While the mortgage industry is full of opportunities, it can be one of the most volatile environments for marketing. It’s an industry where you can’t afford to get complacent given constant shifts driven by factors like inflation, economic uncertainty, housing supply and rate changes. Even the most well-thought-out strategies may require pivots overnight.
When the market tightens, mortgage companies, like most sales-driven organizations, start looking for ways to cut costs while keeping origination volume up. Unfortunately, marketing is often the first area to be put on the chopping block. It’s easy to see how much is being spent through marketing, but more difficult to link that spending to revenue. This can lead to the mistake of pulling back too far or too quickly on your marketing budget.
Slashing marketing to save in the short term can lead to larger issues. Think: stagnating lead flow, declining market visibility, and sales teams asking, “Where has all the business gone?” That doesn’t mean marketing strategies shouldn’t be reassessed in a downturn — they absolutely should. But instead of simply reacting, try adjusting with intentionality.
Downturns offer chances to rebuild marketing strategies that flex with business conditions. The goal is to develop marketing that aligns with current goals, budgets and the realities of the market without losing momentum.
Identify campaign purpose
One of the biggest missteps companies make when developing marketing strategy is assuming every campaign serves the same agenda. Most campaigns fall into one of two categories: brand awareness or lead generation.
While each strategy has its own unique benefits, the most successful marketing plans are a carefully curated blend of campaigns that embody each strategy. Before starting to plan, it’s important to clearly identify goals. This will help shape messages, budgets and definitions of success.
“Tracking campaign performance is non-negotiable. Whether running brand awareness campaigns or lead generation efforts, keeping a close eye on the right metrics will give the insight needed to make smart and timely adjustments without doing any long-term damage.”
If a company’s goal is brand awareness, its marketing campaigns should show the audience what differentiates it from competitors. These efforts are long-term investments in the company. They increase the company’s visibility, credibility and customer loyalty. People hesitate to buy from brands they have never heard of. They certainly don’t buy from brands they don’t trust. The foundation companies build through brand-building initiatives helps strengthen all future marketing. It is critical to engage in these efforts before or concurrently with lead generation efforts.
When evaluating brand-building campaigns, examine metrics like reach, impressions, website traffic and brand recall. While these metrics can feel harder to justify from a budgeting standpoint because they might not immediately translate to conversions, they generate a company’s staying power and distinguish company values.
Once a strong brand has been established, it’s time to leverage credibility for campaigns that drive lead generation. These should be highly targeted and focused on driving short-term conversions from people who are already interested in what the company offers. Breaking lead generation marketing campaigns into two key approaches, lead capturing and lead nurturing, catalyzes reaching the right clients with the right message at the right time.
With lead capture, the goal is to collect customer information through a clear, compelling call to action. This could be as simple as encouraging customers to “Apply Now” for a mortgage or “Buy Today” when targeting clients who are retail sales cycles. Jointly or alternatively, the call to action might encourage clients to download an e-book, sign up for a newsletter or request more information, herding customers into a marketing funnel so lead nurturing can kick in.
While many lead generation campaigns focus on conversions that result in immediate “sales,” don’t overlook the value of lead-nurturing campaigns. Not every lead will convert immediately, which is especially true in mortgage lending with longer sales cycles. That’s why lead nurturing campaigns are so important. They help the company remain top-of-mind, pitch ongoing value to clients and methodically guide prospects toward that final sale.
To gauge the performance of lead generation efforts, whether seeking quick sales or early-cycle prospects, examine key metrics like conversion rates, click-through rates, cost per lead and ultimately the return on investment. Learn what’s working most effectively, what isn’t and where to refine the strategy. Don’t just focus on getting leads — get the right leads.
Data-driven marketing
After defining clear marketing goals, companies can deploy dollars more strategically, whether undergoing a period of growth or navigating downturn cost savings. Tracking campaign performance is non-negotiable. Whether running brand awareness campaigns or lead generation efforts, keeping a close eye on appropriate metrics provides insights needed to make smart and timely adjustments without overhauling long-term marketing strategies.
If lead generation campaigns aren’t delivering, dig into where the disconnect is happening. Is the company pushing a hard sell to an audience with a longer sales cycle that requires more patience to convert? That’s a sign to pause and invest in building out a stronger sales funnel before putting more dollars behind the campaign. Are people not even clicking on ads? That could be a messaging issue prompting a stronger call to action or tweaks to the value proposition.. In those cases, shift gears and prioritize brand-building to create a better foundation with your audience.
If a well-recognized brand with meaningful market share in a certain market or with a specific audience sees sales slipping, it might be time to reallocate brand awareness budget to sales-boosting lead generation efforts.
Fundamentally, don’t make decisions based on instinct alone. Before cutting spending or throwing more money behind a campaign, make sure relevant data is being analyzed. A smart, successful marketing strategy eliminates guess work in favor of knowing what’s working.
“At the end of the day, the companies with the most resilient marketing strategies are the ones built with intention, not on impulse.”
At the end of the day, companies with the most resilient marketing strategies proceed with intention, not impulse. Whether navigating a booming market or bracing for a slowdown, the ability to focus on goals instead of gaps, dig into the data and adapt keeps marketing efforts effective, performing and on-budget.
Marketing shouldn’t be the first thing cut when business gets rocky. It should be the first thing refined. Understand the purposes of different campaigns, know the audience and watch the numbers.
Remember that a flexible, well-balanced strategy based on data will always outperform reactive, short-sighted decision-making. In the mortgage industry, you can’t control the market, but you can always control your marketing strategy.
