Whether looking for a home to live in or a property to fix and flip, purchasing property can be a complicated and stressful process. Furthermore, the number of available mortgage loan alternatives can make purchasers feel like they are reading a foreign language. Often these prospective buyers will communicate with lenders and mortgage brokers through content marketing and other marketing strategies.
Promoting Your Lending Business
When a prospective client meets with a lender, that first meeting and how they perceive you is crucial. Moreover, you may be unaware that a prospective client is considering your lending business for their loan until they are ready to make a decision. Because of the state of the housing market, most individuals looking to purchase property seek help from a lender to obtain a pre-approval to improve their offer.
As a result, it’s crucial to develop an active and engaging marketing strategy that provides value, educates prospects, and creates trust in your brand. Then, when a prospect is ready to start the loan process, they’ll seek you out as the expert in the industry. Here are some marketing strategies lenders may use to promote their business and stay top of mind for prospects looking for a private lender.
Organize Educational Workshops
Holding lending workshops, through webinars or in person, to would-be homebuyers, walking them through the lending process can help buyers gain insight and provide reassurance that they are in the right place with the right lender while also creating relationships.
If you decide to hold a workshop, gather the contact information of everyone you meet, add them to your email list, and include them in your marketing campaigns. Likewise, keep the dialogue going, providing value. Then, when they are ready to buy, they will remember you because of the valuable information you gave them.
Collaborate with Real Estate Specialists
Begin with traditional networking events. Consider attending local Realtor-sponsored events or open homes. Next, consider content marketing and email marketing tailored to real estate agents. By providing valuable educational materials, you are helping realtors assist their customers in understanding the intricacies of the loan process. In addition, much like the customer-focused side of your lending website, you may build connections by offering lender profiles. Being able to put a face with a name and gain knowledge about the lenders will reassure agents that their clients are in excellent hands.
Establish Yourself as the Expert for Media Outlets
Other marketing strategies may include promoting the real estate partners you work with through digital marketing channels. For example, when you close a loan deal, give a shout-out to the realtor congratulating them on social media, and share their listings with your followers. Forming strong connections with this vital source of referrals is critical so that they remember you for future business.
If you’re comfortable with radio and television, reach out to executives and producers. Of course, news outlets always search for guests who can offer pertinent mortgage industry trends. But, again, focus on providing educational insights to the audience watching or listening vs. over-promoting your business.
Being accessible on their schedule is the best approach to building credibility with media outlets. They often have tight deadlines and seek out the individual who answers their call. If you do well, they will continue to reach out to you. Then, be sure to share the broadcast on your social media accounts, email campaigns, and on your website.
Ask for Referrals
A happy customer is your most significant source for future business. Ask for referrals from their peers, business partners, friends, and family. As a result, your relationship will continue to grow long after the paperwork has been signed. Follow up with referrals by creating a content campaign strategy for these crucial connections, providing tips and lending information. By doing this, you will stay top-of-mind with your clients.
Don’t forget to solicit testimonials for your website, email marketing campaigns, and content marketing. For example, prospective homebuyers value hearing what other customers are saying about your business and how you were able to guide them through the best options for their specific scenario, making the loan process simple.
While looking at properties on the internet, potential clients are likely to visit a lender’s website to gain insight into the loan process and determine their property budget. That is where your website must provide information to assist them in making an informed decision. As the expert, your website should include various content types, such as articles explaining loan terms for potential buyers. This might include information on amortization, types of loans, standard loan terms, and loan calculators that help prospects understand the loan process and their budget. You may also want to include e-books, allowing you to launch an ongoing marketing campaign.
Content Marketing Campaign
Most people are unwilling to give their email to anyone unless they have a reason. Focus on creating and establishing a content marketing strategy to persuade them. To create a list of leads, you’ll need to provide value—for example; you may create content like “How to Get the Best Loan Rates” and “A Guide to the Pre-Approval Process.” Promoting your content with targeted social media and Google ads can help you jump-start your lead machine. By creating industry-related content, you are providing value to your prospects.
Search Engine Optimization
Be sure to include SEO as part of your marketing strategies, focusing on the local housing market so prospects can find you via organic search on Google and other search engines. Search engine optimization is both an art and a science. SEO is the process of understanding what a search engine requires and then implementing those requirements on your website so people can find you.
Of course, there are hundreds of factors at work behind that assertion. But, in a nutshell, that is what SEO is. It is important to remember how crucial it is for your business to be found in search engines’ organic results in one of the top three positions. Because it is highly targeted and converts well, organic traffic from search engines is one of the most lucrative traffic sources.
As a result, if you want to develop a consistent flow of highly focused and qualified visitors to your website, set aside a portion of your marketing budget for SEO.
What’s Next?
Ultimately, good marketing strategies for private lenders come down to staying in front of your prospects and in touch with your network to demonstrate your expertise in the market. At Liquid Logics, we aim to provide private lenders with the most robust and secure lending software. If you are a private lender looking for ways to streamline and improve your lending processes, contact Liquid Logics to schedule a demo.
We look forward to hearing from you!