Marketing ideas for a mortgage broker loan officer! Best answer on the web

Posted in: darrelrussell.com edit
07 Jan 2009
  • Marketing question related to mortgage broker business:

    BACKGROUND:

    I am a loan officer in the mortgage broker business. We provide
    financing to Michigan residents looking to refinance, consolidate
    debt, purchase a home, and get money for home improvements. We have
    access to programs to accomodate almost all types of credit, from
    excellent to poor.

    QUESTION:

    I am looking for unique, fresh ways to generate business, or what we
    call leads. There are many common ways to aquire leads and I have
    tried the following; Purchase leads from lead generating companies,
    call from lists, work with realtors, mailings, past clients, generate
    leads from own website, etc. I still feel that their should be
    different and more unique ways to find people who are looking to
    refinance, purchase a home, etc. So my question boils down to this:
    What are some unique ways to generate mortgage related leads that
    could provide me with ample amounts of quality leads.

    PERFECT ANSWER:

    My ideal answer would be several creative ideas that take a unique
    perspective at generating business. Something that could potentially
    set me apart from the competition. My ideal outcome from the answer
    would be to take the idea, and try in in 'the real world', and
    ultimately generate substantial quality leads.

    I will not give a negative reply without asking for follow-ups if not
    satisfied. The interprative nature of this question is understood and
    thus the answers will be giving lots of flexibility.


  • Hi,

    What the heck, I'm game. I love creative thought.

    First thing I think about when I hear the word "mortgage" is house buying. And the only reason I'm buying a house is because I'm moving.. so far so good.
    When people move these days, especially to a new state or even a new city in that state, they jump on the Internet to find out things, like, Where are the kids going to school
    What are the school systems like, where do I sign my kid up
    What is the crime rate in the city/state/neighborhood
    Driver's Licence, where do I get that?
    Register the Car?
    Smog Laws?
    Baby-sitting? Day Care?
    Truck Rentals? Costs ?
    Special Interest Groups (AA, NA, Churches, NRA etc)
    Government, Voting, Library.. on and on and on and on.

    There is a lot to think about when you move. Mortgage is just one of them. But when people find answers from a single source, they tend to stay with that source if they can.
    So the idea, a website, Moving2Michigan.com or something like that.

    Create a website that links to or has all the information anyone would need to move to (or within)Michigan. All of it is on the web in one form or another. Yahoo for instance has a Neighborhood center which gives all the details of a Neighborhood. http://list.realestate.yahoo.com/re/neighborhood/main.html

    Schools systems are now on the web with all the needed information there http://www.ddc.com/schoolscolleges.html

    Just about all the answers are out there. The idea here is to create a single website that combines them in one from or another (meaning by presenting the information on the site, or linking to that information from the site, so I only have to go to one place.)
    Then, Let visitors know that you sponsor/own the site and would also be happy to do their mortgage as well. The trick here really, is to make it as soft a sell as possible. It should be something like "And oh yeah, that Mortgage problem? we got that covered too" sort of thing. Natural human tendency will bring in the leads, because you've already made their lives a whole lot easier, and taken much of the stress that comes form the "unknown" out of moving. Most people know they are going to move long before they start looking for a house. Make is so you are the answer person and they'll keep asking the questions, which will eventually lead them to the Mortgage question as well.
    The website itself would be rather low in cost and basically static. Set up a form though that a person could fill out and ask a question about moving to Michigan, which is not on your website, then post the answer to your website.
    In fact, most of the base line design for such a site is already out there in the OpenSource area. I know one that would work very well for this sort of thing. http://www.movabletype.org/

    It is designed as a blog site or weblog site, but is very customizable, so you could add all kinds of static pages and stuff to the site with very low cost and low effort, as well as a running news thing on the blog pages.
    The Aegir CMS system is one of those build on top of the Midgard system http://www.aegir-cms.org/Documentation/

    And it would create and maintain a website like this as well. And it is free.
    So the resources are there for this, and the foundations are there for this, all you have to do is put the two together. You create on the Internet a valuable resource, one people are searching for all the time, and you have people searching for you all the time.
    thanks, and I hope I pass the audition.

    webadept-ga


  • Thank you for the creative answer. I like the idea quite well. My only concern is that there may not be sufficient traffic to generate considerable leads. It appears there are only 111 searches (Oveture June statistics) for moving to michigan. Other variations report even less. Your answer is definately not without merit though. A properly designed, marketed, and informative site could generate mortgage leads as well as advertising income.
    I will rate you answer with the highest rating, but thought I would ask for any other ideas you might have first. While I very well may pursue the idea you mentioned, it is more of a long term lead generation system.
    Thanks again


  • Yeah

    that's true, low searches for moving to Michigan.. very true.

    129984 michigan
    40553 state of michigan
    14727 michigan job

    6462 detroit public school
    2180 michigan school
    2092 michigan public school
    1649 michigan school district
    1371 michigan high school
    1230 university of michigan law school
    1127 michigan high school athletic association


    10315 michigan state
    10231 southfield michigan
    9938 frankenmuth michigan


    11540 brighton michigan
    10931 south haven michigan
    10562 brooklyn michigan


    11893 city detroit
    5207 detroit weather
    2961 detroit radio station
    1984 detroit public library

    See, people aren't going to really search for "Moving to Michigan" because, they don't expect to find it. They feel, and currently they are right, that doing moving research on the Internet is going to be just like doing things when they move, 200 phone calls, 400 lines to stand in, 300 wrong windows and, 200 wrong forms.
    I doubt that they will ever find you using moving to Michigan, because as you point out, they don't type it in. On the other hand, they obviously will find you, from those stats above, and once they do, they are going to stick to you like glue, if you do that site right and make it comprehensive. But the kicker will be the question form. If they don't find it, ask where it is. That will keep them there.
    Anyway.. another idea? Ummm.. sure why not. Can I have until this evening because I'm coding right now and that is sucking up all my imagination.
    webadept-ga


  • I see your point and agree. I think it is a well thought out and creative idea. I really might pursue it. You can take all weekend for another idea if you wish. Don't spend too much time on it. I like your creativness and will give you the highest rating even without it. I would give it to you now, but I am not sure if you can reply after I do.


  • Thanks, and thanks for the time. I'll do some thinking and come up with something else. Most of my life is spent on the web. Boring I know, but that's the facts. I'll try to come up with something off the web, something .. well.. interesting :-)
    webadept-ga


  • Notes to self, why to people refinance?

    To retire existing liens
    For making repairs and home improvements to property
    To obtaining a reduction in interest rate
    To pay off a mortgage subject to a balloon payment
    To consolidate credit card debts
    To obtain cash for financing family related expenditures such as a college education, etc. Improving cash flow,
    taking advantage of tax benefits,
    debt consolidation
    Eliminate Private Mortgage Insurance premiums.

    I'm not sure this is a great idea, but it crossed my mind so I'll give it up.
    Using Yahoo's Neighborhood base you can search out neighborhood areas that are of a certain income level and ownership percentage verses rental. In fact if you find some guy like me who knows Perl, he can rip it out of there in no time at all.
    Now we have a list of Neighborhoods which are of "refinancing" stature. That's what I'm trying to focus on right now, refinancing. One of the things on my list up there is "Eliminate Private Mortgage Insurance premiums." We want to remind people that this is a payment that they are currently making every month, that they really don't have too. Many folks forget about this one. We also want to catch them in a good mood and make sure it is with something they will keep intact for a while, and show to a few people. Something.. cool.
    We have a list of Neighborhoods, so, we now also have a list of high schools which are in those neighborhoods. Football season is upon us. High school football season.
    http://www.eztshirts.com/compressed/helmet.html

    The image there is a paper insert. There are two, one on top and one on the bottom. The T-shirt can be anything, but I wouldn't make it too much of an add for your business. But it would need to be something that could be worn by several schools because of screen printing costs. Something generic, like, "Support High School Football", and maybe your name on the back or something.. but remember who you are giving it too.
    The place you advert, hard, is the back insert card. This is where you remind the parent that refinancing can save them this Insurance Premium.
    The top insert card should be the high school's helmet. Since this is paper, and just inserted, I believe that setting it up for 100 of these and 50 of these and 25 of those, is no big deal, not like it is for screen printing. You would have to call them to make sure, but I believe this is the case. If it is not, then the whole idea crashes I think, because of cost.
    These are cool. These compressed t-shirts. Sprite did this not too long ago, by compressing t-shirts into the shapes of cans and putting them in the high school vending machines, with 2 quarters taped to each one, so the kid could still get his soda. Most didn't un-wrap them, they walked around showing it to their friends and parents and parents friends. It was a huge success for Sprite. The ones that did unwrap them, wore them, talking about how they were compressed and how cool it was. Very big success for Sprite. In fact, they are still doing it.
    For the T-shirt itself, you use the cheapest t-shirt they have. We aren't going for quality here, we are going for shawag.
    Pass these out at the football games.

    Just a thought, like I said, not a great one, but it would get leads I'm sure if the market research was done right.
    webadept-ga


  • Ya know, if you do that right, instead of just handing them out, but rather, tossing them into the crowd.. You'll actully see people begging for you to advert to them.. :-) kinda funny really.. okay.. maybe it's not, and it's just late.
    webadept-ga


  • Man I have all kinds of ideas for these t-shirts. Here's another..

    Get together with Home Depot, or some place like that in specific areas. Use their logo on back, they pay for that, Your's on the front (this is the silk screening part of the t-shirt). Use the back insert card for your advert and compress the shirt into the shape of a hammer.
    Have the store pass them out to the regular joe customers who buy wood or pluming supplies. Not the contractor types showing up in the back. Make sure it is Wood, cabinets or plumbing supplies. Home owners, doing home improvments.