Mortgage Marketing Q&a - Straight Answers To Common Questions
I have fielded a lot of marketing questions from mortgage professionals over the years. So it's about time I compiled these common questions into an FAQ article for mortgage folks. I'll start with the three questions I get most often.
1. What Types of Marketing Are Available?
It's safe to say there are more marketing channels than most mortgage professionals would ever need at one time. The typical pattern is to experiment with several different channels to see what works best, and then to focus your energy and resources on the top performers. Your options include, but are not limited to, the following:
Direct mail letters and postcards
Search engine marketing (SEO, pay-per-click, etc.)
Public relations / news publicity
Networking with real estate professionals and other mortgage folks
Email marketing, to include e-newsletters
Magazine advertising (which I typically don't recommend)
Again, the key thing to keep in mind is that you must experiment with different techniques and strategies. Don't let another mortgage broker tell you, "Well I tried that but it didn't work for me." A marketing technique that fails for one person could easily succeed for another. It depends on the audience, the execution, the timing and other variables. So don't be afraid to try new things. Experimentation is the name of this game.
2. How Much Should I Spend?
This is a tough question to answer across the board, because there are so many variables to consider. So instead of giving your a certain percentage or figure for your marketing budget, let me offer some tips for doing things in a cost-effective manner.
First of all, I would recommend focusing a good portion of your resources (time, energy and money) on building a strong web presence. This will allow you to generate leads and inquiries from prospective clients who are using the Internet for mortgage research. This would include building a quality website with plenty of lead-generation mechanisms in place, and then driving as much traffic to that website as possible.
The benefit of building a strong web presence is that it begins to perpetuate itself after a while. In contrast, a magazine advertisement or other form of paid placement will cease to exist the moment you cease making payments. But your web presence gets easier and cheaper to maintain as you go along. So regardless of how much you spend on your marketing program, I recommend putting this at the top of the list.
It's also best to smart small with your spending, for the experimentation we discussed earlier. Then, when you find out which techniques work best for your company, you can increase your spending on those techniques. In other words, limit your spending in the early stages -- at least until you determine which techniques work best for you.
3. What's the Best Way to Generate Leads?
Qualified leads are the lifeblood of any mortgage professional's marketing program. After all, you are not selling a toaster or some other small-ticket item. You are selling your ability to qualify somebody for a loan and possibly save him or her money in the process. So the best way to do this is by generating leads and inquiries from people shopping for a home loan. Then, you can follow up with those people to see if / how you can help.
There are many ways to generate mortgage leads these days. I already touched on the importance of having a highly visible web presence with lead-generation techniques in place. It's worth repeating here. If you do not create the kind of website that produces inquiries from qualified prospects on a regular basis, you will be "trapped" into other more expensive techniques such as buying leads.
In fact, this is such an important topic that I've dedicated an entire series of articles to the subject of generating Internet leads through your website. See below for more on this.
