When you think of industry titans such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell, or Steve Jobs, what words spring to mind? If you’re anything like me, you automatically associate such names with words such as “success” or “accomplishment” or even “ultra-rich!” (Sorry, there’s no way around that one!)

What if we were to toss in well known company names such as Pillsbury, AllState Insurance, or Betty Crocker and Kelloggs? Once again, you’re back to associating these companies with success, and as dominant forces within their respective industries. We’re talking about multi-billion dollar businesses here, and all of them have at least one thing in common.

They’ve each been influenced in one way or another by one Jay Conrad Levinson – The legendary author behind the Guerrilla Marketing series of books, which just so happens to be the best selling marketing series of all time.

With the above in mind, I’m forced to ask: “Who wouldn’t want to spend some time picking th is mans brain?” We’ve setup a second chance webinar for those of you who missed yesterdays round table discussion with Jay:

http://www2.onlinemeetingnow.com/register/?id=316482f818

You’ll want to jump in right away, as the available slots are filling up quickly! We spent 45 minutes with Jay to chat about Social Media mortgage marketing, and how it will impact loan officers in 2012.

- The 1 problem almost every mortgage marketing strategy has

- How to finally stand out from the competition with a truly unique twist

- What does it take to get high quality Realtors to take notice

This video replay will be made available for viewing for just a short while, so I recommend you check out the link below and watch the session as soon as you can. Most importantly, put the strategies learned into practice ASAP! Here’s the link to the replay: Mortgage Marketing Webinar

I am extremely happy to present to you the very first Google+ Marketing Webinar – scheduled for this Thursday at 11:30 CST (9:30 PST/12:30 EST) This one is going to knock your socks off as you learn new strategies that you’ve likely never seen presented anywhere else… Join us and see if the material lives up to the hype:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/406386754

How’s that sound? Fair enough? Watch me present the material live, so you’ll know just how well it really works! Here’s what you do. Register here:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/972530378

The webinar begins at 1:00 Central Time, so that’s 11:00 for those of you in PST, and 2:00 for EST. Bring your most difficult marketing questions too – I’ll answer all of them. (As time allows anyway…) If you value getting loans from Realtors, be there. See you on Monday!

Make sure you’ve caught up with the latest training this week by clicking here:

Mortgage Marketing Ideas

I was thinking back to all the loan officers I’ve met in the past 5 years of training, and I pushed my brain to try and recall if I’ve ever met anyone who made the claim: “I don’t like getting referrals.” The result of all this recollection? Nada… Not a thing… I can state with 100% certainty that I’ve yet to meet a loan officer who doesn’t like getting referrals! The reason for asking myself such a silly question?

Because I was trying my best to dream up the best way to convince the largest percentage of loan officers to go visit my new Complete Mortgage Marketing page… The solution? I decided to make a copy of the very email I sent to the highest producing real estate agents in my area available to you. This email was responsible for over 2 dozen closings + additional referrals… Not bad for a single lonely email eh?

To get a better look at just what this email said, go check out my latest project here:

Complete Mortgage Marketing

Before making this post I sent an email to my graphics department and asked for a whimsical image that played well with the content on this post. Here’s what they came up with:

Ok so maybe they had a bit too much fun with it, but it definitely makes the point!

(It seems that the title of this post guided the direction of their drawing)

Back to the point at hand, I was definitely impressed with how well Carl White has incorporated social media into a miniature online community. His approach is an example for the rest of us of what social media is all about.

It’s about having an audience. Think of it this way, when you speak who is listening? If you suddenly had the greatest loan program in the world, who would know about it? If your audience is small, then that means you have to work hard at “selling” as you don’t have a lot of ears waiting to hear what you have to say. But if your audience is ready built in the form of a responsive online community (Just like Carl built using FaceBook) then you don’t really have to ‘sell’ as much now do you?

There’s familiarity there, so you talk. You ask questions, you make comments, you make invitations… The people are listening, and sales become a by-product. Sure, salesmanship is still involved, but we’re no longer sinking or swimming based on cold calling.

I have immense respect for what Carl accomplished with social media, and he definitely deserves recognition for this. So for 2010, from the loan officer community to you Carl: “Congratulations, and thank you for the fine example you’ve set for the rest of us!”

Next on my list is those two crazy guys over at TBWS – Frank Garay and Brian Stevens… Is it just me, or did these guys come out of nowhere, and absolutely dominate the industry? What a wonderful example of how to use targeted information to build your audience! I’m not sure how many daily listeners/watchers TBWS currently has, but I seem to recall being quite impressed with the estimates they threw at me back in 2009. As we inch into 2011, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to learn that they’ve doubled those numbers.

The formula? Good information, a great delivery system (Video), and a heaping helping of personality to make the information entertaining. Let’s face it people – Our industry can be dry, dull, and boring! Sure, related news may be interesting to us as this is out livelihood… But to outsiders, this stuff is a veritable snooze-fest!

However, Think Big Work Small is one of the only mortgage/real estate services I’ve personally witnessed where outsiders (Non-mortgage people) subscribed and regularly enjoy the show. In other words, the information is relevant, but spiced up in such a way that just about anyone can enjoy it!

This is what is often referred to as ‘info-tainment’. It’s informational in nature, and entertaining at the same time. This can be a difficult concept to master, as it requires a fine balance. Too much focus on entertainment, and your core message is lost. Too heavy handed with the information, and you risk overloading your recipients. Frank and Brian seem to have nailed down the right balance, and I applaud them for making such a splash in this industry. I look forward to their videos every morning.

So there you have it! Carl White and Think Big Work Small are my 2 picks for the Mortgage Marketing Heroes of 2010. I apologize if the tone of this post has been gushing, but I enjoy having the opportunity to point to wonderful examples of marketing gone right. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Years to all of you. Make it a great one.

Here’s a copy of the agenda for hte first 3 days:

Day #1 Agenda:

- 3 things you must know about web marketing before you’ll generate a single lead
- What Google cares about and why
- 3 ways to make rapid online progress
- Build your website – Live walk-through
- A realtor marketing plan – Identify the top 250 realtors
- 5 things you must never do with your website! (This would kill your SEO)

After the call: – Supplemental video and downloads

Day #2 Agenda:

- How to make your website more effective
- Basic Search Engine Optimization strategy
- Realtor marketing: pre-written script
- how to use RSS Feeds
- Blogging basics for SEO

After the call: – Using plug-ins the super easy way – Video plus downloadable script

Day #3 Agenda:

- Widgets – easy and powerful
- Mid-Level SEO with permalinks (This part is fun)
- Page customization
- How to get prospects to convert
- Final step of realtor marketing strategy

Hope to see you there! This instruction will change the way you think about online mortgage marketing!

Online Mortgage Marketing Registration

Enjoy – Hope you’re having a great week!

Loan Officer Marketing Lab Blog – Click Here

I’ll be posting updates of all the activity whenever possible. If you haven’t registered yet to get the updates via email, you can do so in the right sidebar form on this blog. Do it now so you don’t miss out on getting in for FREE come next week!

CW -

Nothing is held back. If you have a few spare moments, you should probably have a look at this video:

Watch Video Now — It’s intense! Pay close attention to the 7 – 10 minute mark!