If you haven’t explored these mortgage broker marketing ideas, then now’s a good time to try.
The life of a real estate finance professional is a hectic one. Amid all the phone calls, loan applications, and meetings, it can be easy to forget about mortgage broker marketing ideas that help your business grow.
Yet having a marketing strategy in place is essential in a difficult US commercial real estate market, where prices took an 11% hit last year, according to the IMF.
Brokers looking to keep the supply of borrowers flowing must contend with fierce competition and shifting market dynamics as they compete for their market share.
The good news is that there are plenty of things you can do if you’re a registered broker or loan officer in this situation: the key is to know where to start.
As we venture deeper into 2024, keep reading for six new-year marketing ideas every mortgage broker can use to get new leads.
Looking for more referrals (and revenue)? Duckfund’s partnership program puts you in touch with new clients and pays you commission for passing on existing customers.
So, how do mortgage brokers get new clients?
The best way to think about it is to imagine what your prospective clients are looking for. Which platforms do they use and what type of marketing do they respond to? What are their problems and how can you help them solve them?
Then, once you have a good idea, you can focus on different areas of your marketing plan and tweak them to reflect your findings.
Here are six mortgage broker marketing ideas to help you do that.
If we break down the aims of mortgage marketing ideas into two broad objectives, we can say that they are to increase qualified leads and get the best return on investment (ROI) possible.
Video content ticks both these boxes emphatically. Identified as the number 1 media format for ROI by HubSpot, it has helped 90% of marketers increase their leads, according to research from video experts Wyzowl.
Video also lets you broadcast that quality that’s so valuable in the commercial real estate industry: trustworthiness.
Your target audience is much more likely to trust someone they can see and visually connect with over someone who sticks to the written word, especially in today’s world where visual communication is everywhere.
It’s also a chance for you to show off your expertise. Digital marketing consultant Chriag Kasia advises mortgage loan officers and brokers on how to use video to grow their businesses. He recommends putting education at the center of your video marketing strategy.
“Use your expertise to create educational videos explaining complex terms, processes, or common issues. This not only helps build trust with your audience but positions you as an authority in your field.”
You can then infuse these videos into your content marketing in multiple ways, be it via social media, on your website landing pages, or within a carefully crafted email marketing campaign.
Applying SEO techniques to this content will also help you rank higher on search engines, increase brand awareness, and lead to new customers.
Combining your know-how with the power of video marketing can be a very effective launchpad toward a much higher level of engagement and, ultimately, revenue.
Where is the best place to advertise as a mortgage broker? Many marketing experts would say on social media platforms, with paid tools like Facebook ads still popular.
Yet, you might not have to spend a cent.
The average US adult spends around one hour and 20 minutes online daily, according to research company Insider Intelligence, including your potential clients.
This gives you a great chance to get your business in front of them and you can do this in several ways:
First, however, you’ll have to find your potential customers.
LinkedIn has a great search feature that allows you to search for people according to their profession and location. An obvious place for you to start might be to type in “CRE investors” in your hometown and then expand outward.
You might also consider joining industry-specific groups and forums where professionals discuss the latest real estate investment opportunities and trends. Facebook is also useful for this.
Once connected, you can then start to build relationships with people by commenting on their social media posts, asking and answering questions, and sharing information that can help them.
Big banks and mortgage lenders often have established partnerships with brokers or employ in-house staff, so setting up partnerships with them is very difficult.
There are, however, smaller lenders that you could become referral partners with to generate a long-term source of mortgage lead generation.
Online earnest money lenders are part of a growing trend of fintech companies that are providing quick and secure soft deposits for CRE investors.
They often guide the buyer through the purchase process using a tried-and-tested model, and the volume of transactions that they work on means they have access to a deep pool of investors.
They may also be interested in paying commission for any of your clients you put their way.
Some of these lenders even have a dedicated cross-lead generation program set up designed to make this process as smooth as possible. Duckfund is one of them. Using a ‘sign-now-pay-later’ model, its team of experts aims to secure properties in 48 hours and allows investors to work on multiple deals at once.
The program may be attractive to mortgage brokers like you for several reasons because it:
Teaming up with an earnest money funder like Duckfund could strengthen your position in the market and open up new revenue streams.
One of the best mortgage broker marketing ideas for building trust with your target audience is to organize social events. These let you show off your expertise and become a thought leader in your field.
For a very low cost (or probably nothing if you do it online) you could set up an open-house webinar or coaching session dedicated to current mortgage industry affairs, like refinance options and interest rates.
You could even provide a walk-through of the buying process to help novice investors or first-time home buyers. This will demonstrate that they would be in safe hands should they choose to go with you.
Whichever content you choose to deliver, be sure to collect your attendees’ contact information, including their email address and phone number. You’ll then have the chance to build an email list and keep the conversation going with them.
One other big advantage of hosting such an online webinar is that you get to repurpose it as content for future marketing efforts.
Arturo Conde, Senior Editor at investment publication SmartAsset, mentions several ways of doing this.
“Convert the webinar recording into blog posts, social media content, eBooks, or podcasts. This maximizes the webinar’s return on investment”
Marketing tools designed to attract a share of the younger crowd are important for any business as they promise to be the lifeblood of the business over the coming decades. This is also true of the mortgage industry.
The Gen Z generation (those born between 1998 and 2011) may seem like kids, but the older section of this group will hit their mid-20s this year.
This means they’re getting closer to the largest group of US homebuyers: between 33 and 34, according to 2022 research from research group NAR.
Gen Zers are approaching the largest group of US homebuyers
So, how do we tap into this underexplored market? Well, we’ve already mentioned how effective social media is, and this is where Gen Zers spend much of their time – especially consuming short video content.
A smart tactic would also be to provide content that those under 30 are interested in, including paying off student debt, obtaining first-time credit, and even mortgage advice for newly married couples. TikTok has established itself as a hotspot for this type of content, with several short videos going viral recently.
Building a rapport with this demographic early on makes you more likely to beat your rivals to the punch when the younger crowd starts looking at solid lending options.
The best marketing campaigns work because they analyze which of their marketing tactics work and which ones don’t.
Once you have your mortgage marketing strategy in place you must track its results so that you can make it as effective as possible.
This will include looking at metrics that tell you who’s engaging with your content, who’s watching your videos, and who’s reading your emails and blog posts.
The good news is that modern marketing automation tools can do a lot of this for you.
HubSpot and EngageBay, for example, can manage all of your marketing and sales efforts using built-in CRM (customer relationship management) that gives you all of your customer data and interactions in one place.
They can then give you recommendations on how to tweak your mortgage broker marketing ideas for better results.
Research, post, analyze, and optimize: these are the four key steps of marketing and a process that will maximize the chances of your mortgage business getting the leads and growth that it deserves.
Ready to grow your business with an innovative two-way referral program? Contact Duckfund to see how you can get new clients and create a solid source of commissions.
