Digital Marketing Strategy for Lead Generation in Your Mortgage Business

A digital marketing strategy for lead generation is a must-have for loan officers who wish to keep their mortgage pipeline full. Here are five Ws (and one H) to get you started (including the ways a strong mortgage CRM will help!).

WHO should be targeted by your digital mortgage marketing strategy?

The leads you want to capture will be contacts who move from a simple observers (perhaps website visitors or social media watchers) to those inviting direct contact. Most likely, they’ll do this by starting an online conversation or providing their email address or mobile number.

Leads might also come from contacts you already have in your database – contacts who are ready to re-engage. Maybe it’s borrower who is ready for a refi or renter who has been working to build their credit. To move from simple contact to a lead, they will show they’re interested in stepping up the level of interaction, perhaps by replying to a message from you or completing a form.

As you develop your digital marketing strategy for lead generation, you’ll want to target the ideal borrowers for your favorite kind of lending, whether that’s first-time buyers, jumbo borrowers, veterans, or some combination. This way, you’re more likely to fill your mortgage pipeline with the kinds of deals that will benefit you most.

WHAT is a digital marketing strategy for lead generation, anyway?

Your digital marketing strategy is your plan to attract people to the idea of getting a home loan through you and to entice them to start a conversation. These may be people you’re meeting for the first time or, as mentioned, contacts you already have in your database who need to be re-engaged.

A digital marketing strategy will employ, wait for it, digital tools. We’ll spell out more specifics below, but think of the things you check when you’re scrolling on your mobile phone. That’s where you want to be.

WHEN should you develop a digital marketing strategy?

Now. You can’t be too early on this one.

The length of time your strategy covers is up to you – a year may be an easy timeframe to think through initially. But you should be ready to revisit and revise your plan at least on a quarterly basis.

It’s important to remain consistent in planning and executing your lead generation strategy, even when your mortgage pipeline is full. After all, you don’t want a time of feasting to devolve into a time of famine. By developing a sound strategy and employing automated mortgage marketing tools, you’ll be able to keep your lead generation efforts moving even while you’re busy closing deals.

WHERE should you target your digital marketing for lead generation efforts?

• Search Engines. When people type questions about home loans into their search bar, you want to be among the top results. Be sure to set up a free Google My Business profile so people will find you in their local searches.

Also optimize your website using the keywords your ideal leads are likely to search. Regular blog posts will show Google you keep your content current. If coming up with content sounds intimidating, look to your mortgage CRM for educational emails and flyers you can repurpose.

• Social Media. Choose your social media sites according to your ideal borrowers. YouTube and Facebook are still the most used, but younger audiences are more likely to frequent SnapChat, Instagram and TikTok. This Pew Research report gives an overview of generational social media use as of early 2021.
• Online Events/Podcasts. Whether you host the event/podcast or are a participant, taking the stage will establish you as an expert. Other participants will share the event/podcast with their audiences, thereby extending your reach. Later, you can repurpose snippets for social media posts and blogs.
• Rumors of email’s demise are greatly exaggerated. In fact, email marketing has experienced an uptick during the pandemic. Use email to re-engage people on your contact list and to convert the new leads you bring in through your digital marketing strategy.

WHY create a digital marketing strategy for lead generation?

Two reasons:

First, people are consuming content in digital media. They’re scrolling on their phones while waiting in lines, drinking their morning cup of coffee, or relaxing by the pool. Digital mortgage marketing puts your content in their hands, often while their minds are free to wander and dream.

Second, digital marketing offers a great ROI. Digital marketers typically aim for a $5 in return for every $1 spent, but a much higher ROI is achievable and often expected. Email marketing is known to return an astounding $44 for every $1 spent!

HOW can you implement a digital marketing strategy?

When it’s time to implement your digital lead generation strategy, you’re going to need a strong mortgage CRM. Not only should it have a library of mortgage-related content, but it should also provide the tools you need to capture leads as they come in and to begin communicating with them right away. Some of these include landing pages, forms, integration of form responses into your database, automated replies (including text messages), and triggered marketing campaigns.

Are you ready to see the industry’s most-used CRM with the leading mortgage marketing content library? Schedule a Surefire demo today.