Earlier this week, the Dayton, Ohio region (which is where my spaceship is set up—and yes, much like Cousin Eddie, I live in it!) received its first significant snowfall of the year, and by significant, I mean it required removal so that anything paved is safe to use. This includes the small blacktop area surrounding my humble abode and its dual ion engines.
Before I started gathering and applying the protective suit I need to wear in cold climates, I went to the media panel of the ship to look up the temperature. I immediately noticed that the temperature was predicted to rise to a point where the snow would start melting and it would stay that warm for the next several days. I decided to wait it out and let solar dynamics take their course.
About six Earth hours later, despite the rise in temperature, the snow hardly dissipated. I slid back to my control chair and pondered that for a moment. Then I laughed to myself—did I REALLY believe doing nothing would deliver the results I desired? Silly alien.
It reminded me of an old Earth movie I watched about baseball and how they kept saying, “If you build it, they will come.” I guess if you’re dealing with phantom baseball stars of the past, that’s true. But in the real world, it is anything but. My friends in the myCUmortgage Marketing department have taught me well and remind me often that if you are to succeed, you need to communicate and make yourself seen by your audience by building awareness.
As the re-fi market starts winding down, the purchase market will once again be the focus of credit union mortgage lenders. For refinances, in many cases, members DID come to you on their own because the media and word-of-mouth told them that rates are at all-time lows and now is the time to refinance your home. For the purchase market, competition sets in as lenders compete for business. Sure, credit unions know that they, in partnership with myCUmortgage, are the best resource for helping members with home ownership through the life of the loan, but do the members and other borrowers know that?
It’s our responsibility to be proactive and let members and potential borrowers know why a credit union mortgage is the best fit for them. And the best way to accomplish this? You guessed it—marketing!
To help you out and give you some ideas to build marketing tactics upon, I’ve compiled a list of tips from which a credit union of any size can benefit. Mind you, my list ended up with about 30 tips, but in the interest of the time and space continuum, I’ve shorted it to just a tentacleful:
- Ready When You Are: Build awareness by keeping your mortgage marketing on the calendar throughout the year. That way, when members are ready to think about buying a home, they’ll come to you first.
- Making New Friends: In a purchase market, it is vital to establish and foster solid relationships with Realtors. Show them that you’re an ideal mortgage partner by demonstrating your industry expertise, establishing a strong social media presence, becoming involved in the community and delivering on your promises.
- Measure Twice, Cut Once: I’ve heard this Earth expression several times when it comes to working with wood, but for marketing, let’s switch it up a bit: Measure, Cut/Execute, Measure. Any marketing tactics should be measurable in some way. The best tactics enable you to set a baseline measurement, execute the tactic and measure again to determine if it was successful in its objective.
- Tune in to the Right Channel: To communicate effectively, you need to speak to your members in the manner(s) and via the channel(s) they prefer. How do you find out what those are? Simple: You ask them! Surveys are one option—they can be administered via email, your website, social media, mobile devices or telephone calls, for example. These days, Earthlings are used to rating services and typically like to provide their input.
- Let’s Get Social: If you’re still not on various social media platforms, the wait is over. Social is a great channel—be sure to have a social media strategy in place, tell your story (and members’ stories) and have a little fun. The social formula for success is simple: Identify + Engage = Helping More Members with Home Ownership.
- Make Mobile Manageable: If you’ve ever tried to do much of anything from your mobile device on a website that isn’t mobile-friendly, it may be easier to scale Mt. Matrak on Amicitia (equivalent to your Mt. Everest, I believe). Make sure your website looks great both on mobile devices and desktops.
- Yeah, I Heard about Them: Word-of-mouth goes a long way when marketing credit union mortgages. A solid word-of-mouth campaign and tactics to use testimonials (with permission) will make your credit union “the” place members talk about—energize and inspire those fans who will talk about you because they love what you do!
- Remember Handwritten Notes? Everyone loves to be appreciated and acknowledged, so what better way to really stand out from the crowd as a caring mortgage professional? Get yourself some thank you cards and acknowledge members you’re helping with home ownership.
- Can I Get a Hand Here? Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Not all of us have the resources or experience to develop and execute marketing plans and tactics. There are many local organizations and colleges/universities that have resources you can use or hire, for example, at little or no cost.
Speaking of marketing resources, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the myCUmortgage Marketing Portal! A free resource to our partner credit unions, the Marketing Portal enables you to select and create customizable pieces of marketing collateral, such as flyers, postcards, online banners and social media posts. If you haven’t been on recently, check out the marketing calendar and four new campaigns. And, to reiterate, it is FREE to all partner credit unions—you can download all the PDFs and graphics you create at no cost; you only pay for printing and postage, if you’d like to take advantage of those options.
So, as you can see, it doesn’t always work out to sit and wait on the results to come to you. Looking out my portside window, I realized this, borrowed a snow shovel and cleared the path to my spaceship. It felt good accomplishing that, and the delivery person really appreciated it, too—I received a case of high viscosity slime sheen and moisturizer, which weights quite a bit. I consider it an essential item because this cold and dry weather wreaks havoc on my alien complexion.
Don’t wait any longer for your snow to melt. It’s time to get ahead of the storm and start marketing to your members!