Throw in how difficult it is to generate borrower leads – at least without massive resources on your side – and you’ve got an uphill battle from the very start.
So what can you do? How can you stand out from the competition and generate leads in this highly competitive space? For the answer, let’s look at the three biggest challenges faced by today’s internet mortgage bankers.
Rate tables (like those on Zillow, Bankrate, etc.) can bring in a lot of leads, and many mortgage bankers have a lot of success with them. But they’re also expensive. Not only is there a cost to advertise your rates on them, but you also have expenses to manage those advertising accounts, fund the loan, and pay the loan officer, underwriter, and everyone else involved. Once you take into account all those fees and costs, it becomes tenuous to realize positive ROI from your efforts.
At the end of the day, the point of a rate table is to show potential buyers where they can get the lowest possible rates. If you’re not the lowest rate – or at least very close to it – you’re probably not going to get much traction from your placement. If you are the lowest rate, you’re probably taking a big hit on your profit margin to get there. You might win that borrower, but at what cost? Is it really worth it in the end?
Paid strategies – like advertising on rate tables, for example – can be a great way to generate leads, but they’re typically best used to augment organic ones. Organic lead generation comes at a lower cost and is often a more effective and profitable long-term solution. Still, generating leads organically can be hard – especially using traditional methods. Cold calling, prospecting, and working referral networks are often time- and resource-consuming. Unless you have a call center and dozens of LO assistants at your disposal, many mortgage bankers simply don’t have the time to make it happen.
Fortunately, digital marketing can serve as a solution to all three of these challenges, giving you an effective, efficient lead-generation channel that doesn’t eat all your resources or take up all your time. In fact, thanks to new tools and technologies, much of your online lead-generation efforts can be automated.
Want to learn more about how digital marketing can help internet mortgage bankers like you generate more leads with less investment? Contact Tobe today.