Credit unions advertise in their local markets, mostly through traditional media. They also contribute to national campaigns to raise awareness of credit unions

Credit unions advertise in their local markets, mostly through traditional media. They also contribute to national campaigns to raise awareness of credit unions and drive audiences to credit union finder websites. Also, some with federal charters who excel at specific products (like PenFed) advertise on websites that aggregate information about that product, like BankRate. They are less visible than large banks because their budgets are smaller and the pooled campaigns suffer from committee problems. They aren’t any less visible than local/regional banks, though. (I worked at a credit union.) Edit: A credit union wouldn’t consider advertising a waste, either. Their thinking: 1) A certain number of members is needed to keep yields and rates competitive by reducing fixed costs per account or loan. 2) Growth makes new services possible; banking is competitive. 3) Marketing makes it more difficult for new entrants to expand into an area; local credit unions in particular believe there is a level of competition above and below which a community is not served as well as they could be.