Outcomes-Driven Strategies & Partnerships

Hope Credit Union

Hope Credit Union - Austin Williams

overview

Since 1994, Hope Credit Union (HOPE) of Jackson, MS, has provided critical financial resources to more than 2 million people across the Deep South in some of the nation’s most impoverished regions. Despite the profound impact HOPE was making, its visibility and reach were stunted due to the institution’s limited marketing capabilities.

Recognizing the need for a more strategic approach, HOPE selected Austin Williams as its agency of record in 2022. In just two years, AW’s teams have completely transformed HOPE’s media strategy and digital experience.

Tapping our expertise in creative development, media buying, digital marketing and web design, we’ve introduced innovative strategies, conversion-focused landing pages and real-time tracking – helping HOPE maximize its ROI and take advantage of new opportunities.

INTEGRATED MARKETING

AW’s digital transformation of HOPE’s media strategy

Inspired by HOPE members’ stories, the “HOPE makes it happen” campaign combines highly emotional narratives with hard-hitting evidence of the credit union’s life-changing impact in communities that have been ignored or marginalized by traditional institutions.

In addition to developing the creative concept, AW supported the strategic media buy and marketing plan for this campaign, spearheading HOPE’s shift toward digitally focused, conversion-driven tactics.

Media strategy

To reach HOPE’s niche targets, we developed and executed an integrated media plan to build mass awareness, strengthen brand preference, and drive engagement and lead volume.

Shifting HOPE’s digital marketing allocation from less than 5% at the start of our relationship in 2021 to 44% today, we introduced highly targeted strategies for paid search, social media, and remarketing – improving visibility and conversions.

In addition to digital marketing, our teams brought an innovative approach to HOPE’s “traditional” channels as well – including CTV/OTT with television campaigns, streaming video, audio, and digital out-of-home units.

Target audience

The audience for this campaign included current and prospective members in underserved communities with a focus on reaching the ideal prospect of African American females aged 25-54 with a household income of $25K-$75K.

PAID SOCIAL, SEARCH, & DISPLAY

Digital marketing

In addition to executing the campaign’s media buy and placement, Austin Williams developed and designed the foundation for the campaign’s digital marketing strategy.

Our digital marketing specialists and content strategists worked together to create a digital marketing plan that included prospecting and remarketing components, spanning social media, paid search, and programmatic display.

Working in-house with AW’s studio team, our art directors, graphic designers, and copywriters designed stunning visuals and compelling, actionable copy for each placement.

Web development

While AW is currently redesigning HOPE’s entire website, we still needed a way to capture leads online for their campaign in the interim – a capability their present site doesn’t support.

The solution? We’d design standalone, user-focused, conversion-driven product landing pages that provide visitors with everything they need to get started at HOPE. The content informs and educates visitors while validating their choice with social proof, FAQs, and clear calls to action.

By balancing general brand awareness with product-specific messaging and landing pages, our digital campaign mix generated 15M digital impressions and 5.8K directly attributable leads. Thanks to constantly refined targeting and a 12% on-page conversion rate across products, we did it at a CPA that’s 56% more efficient than the financial industry benchmark.

A computer monitor displaying a website with a smiling person on the left. The text

Conversion-focused product landing pages

View the landing pages using the links below:

Auto loans
While annual percentage rates ebbed and flowed based on the credit union’s lending capacity, our on-page conversion rate did not. It was 12% across the last 6 months of the campaign and never fell below 8% (even when rates were less attractive).

Checking
The primary product that draws most of HOPE’s member base to the credit union, our budget allocation skewed heavily towards checking and drove a competitive $28 cost-per-lead despite stiff costs-per-click, thanks to a 22% on-page conversion rate.

Savings
HOPE offers standard savings accounts, share certificates, money markets, and IRAs—and our paid search messaging spoke specifically to each. The result was a $52 CPA driven by tight, intent-based keyword targeting and a straightforward, easy-to-navigate landing page.

Small business loan
While the rest of the campaign was direct-to-consumer, we understood HOPE’s mission to support and empower Black and women-owned businesses. And we did just that with a campaign that spoke specifically to these targets, achieving a $63 CPA.

Mortgage

We don’t like to cause problems for our clients, but when we do, they’re the good kind. Our mortgage campaign—which spoke specifically to an audience often rejected by traditional institutions—drove more leads than the credit union could operationally handle. As a result, we’ve paused the campaign and the corresponding landing page, giving HOPE time to process the mortgage pipeline we helped fill at a modest $92 CPA.

DATA-DRIVEN PRECISION

Programmatic direct mail

AW’s media strategists encouraged HOPE to use programmatic direct mail as a bridge to reconnect with website visitors who didn’t initially convert, ensuring no opportunities were left behind.

Postcards were designed for every product page and created personal connections that reinforced HOPE’s commitment to helping their targets “make it happen” with affordable financial services.