For ambitious loan officers who want to grow their business exponentially, or even for LOs that just want to maintain their current production, a strong marketing strategy is absolutely essential. It’s the most efficient way to develop an audience, consistently expand that audience, and deliver your message to them. There are dozens of other things vying for our attention every day, so how can we make marketing a primary focus without sacrificing the other important areas of our work or increasing our in-office hours? Here are a few things to consider:
Ensure Your Brand is Strong and Recognizable
A well-developed brand will do a considerable amount of your marketing work for you. It has to be easily recognizable, deliver a clear, concise message, and be visible across multiple platforms. It doesn’t matter if you have an established brand or are just beginning to build one, you should frequently check-in to assess its structural integrity. Ask yourself: What do I want people to know? Am I communicating that as clearly as I possibly can? Also assess the visual elements, including font, graphics, color, and tone, to be sure that they reinforce your message. The main reason your brand is so important is that it’s speaking for you when you’re not there. You’re not going to connect personally with every person who visits your website or Facebook page, but with a strong enough brand, they’ll leave with a sense of who you are and what you’re about.
Block Off Time in Your Schedule
A fully packed schedule is part of the job, but if we’re serious about strengthening our marketing strategy, we need to make time to do it. Start by scheduling a couple small windows in your schedule each week to do things like developing and sharing content and replying to comments. Consistency is necessary if you want to succeed with your marketing efforts, and when you have time set aside in your schedule solely for marketing, you can be sure that it’s getting the attention it needs.
Do Ample Research
Now that you have time set aside, another activity that should fill that time is research. Have you defined your target audience? Who are they? What are their common questions and concerns? What information do they want to find on your website? Learning about your target audience allows you to customize your marketing to them, specifically. It’s also a good idea to measure your marketing’s effectiveness — find out what’s working and what isn’t. With that data, you can make any necessary adjustments. Then, naturally, you’ll do more of what’s working and less of what isn’t.
Provide Value
Many LO’s take the position that their marketing efforts are only successful if it results in new clients. That perspective should be modified. Instead of thinking about our marketing efforts as a way to gain new business, we need to think of them as a way for us to share value. When our marketing contains useful information (and isn’t just a series of advertisements, however subtle), it’s significantly more impactful. Content marketing is a terrific way to accomplish this. When you share your knowledge and expertise with your audience, you show them that you’re a skilled professional who is ready to be of assistance.
Your marketing drives in new business while strengthening your existing relationships. You don’t need to set aside entire days to improve your efforts, but you do need to make some time each week to elevate it and ensure it continues to run smoothly. These ideas will help you achieve better results with just some minor adjustments.
If you’d like to talk more about your marketing strategy, or if there’s another matter I can be of assistance with, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d be happy to block off some time to connect.
Don Riggs
VP – Retail Market Leader
NMLS 132702
303.249.8274
