As a financial institution, how can you generate more mortgage lending leads even though the competition is continually increasing? Is following marketing trends the solution?
With more mortgage lenders in the market every year, it can be difficult to generate enough business to turn a profit. Consumers have more access than ever before to lenders, so you need to stand out above your competitors to be selected.
Every consumer expects you to provide a certain level of service. They are looking for quick approvals, simple application processes, and friendly assistance. You deliver all of that, but how do you capture the attention of potential clients over your competitors?
Understanding mortgage market trends and how to use them to your advantage is key. Reviewing current trends and applying them to your marketing strategy will push you ahead of the competition.
It Starts with Having the Right Strategy
To generate mortgage leads, you need the right marketing strategy for your financial institution. Start by defining how you are different. What sets your lending institution apart from the competition? What do you have to offer that others do not?
Ask yourself these questions and see what you come up with. It could be that you are a local company and can offer local benefits. Showcase how you offer lower fees than big companies as well as full-service options. By providing insight into what you offer, clients will choose you over competitors every time.
Always Available
Another marketing trend is availability. Today’s consumers are always on the go and want access to services and products now, with no waiting. With your mortgage company, market your services with a focus on availability.
Provide service options during and after hours. Let your clients know they can contact you any time with questions or concerns about their lending process. Off an online application process or chat system so that consumers can gain access to information quickly, without delay. With top-quality personalized service, your business will market itself through word-of-mouth advertising via existing customers.
Quality Rates and Fees
Consumers want to know what they are getting into when it comes to mortgage lending. Don’t keep your fees and rates a secret, highlight them. Let every potential client know via marketing materials the rates that you have available as well as fee charges. Some mortgage companies make it difficult to know what rates are available. By providing this information upfront, you are going to bring in more customers from the start.
Push the numbers, especially the lower rates, so that consumers can easily see you offer a great product and amazing rates. Showcasing this information will place you ahead of competitors that do not list the rates clearly on their site.
Simple Mortgage Application Processes are a Must
Many mortgage lending companies have started to simplify the application process. It is generally expected by consumers that the process will be simple and streamlined. Consumers are conducting more research than ever before about mortgage lending and know that digital lenders offer a simple application process via online technology.
Consider changing up your application process and offer convenient options, something that is mobile friendly and provides quality features, such as auto-save. It is also important to make the process easy to understand. Most consumers do not have a full understanding of mortgage lending lingo. Use an application process that makes applying for a mortgage easy to understand and complete.
Once you have this process simplified and available online, market it via your social channels, website, and physical location. Ensure that potential customers know that your application is available online and takes only a few minutes to complete.
Review Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Because the majority of business services take place online, it is essential that you use the right tools to reach the ideal demographic during each buying cycle stage. There are several factors to consider that are connected to digital marketing:
- Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)—check Google and Bing maps to ensure that you are appearing in consumer services. Review your accounts and ensure proper SEO is being used so that your product pages are appearing at the top of search engines.
- Pay per click and Search Engine Ads—mobile ads, display ads and social media ads provide an affordable way to reach your clients across the majority of the internet. Pay for search engine ads so that they are placed with search results on Google and Bing.
- Promote Your Loan Officers—be sure all of your loan officers have accounts on popular sites such as LinkedIn and Zillow. They should also have social media accounts to promote the services of your company to get noticed.
Overall, marketing your mortgage business and generating new leads is a team effort. Work with your loan officers, a marketing team, IT, and others to help build a solid plan to market your company. With everyone on board, you can push your financial institution to the forefront, outperforming all of your competitors, simply by following new marketing trends.
