Market Your Auto Loans Like a Rock Star

Sponsored by SWBC

Marketing is a critical aspect of the vitality and growth of any business, and credit unions are no different—particularly when it comes to auto lending. Competition for credit unions is significant and consumers know that in a low-rate environment, they have the flexibility to shop around and find the lowest rate possible.

To help your auto loan stand out from the rest of the competition, finding creative ways to market your loan program is critical. While you’ll likely never get away from traditional media like billboards and in-branch signage, consider these three ideas for your auto loan marketing efforts.

1. Get social. For better or worse, social media is here to stay, and credit unions should embrace this venue as an opportunity to connect with members and potential members. Consumers use social media for far more than simply being “social.” In fact, 46 percent of consumers rely on social media when making a purchase decision. Those are some big numbers for your credit union to leverage in your marketing efforts. Some examples of great ways to promote your auto loan program on social media—Facebook, in particular—include:

• using imagery to promote your current rate via Facebook Newsfeed
• sharing photos of members that have purchased a vehicle with your loan program, and encouraging those members to leave positive reviews on your page for others to see
• utilizing social advertising

Social media advertising allows you to get granular and specific about who sees your ads. You can target by location, age, gender, interests, etc. It's also easy to set and adjust your budget based on how your ads are performing.

2. Share your marketing message with the prime audience you already have sitting right in your database. Inactive borrowers or borrowers whose auto loans are nearing maturity are the perfect target audience—they already have an existing relationship with you so they know you’re wonderful and you can easily determine if they prequalify for another loan. Likewise, it’s much less expensive to retain existing members than to acquire new ones—about seven times less expensive, according to Kapost. A personalized direct mail or email campaign is a great way to reach out to existing borrowers to ensure you stay top of mind when they’re ready to make their next auto purchase.

3. Differentiate your offer. To be frank, an auto loan based on a low rate alone is not exactly a selling point. Borrowers can drive down the street and see dozens of advertisements for low-rate loans from pretty much any lender of their choosing. Likewise, a quick online search will return hundreds of thousands of results. To make your auto loan stand out from the competition, consider offering add-ons and additional vehicle protection coverage to differentiate your loan offer. For example:

• a year of free car washes from a local vendor
• a discount on tinted windows from a local vendor
• key fob replacement coverage
• bundled pricing on vehicle warranty and GAP coverage
• roadside assistance

Consumers are regularly bombarded by dozens of auto loan offers—but with a little creativity, you can make your message stand out.

Victoria Penn is content manager of CUES Supplier member SWBC, San Antonio, Texas. Check out more tips and ideas to differentiate your auto loan program by downloading our free ebook, Stand Out from the Auto Lending Crowd today!