Loan Officers That Market Themselves Eliminate Competition

Are your services the same as those of other mortgage brokers? If this is true, your methods of marketing probably look like those of your competitors.

The "same" game

Do you want to differentiate yourself from the crowd of loan officers that seems to grow each year? If you're not standing out, you need to go about mortgage marketing differently than your competition. If you don't, customers won't be able to tell you apart from your competition, and this will hurt your business.

If you're not trying to distinguish yourself, you'll look just like your competition. Here are some dangers you'll face if you don't strengthen your mortgage marketing campaign:

• You'll make potential clients procrastinate. When focusing on mortgage marketing, or when trying to market to REALTORS, your potential clients are going to be confused if you look just like your competition and don't offer enough information to help them make an informed decision.
• You'll force a decision based on price rather than quality if you don't give clients something else to go on. All things being equal, clients are going to use price as a determinant in regard to the loan officer they pick. So don't make price an issue, because if you do, you'll just get in a bidding war with another mortgage broker. Someone is almost always going to go lower than you are, and you'll lose out.

Stand out from the crowd

Avoid the pitfalls of mortgage marketing by separating yourself from the rest of the pack. How? Follow these tips to differentiate yourself from your competition:

- Clean up your mortgage marketing campaign. If your marketing has lots of fluff, and you feel obligated to offer "deals" and specials, you're just confusing the client.

- Simplify. Go for simple ads with a few words; utilize images, but prudently as well. Basically, you want a clean, uncluttered and clear marketing campaign so clients can understand what they're being offered quickly. Give them one message to concentrate on and then keep changing it.

- Be direct. Why are you important to your potential client? Why should your potential client want to talk with you instead of your competition?

- Be useful. Give them something valuable with no strings attached, such as a "free" report. It can be something as simple as suggestions on how to save for a home. In fact, you can also use it to advertise for your business, but mainly, it should provide information that will help the client make decisions.

- Showcase your skills. Do a side-by-side comparison for different products. Whether you're marketing to REALTORS or appealing directly to the public, show how products of yours with similarities differ from each other. For example, show three examples of services. How do these products change under different scenarios, with different clients?

- Infomercials, infomercials, infomercials. In fact, a lot of people think infomercials are simply tacky, but they can be a very effective means to sell you. Use an infomercial to tell your personal story and show why your services are desirable versus a competitor's. Use satisfied customer testimonials, illustrate how you can be a problem solver, and utilize satisfied customer feedback.

If you show clients how you can solve problems, you stand out from the competition By marketing yourself, you become a force to compete with in a very crowded industry. Whether your mortgage marketing campaign needs a little cosmetic work or a full makeover, marketing to REALTORS and clients becomes easy when you stand out from the crowd. Just by implementing a few simple changes you can do just that.

Jeffrey Nelson helps loan officers increase loan originations by getting referrals from real estate agents.

Click here to get a free Video Book. It shows Jeffrey's exclusive marketing solution for getting clients from real estate agents in as little as 30 days.

Visit us at http://www.AgentMagnet.com

Top Stories