One of the most common things I hear mortgage brokers and financial advisers saying is that they simply don't know where to start when it comes to marketing their businesses.
Well, most things become much easier once you have a clear plan in place. And marketing is no exception.
In this blog post, we will outline the steps you need to take and the questions you need to address in order to create an effective marketing plan that will help you reach your target audience and grow your business. So, let's get started!
Who is your ideal mortgage client?
The first step in creating a mortgage broker marketing plan is to identify your target market. This can be done by segmenting your current client base and understanding who your ideal customer is.
Now, you might be tempted to say that your ideal client is anyone who owns, or wants to own, a house. But that's too broad.
You need to be more specific. And that's because, strange as it may seem, the more you narrow things down and the more specific you are with your definition of an ideal client, the easier it is to find people who fit that description.
For example, your ideal client might be a couple in their early 30s who are looking to get a mortgage for a self-build project.
What's your mortgage niche?
The second step - which tends to overlap with, and go hand-in-hand with, the first one - is to identify your niche. This is the key thing that will help set you apart from all the other mortgage brokers out there.
It might be the type of clients you work with, the locations you cover, or the types of properties you specialise in securing mortgages for.
I've covered the topic of mortgage broker niches in more detail in this article.
What are your clients' pain points?
Once you've identified your target market, you can move on to the next step which is to identify your ideal client's pain points and desires.
In other words, what are the things that your ideal client is struggling with? What keeps them awake at night? What are their goals and objectives?
For example, perhaps they are struggling with the fact that they want to release equity from their current home in order to finance their self-build project but their current lender won't let them remortgage to do this.
That's their pain point.
And their goal or objective? Well, contrary to what you might think, their main objective is not to get a mortgage - that's just a means to an end. Their real goal is to be able to move into the new house that they've seen transformed from a hole in the ground into their dream home.
By understanding what your ideal client wants, you'll be much better placed to create a marketing message that resonates with them and speaks to their needs - whether that's through your website content, your emails, your social media posts, your YouTube videos, or your online advertising.
What is your value proposition?
Your value proposition is a simple and concise statement that sets your mortgage business apart from all the others out there. It tells people what you do and why you are better than your competition.
In my article on value propositions, I outline the exact process I use to help my private clients and my group coaching students create powerful value propositions. So you should definitely check that out if you've not already seen it.
One thing to bear in mind is that you'll find it much easier to come up with relevant value points or unique selling points (USPs) if you've got a clear idea beforehand of who your ideal client is and what their pain points are.
That's because the best value propositions tap straight into the pain points your clients have and make it crystal clear that you're the person who can cure their problems.
What marketing channels will you use?
There are endless marketing channels available to mortgage brokers and financial advisers. The trick is to use enough of them to give you sufficient exposure and spread your risk, but not to use so many that you spread yourself too thinly and don't have the time or money to do them all properly.
The channels you use will depend to some extent on who your target market is. As shown in the graphic below, there are several different generations living in the UK at the moment, from veterans through to Generation Alpha. And they all communicate in different ways.
where to start
So if your target audience is tech-savvy millennials, then you might want to focus exclusively on digital marketing channels such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and LinkedIn Ads.
But if they're baby boomers, then you might want to include some offline channels such as print advertising, direct mail, or local radio in your marketing mix.
One channel you should definitely use whatever the demographics of your target audience is email marketing. That's because it allows you to get directly into people's inboxes without having to fight for attention amongst all the noise on social media.
An email list could become one of the most valuable assets in your business, so start building one as soon as you've got clear on who your target audience is.
Like social media, though, email marketing doesn't give instant results. So if you want to start generating leads quickly, you should definitely make Google Ads a part of your marketing strategy. Click here to watch a short video tutorial on setting up Google Ads for generating mortgage leads.
How much will you spend on marketing?
This is a question that I get asked a lot. And there's no easy answer because it depends on so many factors - from the size of your business to the channels you're using to reach your target market.
A good rule of thumb, though, is to allocate around 3% to 5% of your annual turnover to marketing.
That means that if you're a mortgage broker with an annual turnover of £500,000 then you should be spending at least £15,000 on marketing every year.
Of course, you can (and should) increase that percentage if you're just starting out and you're trying to build up a client base from scratch. And you can potentially decrease it as your business grows and you become more well-known in your market.
How will you measure success?
An important part of any marketing plan is to be clear about how you will measure your results and what success looks like.
Your goals could be things like increasing your number of leads by 20% or generating an extra £50,000 of new business in the next 12 months.
Whatever your goals are, write them down and set yourself interim targets for each month and quarter of the year.
What's the next step?
Now that you know how to create a marketing plan for your mortgage business or IFA firm, it's time to take action and put the ideas in this article into practice.
If you need help with any aspect of your marketing, from creating a value proposition to designing an email campaign, then please get in touch. I offer free 15-minute strategy calls and you can book one of those by clicking here.
