This month, we are excited to sit down with Vania Varquez from South Texas Federal Credit Union, and talk with her about how she promotes the LMCUR Sprint program to her members.

South Texas Federal Credit Union has been in business since 1952, and serves over 7,000 members primarily in the education sector. Vania is in charge of their marketing, and offered some great insight on the Sprint program.

We asked what her preferred method for promoting Sprint is and if she has unique creative approaches to the program.  “Besides the Sprint Rewards videos running frequently on our lobby TVs, I think Social Media would be our next best tactic, and of course, word of mouth. I like to share pictures of marketing materials made available through the LMCUR website, because they have captions and headers already included, which makes it easier for me to upload them to Instagram, FB and Twitter. Additionally, we like to share pictures of our staff with Sprint representatives working together to promote our services. We’ve noticed that pictures with familiar faces tend to receive more likes from the public. For these, I also use the same captions offered by the marketing material, with our link/website included.”

STFCU also takes unique approaches to incorporating Sprint into their community based marketing efforts. When asked about their recent Sprint marketing efforts, Vania had some great approaches with their local Sprint store.

“For our first participation at one of their Sprint events called “Saturday Sizzling,” they were kind enough to allow us to set up a table booth at their store. We decided that our best strategy would be to open new checking accounts then and there for the convenience of our prospective members. What better way to leave the store than knowing you’ve already set up your direct deposit for the $100.00 incoming rewards. We were able to achieve this by taking a laptop and all the “New Accounts” required paperwork in order to stay in compliance.“

The mutually beneficial relationship with their local Sprint store works both ways too. “Another method is by hosting an event and never forgetting to invite Sprint as a vendor/partner. For example, recently we hosted a Vaccine Clinic for a local non-profit organization for pet owners. We had a great turnout, and they were able to pass out flyers and promotional items to an estimated 100 people who were waiting in line to get their pets vaccinated.” Working together is a great way to attract new members!"

Right now, Vania is working with two local Sprint stores out of the 13 Sprint locations around STFCU’s two branches. She plans to work on developing relations with all the Sprint stores around their branches using that same down home personal approach.

The Sprint program offers a powerful connection between credit unions and local Sprint stores. The chance to better reach members of the local community, and enhance value for credit union members is one of the most popular aspects of the Sprint program and one that makes it very successful.

If you would like some help marketing the Sprint program or would like to partner with a local Sprint store for an upcoming event, please contact our Client Services team and we would be happy to help!

Does your credit union want to be featured in our next CU Spotlight article? If so, please contact our Client Services team!