, it’s less than 60 seconds.

As Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks and feels like. Design is how it works.”

Consider your website. Seventy-five percent of consumers judge your credibility from your website design. You must examine your website from a lending lens. In other words, the online loan application process must be seamless.

Credit unions will spend $3 million on a new branch but sometimes balk at investing $30,000 to redesign their website. Yet a website focused on driving loans will more than pay for itself.

So is your website driving loans or hindering loans?

4. Hyper-Personalization Wins

Every credit union and bank has the same type of loans: Auto loans, unsecured loans, mortgage loans and credit cards, to name a few. We are in a commodity business. Let’s be honest: An auto loan is an auto loan is an auto loan. One of the best ways to differentiate your loan products is to personalize them.

People don’t want email. They want me-mail. They want personalization (offers specific to them and their needs). And with data and business intelligence, you are now able to deliver not just personal offers but hyper-personalization. You need to offer members what they want, when they want it and where they want it.

Credit unions should know their members better than anyone else. Rather than doing “shotgun marketing” where you spray and pray, try target marketing. With this approach, you mine your data to customize the best offer possible to specific members.

As Peter Sondergaard, SVP and Global Head of Research at Gartner, says, “Information is the oil of the 21st century and analytics is the combustion engine.”

When it comes to marketing loans, you have the data. Use it.

5. Use Video

People are no longer reading. They are watching. Video is 1,200% more likely to get shared than images and text combined. And video on a landing page can increase conversion by 80%. So start using video in your lending marketing.

Members are the most happy with your credit union when you just gave them a loan. Some credit unions know this and now they are making it a part of the loan closing process to capture a quick video of a member testimonial. You can just have your loan closers use their own phones or if closing remotely record a quick Zoom session.

Whether it’s member testimonials, branded videos on your website or video updates along the way of the loan process, you need to ask yourself this question: Where can we use loans in our lending?

The tactics that got you to your current loan to share ratio will not necessarily get you to the next level. It will take a different approach with your marketing. It requires visual vocabulary, storytelling, a great digital/web experience, hyper-personalization and video.

Mark Arnold is founder and president of On the Mark Strategies, a Dallas, Texas-based consulting firm specializing in branding and strategic planning for credit unions.