Are you hit with tons of mortgage loan marketing ads each week? Have you gone in search of new marketing strategies, only to be overwhelmed with all the “options” and conflicting ideas?

Picking out the path you’re going to take to closing more loans can be intimidating. For many loan officers, it feels close to a last ditch effort to get their careers back in order. These originators quite simply do not have the time and money to waste on strategies that don’t work! But this begs the question: “How do you know what will or will not work ahead of time?”

While there is no way to do this with 100% accuracy, there is a way to identify which strategies most likely will or will not work for you. Here’s the process.

Mortgage Loan Marketing Step 1

What is it based on?

Ask this question before you start any new marketing campaign. Is it based on solid and proven marketing fundamentals? If you’re not quite sure what the marketing fundamentals are you should be looking for, here they are: Exposure (Will it get in front of enough people) – Niche (Does it fill a true need and/or want?) – Differentiator (Will you just be one of hundreds doing or saying the same thing?)…

Yard signs for example. I hear a lot of loan officers trying to pop yard signs in front of FSBO homes with a call capture number attached. Well, does this strategy pass the exposure rule? No it does not, as that sign will be seen by mostly the same people (neighbors of the home for sale – not quite the best of prospects) over and over again.

Unless the home is on a very busy road, yard signs just do not deliver a proper ROI unless you’re placing dozens of new signs out there every month. With the time and expenses involved, this would not stand out as a marketing strategy I wanted to involve myself in, based off of the first step. Let’s look at step 2.

Mortgage Loan Marketing Step 2

Will you be able to duplicate?

There are many marketing strategies that look good on paper, but when push comes to shove, you simply will not, or cannot continue with the plan. It’s human nature. If something gets too involved, or too complex we find excuses not to do them.

Or, if the workload never tones down, we will grow tired of the campaign and give up. You need a marketing strategy that gains momentum, and eventually takes off on its own without requiring you to keep “doing this” or “doing that” at 100 miles per hour.

Let’s go back to our yard sign example. No matter how many signs I place in yards, I will never reach a point where the signs “take over” and start giving birth to new signs on their own. (Weird analogy I know) Compare this to online marketing strategies, or realtor networking.

Once your website grows popular enough, other websites will begin linking to yours, or posting links to your blogs. Search engines will start to rank you high on the list and the next thing you know your traffic is growing exponentially! Or how about Realtors. One realtor brags about you to another, or refers you to a coworker… These agents can be out telling buyers to use your services while you’re at home relaxing…

The point is, a truly successful marketing campaign has the potential to go “viral.” It grows and builds on itself. While you never reach a point where you can become a slacker (haha) – These campaigns will not just die on the vine if you reduce your workload a bit, or take some time off. They build on themselves and reward you for your initial effort. Yard signs, direct mail, magazine ads. Do any of these pass the test?

Mortgage Loan Marketing Step 3

Why do you want to do this?

This question is your reality check. Do you want to use this new strategy simply to “try something new?” That’s not a good enough reason to choose a marketing campaign. Your goal here is not to stumble your way to success. You want a strategy that will work, and using something because it is “new” is not a great qualifier.

You need to have a reason to pick one marketing campaign over the other. Do you trust the person who is teaching or selling this strategy? Have you heard good things about taking this approach? Do you already have a target niche in mind, and this marketing campaign is aimed at that niche?

These are all “reasons” why someone may choose a particular strategy. What is yours? I ask this question whenever I consider a new marketing campaign to keep myself in check. It’s easy to make a decision with emotion, or to go with the flow of what others are doing. Neither of these is a recipe for success. Be honest with yourself, and make your decision wisely. Of course, some action is always better than no action, so don’t take long to make your decision. Pick a strategy and put it into practice.

You’ll be moving forward while most of the others are still dabbling. Are you ready for your new mortgage loan marketing strategy?

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