“Not Just Another Sale”

Stronger Relationships in 2023 Are the Key to CU Lenders’ Success

By Rich Gagliano Black Knight

At a time that calls for a high-volume approach to be replaced with a humanized one, credit unions can leverage their mortgage communication to strengthen member relationships and engagement in home financing services.

Rates are up, purchase volume is down, and the refinance boom is long gone as we enter 2023. Coming out of such a tight, purchase-focused year, credit unions that are serious about mortgage lending in 2023 will need to overcome members’ negative homebuying sentiment by engaging them with communications that support a positive homeownership journey in a challenging economic environment. One way credit unions can rise to this occasion is by carefully retooling their mortgage marketing content, strategy and technology to meet the high-touch relationship nurturing demanded by the competitive new market environment.

REFRAME MARKETING CONTENT AND MESSAGING

Today, credit union marketing strategies need authenticity above all else. Consumers constantly bombarded by sales messages are quick to tune out anything that does not resonate with them on a personal level. Honesty and relatability drive market penetration and engagement far more effectively than tired, generic marketing messages.

Fortunately, credit unions are in a unique position. As member-led, community-focused institutions, it’s easier for credit unions to appeal to their network of members and prospects on a more personal level. Marketing content that tells the story of your organization and its members is more likely to hit home than inauthentic form letters.

For example, real stories about members’ financial successes or services that have helped members overcome difficult financial situations are likely to resonate with existing and prospective members who are undergoing similar situations. Featuring a loan officer’s headshot alongside the personal story or member testimonial will help viewers associate a face with the message, making it feel even more genuine. By humanizing the home buying process and showcasing the attentive service your organization provides, credit unions can better win over homebuyers with personalized service that reaffirms that members are valued and not “just another sale.”

REEVALUATE YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

When establishing a credit union marketing strategy, the first and most crucial step is to understand your target audiences and their unique needs. At the end of the day, the more an organization knows about the financial goals of its current members and prospects, the easier it will be for its loan officers to distribute relevant marketing content in a timely manner.

Of course, segmenting contacts and distributing personalized outreach can be a formidable task for smaller credit unions with smaller marketing team or even just a single marketing manager. However, advances in marketing technology now support credit union marketing workflows to be configured in a “set it and forget it” manner, such as automatically initiating campaigns that drip targeted messaging at routine intervals without any hands-on intervention. Powerful marketing automation can be leveraged in multiple marketing channels and is important in a market where being the first to capture members’ attention is crucial to capturing their home financing business.

Rapidly rising interest rates, along with a lack of affordable housing inventory, have made filling purchase pipelines a daunting task, but every storm cloud has a silver lining. The market transition in 2022 also ushered in opportunities for homeowners to tap into their growing home equity. Credit unions can derive greater benefit from this market by adopting marketing strategies that target members who may benefit from tapping into their equity with a loan or line of credit –namely those members whose home values have appreciated and thus, may be carrying lower loan balances.

Incentivized marketing is another strong marketing strategy credit unions can use to boost the open and response rates of their outreach. Offering a limited-time discount, a special interest rate, or additional financial services can help motivate uncertain members and prospects to respond or inquire sooner. Inquiries driven by incentivized, multi-channel marketing strategies can even be managed easier by using a mortgage customer relationship management (CRM) system to collect consumer data from online response forms.

REVAMP YOUR MARKETING TECHNOLOGY

Automated, targeted, multichannel credit union marketing strategies may seem like a tall order to those operating with limited resources, but fear not. A comprehensive CRM system can provide not only the fundamental mechanics to market to your current and prospective members, but also the built-in tools, automated workflows and innovative communication channels that keep consumers hooked.

One of the biggest advantages that a strong CRM and marketing automation solution can offer credit unions is the ability to modernize branded marketing content, rather than just relying on traditional member outreach methods.

For example, tools that make it easy for loan officers to create and share video across text, email and social media are especially useful for engaging the next generation of homebuyers. Even if a video does not personally address an individual prospect, the viewer will still feel like they are getting to know the loan officer featured in the video on a more personal level than they would through a generic written message.

Adding a human touch by showing their face and voice makes it easier for loan officers to exhibit their expertise and personality to members and prospects in an engaging and authentic way. With a well-equipped CRM, videos can also be saved and delivered automatically to the appropriate audience using drip campaigns, eliminating the need for third-party editing tools and constant reshoots.

In addition to video, interactive digital content can offer additional lead generation opportunities. Online calculators, for instance, encourage consumers to explore scenarios for different loan options and calculate potential monthly payments. Associating these self-service calculators with your brand through emails or your website helps build member trust and loyalty. After all, buying a home is a life-altering decision, so why wouldn’t borrowers want to work with a credit union that helps them explore all their options so they can make the smartest financial decision?

In Conclusion

Under such tight housing market conditions, mortgage marketing may not be your top priority for 2023. However, before you cut marketing from your budget, consider modern marketing technologies that offer a cost-effective way for credit unions to create innovative marketing content and adopt an automated marketing strategy across various communication channels. Credit unions that prioritize establishing and maintaining personal relationships with members and prospects over casting a wide net of incessant, generic outreach will be better equipped to compete and win in 2023.

Richard (“Rich”) Gagliano is President of Origination Technologies for Black Knight. As the division’s leader, Rich is primarily responsible for Black Knight’s loan origination systems, along with a suite of high-performance solutions designed to drive operational efficiencies, lower costs, improve the borrower experience and deliver connectivity and online collaboration for all participants in the mortgage origination process.