Tactics To Watch Out For
As mentioned above, mortgage brokers may not always come up with the best possible offer if it’s not in their financial self-interest to do so.
Loan officers may have similar conflicts. Bear in mind that loan officers are essentially salespeople who get paid for selling you somethingspecifically, a loan. The loan that is best for you and the one that’s most lucrative for them may be two different things.
For example, be wary if a loan officer seems to be trying to steer you into an adjustable-rate mortgage . ARMs can be a good choice for certain people, especially those who know they won’t be in their home for very long. However, if you are planning to stay in your home for more than seven years or so, then an ARM may not be a very good choice, since the interest rate could dramatically increase over that period. A fixed-rate loan would be safer, even if it starts out with a higher interest rate.
Because it behooves loan officers to sell as many mortgages as possible, some may be tempted to steer you into an ARM with the idea of persuading you to refinance with a new loan in a year or two. If you find yourself in that situation, before you take them up on the offer you’ll want to find out:
Mortgage Loan Officer Education Requirements
Since mortgage loan officers analyze the finances and credit of potential borrowers, a good place to start is a bachelors degree in business or finance. During your coursework, youll learn some accounting skills, including the ability to read financial statements.
If you need help getting started, check out these mortgage loan officer scholarships. They can help to cover some of the costs of your education so that you can focus on preparing for your career.
You dont always need a bachelors degree to land a job as a mortgage loan officer. Some banks will hire candidates who have several years of hands-on banking, customer service, or sales experience and are willing to learn on the job.
Get Personal And Showcase It
Your marketing should be personal because it helps potential customers begin to know, like and trust you. As professionals, we sometimes lose sight of the fact that obtaining a mortgage is an overwhelming process for most. Getting personal in marketing allows people to feel comfortable and connected before they even meet you.
Here are some ways to showcase your personality:
- Personal Branding Photos: Gone are the days of a business headshot. Personal branding photos help convey your personality in a professional layout. You can use these images on your website, on social media, and even in print campaigns. Theres no better way to show people who you really are than a photo of you in the most authentic form
- Weave Stories into Everything: One of the current trends in marketing is storytelling, which connects your messaging to the feelings and emotions of your audience. This can start out as a personal story that morphs into a mortgage tip or a client story that highlights your expertise in the industry. The goal is to connect your messaging to the human element people are paying attention to.
- Use Video: Get active on video with tips, education or fun stories this includes videos for social media, email or other ways you communicateAny time you use video, you help people get to know you without having to be face-to-face.
Recommended Reading: How Much Is The Mortgage On A $300 000 House
Get Active On Social Media
If your business isnt already on social media, make this your first priority. Your friends, family, and professional connections need to know what you do for a living and how to contact you. Most importantly, potential clients need to be able to find you and learn about you.
Think about it. When you need to find an auto body shop or an A/C repair service, what steps do you take? If youre like most people, youll do two things: ask your network and search online.
Having business accounts on , and other applicable platforms give people an easy way to pass on your contact info. They also allow you to be found via Google searches. Its tough to become a more successful mortgage loan officer if your contact info cant be found quickly.
Daily practice: Engage with other social media accounts, clients, and thought leaders every day. Comment on, like, and share other content you find interesting. Most of all, be sure to post your own content.
What Does A Mortgage Loan Officer Do
Mortgage loan officers focus exclusively on real estate loans for individuals and businesses. They usually work for mortgage brokers, commercial banks, credit unions, or mortgage companies. They often work in an office and travel to meet potential borrowers.
The day-to-day duties of a mortgage loan officer include:
- Developing relationships with real estate companies
- Assessing potential borrowers credit
- Discussing loan options with potential borrowers
- Ensuring that loan agreements adhere to state and federal regulations
- Keeping records of loan applications and mortgage transactions
- Coordinating with underwriters to determine potential borrower risks
- Working with appraisers to obtain an accurate market value for a property
Check out Monsters mortgage loan officer job description to learn more about what employers look for when hiring for this role.
Also Check: Who Can Get A Fha Mortgage
Automate Your Marketing Strategy
Being able to effectively manage a healthy pipeline of consistent clients and prospective customers is an essential part of successfully growing your business as a mortgage loan officer.
Of course, you probably already have a huge list of daily tasks that you need to get done. Not to mention the other weekly, monthly, and annual jobs that consume all of your precious time.
With already so much to do, it can seem impossible to find enough time to generate and share valuable content to promote yourself as a loan office or to simply follow up with your past clients.
Fortunately, automated social media and email marketing are excellent ways, and these allow you to consistently reach out to your audience, even when you find yourself too busy to be answering phone calls or returning your messages.
There are plenty of tools that can allow you to automate and systematize your marketing strategies. Many of these tools allow you to share your content and information across multiple social media channels at the same time.
Therefore, youll be able to take proper care of customer relations, while only needing to do a fraction of the work.
There are also some services, such as OutboundEngine, which fully automates your marketing strategy from start to finish.
Lowermybills And All The Mortgage Marketing Big Boys Had Turned The Whole Lead Capture Process Inside Out
The way that LowerMyBills and these other goliath companies capture leads is NOTHING like the way most typical mortgage companies do it.Heres what I meanWhen you visit most mortgage originator websites, the first thought that runs through your mind is, Where do I even start?The home page is a hopeless jumble of navigation, logos, links and graphics competing for your attention. Hidden somewhere in that mess youll probably find a request a quote button.And when you click that button, you jump to a form that looks a lot like your standard loan application form, with a bunch of text fields for contact information like name, phone and email and others for financial data like credit score and income.That seems logical, right?After all your visitors want to know about your rates And you cant provide a good quote without collecting all the right information.But put yourself in your visitors shoes for a minute.Youve found a home you want to buy, and now youre looking for a mortgage.
Recommended Reading: Who Is Rocket Mortgage Owned By
Open Houses Are An Opportunity To Meet Realtors Face To Face
Open houses are a wonderful way to introduce yourself to new realtors, face to face. Showing up to a weekend open house can make a big statement about your willingness to go the extra mile. But dont linger too long. If this is a cold call, its a perfect time for an introduction and small talk, but save the sales pitch for later.
Open house interactions should be focused on the agent. Ask questions to familiarize yourself with the agents typical clients and take note of how you can specifically help them. If the opportunity presents itself, ask to schedule a follow-up meeting where you can have a one-on-one conversation. If you dont get an appointment, you may want to ask for permission to send them marketing information in the future.
A Guide To Loan Officer Marketing
As a loan officer, marketing is crucial to your business success. As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest trends. More importantly, it can be hard to decide where to focus your time and efforts to maximize results.
The three most common questions we get asked are:
- Where to show up
- How to show up
- How often to show up
To answer your burning questions about loan originator marketing, weve put together a list of APMs top marketing recommendations for loan originators who want to grow their businesses.
You May Like: Are Mortgage Discount Points Worth It
Advertising Is Not The Problem
Turns out, the ads were actually doing their job. They were sending a flood of potential customers to my clients websites and social media pages.But then the wheels came off the wagon, so to speak.
Turns out, the ads were actually doing their job. They were sending a flood of potential customers to my clients websites and social media pages.But then the wheels came off the wagon, so to speak.
Because 99.9% of those visitors just clicked away without calling or filling out the request a quote form or applicationthey just vanished forever.
Segment Your Email Database
Once you have an updated list of contacts, segment the people in it into different lists. Many loan officers have a large database of contacts who have some similarities and many differences. Think about ityoud market to a group of homeowners differently than youd market to a group of renters. What if you were marketing to a group of commercial real estate investors? The content would be completely different.
Don’t Miss: How To Understand Mortgage Payments
Be Consistent In What You Do
Being consistent is vital and applies to all aspects of marketing yourself as a loan officer, be it on or offline.
When it comes to online marketing, this doesnt mean simply creating a blog, adding a logo and a few posts, and then never updating the site again.
You need to be proactive and consistently market your online reputation. This means regularly updating your website, posting current and relevant content, and ensuring that all the information that youre putting out there is accurate and reliable.
A simple mistake as silly as having the wrong phone number on your profile or accidentally sending an outdated email could cause you to lose out on your next big deal with a potential client.
Fortunately, these simple mistakes can all be avoided by simply taking the time to maintain consistency everywhere across your brand. Furthermore, its important to make sure to respond to all emails, tweets, and phone calls with the same consistent tone and message that you want your brand to project.
Regardless of how your customers get in contact with you, their experience needs to be as consistent as humanly possible.
Finally, this also means being consistent in the way that you market yourself offline. The interactions that you have with your customers are vital in shaping the idea that theyll carry with them about your business.
Promote Your Social Media Posts
Social media marketing is constantly changing and evolving. Simply put, gaining traction just isnt as easy as it used to be. But there are a lot of opportunities out there if youre willing to try some new tactics. Social media advertising is expected to generate more than $17 billion in revenue in 2019 and continue growing year over year.
Promoted posts and social ads are an effective means of reaching beyond your current network and increasing your brand exposure across social media channels.
Social media advertising is one of our top marketing ideas for mortgage loan officers in 2019. The ability to target zip codes, professions, and other demographics is invaluable to companies that know their audience and demographics.
Try this: Start with the social network many businesses consider the most important: Facebook. Run a social media ad campaign and see the difference in engagement and reach. Tweak the copy, image, and targeting to continue to improve results.
Don’t Miss: Can You Get A Reverse Mortgage On A Manufactured Home
Have An Optimized Google My Business Page
As a loan officer, youll likely be targeting prospective homebuyers within a particular geographic area. A well-crafted GMB page is a powerful marketing tool that can make you become the go-to resource in that area for people looking to finance a new home.
Even better, it can shoot your services to the top of search engine results since Google is now prioritizing GMB pages for local searches. Your GMB page could show up alongside or even above larger or national mortgage loan services that pay top dollar for SEO and ad services in that area.
Setting up a GMB page is simple and free. The important thing is to optimize it so Google actually takes the information on the page seriously and returns it among relevant local searches. Heres how:
- Ensure that the contact information provided is accurate and consistent across the web. This means your business name, address, phone number, and other details are the same across all your online marketing channels.
- Update the page regularly with recent information. For instance, you could upload new photos of your office or of happy clients posing with their new homes.
- Get past clients to leave reviews about your services.
Get Creative With Visual Content
Remember, content isnt just words. Make a note when youre out in your community or a favorite local spot to take a few pictures or shoot a short video. Visual content is eye-catching and shareable, so it not only keeps you top of mind but also helps you expand your reach.
As for video, Facebook users consume millions of hours of video every day. Hubspot found that Facebook Live videos have an engagement rate of 4.3% compared to 2.2% for non-live videos.
But thats not all. One study found infographics saw a 40% engagement rate. So if youve got an interesting or ground-breaking mortgage statistics to share with your audience, an infographic could be super helpful in showing that.
Try this: Use Facebook Live and stream a video of a short Q& A that you do with a client or colleague. Ask your network ahead of time what questions theyd like answered and then let them know when they can watch and engage in real time.
Also Check: How To Find Mortgage Payment
Choose A Niche To Focus On
Choosing a niche isnt exactly a digital marketing tactic, but its important for creating a solid foundation for any successful mortgage marketing plan. Most people need financing to acquire a real estate property, but these people all have different interests, financial capabilities, and needs. Because of these differences, its incredibly important to understand who youre in the best position to help and then market your mortgage business to them.
As a loan officer, you may be reluctant to choose a niche as it could mean that youd be losing business by only catering to a select group. In reality, however, narrowing your focus helps you zero in on your branding while also allowing you to allocate your marketing resources in a more efficient manner. This helps you identify new opportunities in the mortgage industry quicker too.
Your answer to the following questions will go a long way in helping you choose your niche:
- What types of clients stand to benefit the most from your loan programs?
- Do you offer loan products that cater to first-time homebuyers?
- Is there a particular geographic location where you feel you have a better chance of acquiring new clients?
- Do you specialize in FHA or reverse mortgages?
- Do you offer VA/FHA and refinancing loans?
Remember, you dont have to focus on just one niche, but you should be able to group them under a singular category so you dont have to over diversify your marketing approach.
Use Social Media Platforms
According to a survey by The Close, 82% of real estate agents plan to focus on and improve their social media presence in 2021. This means almost an entire professional network is available at your fingertips.
But, it isnt just real estate agents that you should be connecting with on social media platforms. Its homebuyers, too. There are multiple ways you can reach out to past, present, and future clients on social media. Whether you use direct messages on , comment on home listings, or connect directly with buyers through the agents in your network, actively using social media allows you to create connections within your sphere of influence.
Directly connecting with buyers isnt the only way to use social media to grow your mortgage referral business. You can also use social media to
Search for relevant events like garage sales. Join specific neighborhood pages and maintain an active, helpful presence by commenting and offering suggestions when members ask questions or for referrals. Like and share posts from local businesses. Post photos of closings to your social media platforms with permission.
Don’t Miss: Is Citizens Bank Good For Mortgages
